One year, five weeks and six days since we left these palm-lined shores of Queensland and now we are back. Earlier than planned and not quite in the way we expected, but happy all the same – and in all honesty we’re mainly relieved that we could get back, with the evil beast of Covid hot on our tails at every step of the way home. Our cousin’s daughter actually exclaimed “oh no, they’re back, that means the virus will come here” – we seem to have acquired the reputation now that wherever we go COVID-19 follows!
We survived two weeks of quarantine in Melbourne, found an apartment in the city and were waiting for Lee’s dog-grooming course to begin when Victoria’s cases started to climb – my gut told me to get a flight back to Brisbane with Tom. Halfway through Lee’s course the Queensland premier announced they were opening the border BUT excluding anyone who had been in Victoria in the past 14 days from entering – unless they were Qld residents – and then they would have to pay $2,000 per person to go into hotel quarantine! Oh dear. Then, New South Wales declared that in 48hrs they were closing their border for the first time in a century to anyone in Victoria…a few hours later they added that nobody in Melbourne could cross after midnight that evening…holy shit! I frantically packed all our things into our new Pajero and we waited for Lee to get back from his course, then we cruised 3 hours down the Hume Highway heading for Albury.
The next day, feeling pleased with ourselves, cases were announced in Albury and there was talk of ring-fencing the city off from the rest of NSW. Off we skedaddled to Gundagai, 120km further down the highway. A couple of days later the Health Minister announced that anyone who had been in Melbourne the previous 14 days could not enter ACT, and other states followed suit – they should also be in self-isolation, which clearly we were not! Luckily, they retracted the self-isolation part so we didn’t have to spend the next fortnight on the run from the law, covering our Pajero’s VIC plates with branches – which ironically had the phrase ‘Victoria, the place to be’ embossed on them.
Our plan was to spend two weeks making our way back to the NSW-Qld border so that we could tick on the declaration pass that we hadn’t been in Victoria for the previous 14 days. Around one week in, Qld started declaring “hotspots” in NSW – these were areas with a ban on anyone who’d been there. Luckily they were all in Sydney where we hadn’t been yet, but there was a real sense that they would be adding more “hotspots” and every day case numbers seemed to be increasing. One morning in Bateman’s Bay the receptionist informed me that they’d had cases in the town which would be announced that day. I ran back to the car, “Lee, quick let’s get out of here”. It felt like we were fugitives, barely keeping one step ahead.
We finally crossed the border at 12:10am on Tuesday with talk of NSW going into lockdown again and calls for Qld to re-close its border. Alas, here we are, back in the “Sunshine State” – and its good to be home. It is the final chapter of our radical sabbatical, spent mostly in the UK. We gave up full-time work and our home-life to spend more time as a family and re-discover what it is in life that brings us joy. I can’t say that we found our calling or infinite meaning and satisfaction – but we did re-evaluate what our life should look like. Taking a break from the daily grind doesn’t magically erase all of life’s challenges or make everything suddenly easier or better. If anything, it can bring focus and clarity to the important stuff and a realisation you need to work hard for what you want in life – it won’t fall in your lap. The key part of the phrase for us though is ‘what you want’. This is our life, our one shot, our hopes and desires.
It is the final chapter for our year away, but we’re excited and motivated to start a new chapter – a new home, a new area in Brisbane to explore, a new school for Tom, a new business, new hobbies, new hang-outs – and of course we still have all the old things we love too, like our beautiful mates and family. We also always dreamed of owning a 4×4 and a trailer tent so that we can go beach camping at the drop of a hat or National Parks. Though we’d better get those National Parks in quick as we’re keen to find ourselves a little rescue dog in the next few months.
Fun fact, Harrison Ford was 35 when he got his first big movie role in ‘Star Wars’. I can’t even imagine my childhood without ‘Indiana Jones’ – and he was older than me in that movie – and very charming I have to say! (Lee has a laugh at my weird Ford crush). Speaking of Lee’s – the ‘Jack Reacher’ author Lee Child didn’t actually take up writing until he was fired from his corporate job at 40, and became famous as a result at the ripe age of 50!
I’m not an overly competitive or ambitious soul – but there is something I find inspiring about stories of people who found their calling later in life. So, the final chapter? Definitely not. I’d wager we’ve got countless enthralling chapters to go in our book of life.
Joelle
the three free spirits. 