One of my favourite activities each year used to be planning an overseas holiday. I say used to be because I no longer have the confidence to risk such an undertaking. As “Novids” my husband and I expect any day to come down with the dreaded disease and can’t understand why we are in the 10% of the Australian population that hasn’t had it.
Not going overseas is definitely a First World problem. When I think of people in countries where bombs are raining down, or earthquakes are burying loved ones under rubble I feel ashamed for complaining. In my own country I look at people who have been flooded or burnt out in bushfires and think how lucky I am. So I’m not too bitter about not going … but it would have been a great trip.
The year of 2020 was to include a visit to Sicily followed by a gulet cruise (traditional small cruise ship) among the picturesque Croatian coastal islands.
In October of 2019 I paid the deposit on our seven day voyage from Dubrovnik to Split. The next step was to book a flight so I chose Qantas, with a two night stop in Dubai and a change of airline in Rome to fly to Catania in Sicily.
Once flights were booked I took out insurance in case the unthinkable happened and we couldn’t go.
How to get from Sicily to Dubrovnic? Further research found a bus we could take from Taorima to Bari on the mainland. From here we could sleep on an overnight ferry to Croatia. Over the next weeks I booked two nights in Catania, a week in Ortigia, three nights in Taorima and individual nights in Agrigento and Piazza Amorina. We would travel light and catch buses between the towns. By December I had booked two nights in Split for the end of our boat trip and two nights in Zagreb from where we would fly out to Dubai and finally back to Sydney.
Meanwhile the outside world had other plans. The 31 December 2019 was one of those days where the word “unprecedented” became part of the language. From across the Victorian border in Mallacoota all the way up the NSW coast bushfires destroyed people, towns, vegetation and wildlife.
It seemed like it would never rain again. The air was thick with smoke.
On the 16th January we left Sydney Harbour with our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren on the ship Ovation of the Seas. We were glad to escape the smoky air of coastal NSW and explore a tiny bit of New Zealand from the ports of Dunedin, Picton and Wellington and view the Sounds. We returned to the still smoky Sydney on the 24th January. The next day the first confirmed case of Corona Virus in Australia was identified in Victoria in a man recently returned from Guandong, China
On Feb 5 I wrote the Corona Virus is spreading. I hope it has settled down by June. There are people stuck on a Princess ship off Japan as there is Corona Virus on board. Imagine being trapped on a ship in a cabin, especially one without a porthole!
From the 7th February the word unprecedented no longer applied to bush fires. Now it was floods and storms. Dams were overflowing, people were being evacuated from flooded houses, powerlines were down. The word catastrophic was used regularly. At least the bushfires were well and truly out.
On 17th Feb we heard the people on the ship off Japan were being evacuated. The Australians coming home would be in quarantine in Darwin for two weeks. Our daughter was worried about her proposed trip to Thailand. For the first time it occurred to us it could even affect our trip to Europe. Maybe it would be all over by June?
John’s brother and his wife were to fly to Africa in two weeks to begin a cruise through the Suez Canal and Mediterranean. On the 1st March John rang his brother to see if he was still going. We began to wonder if we would ever see them again as they were determined not to cancel. The cruise was to finish in Venice which was by now a hotbed of Coronavirus.
A week later we made a decision. It looked like our plans were scuttled as Corona Virus spread far and wide. I checked to see what could be cancelled and found some accommodation was refundable. I wasn’t sure about the flights. They were bought on sale so I had my doubts.
On the 8th March I wrote I’m feeling sad about the European holiday but resigned as well. Tomorrow I will ring Qantas. I will try to get a refund on the airfares. Then I will do the accommodation. There is also the flight from Rome and the ferry trip to Dubrovnik…
That same day the ship, Ruby Princess, left Sydney for New Zealand. On the 19th March it returned, disgorging its 2,600 passengers into taxis, trains and airport buses. They were infected with Covid and spread it far and wide as some returned to homes interstate and overseas.
Italy imposed a lockdown March 9. On 11th March I wrote, Italy is now closed off to tourists because of the Virus. It is estimated to hit Australia with a vengeance in a week.
My daughter and son-in-law celebrated their 40th birthdays at the Rose Hotel in Chippendale. It was to be our last family gathering for many months.
The government announced on 15th March that everyone returning from overseas would have to do two weeks quarantine. John’s brother and his wife had flown to Mauritius, decided against boarding the cruise ship and flown home again, just in time to avoid quarantine. They decided to lie low at home for a couple of weeks as a precaution.
All school excursions have been cancelled as well as after school activities. There is even talk that school might be cancelled too!
Then on 16th March something happened that was completely unexpected. John woke with numb fingers and was diagnosed with a transient ischemic attack (TIA). It was a mini stroke, in his case leaving no permanent damage.
The ## March was my daughter’s birthday. It was also the day of her father’s carotid endarterectomy (removal of plaque from the carotid artery) and the first day of home schooling. Just as well she had celebrated her 40th earlier in the month.
John recalls looking out the hospital window at the Ruby Princess tied up at Port Kembla. It was just marking time with its 1400 strong crew stranded in limbo.
At the hospital the medical staff were busy preparing John’s ICU for the expected influx of Corona Virus patients. They were stressed and distracted by the enormity of what lay ahead. He was glad to get out of there.
When we arrived home we heard our son (a computer programmer in Canberra) was in one half of the building that was sent home indefinitely. Presumably the other half were expected to spread out in the extra space. The grandchildren had their last day at school as it was optional but highly recommended to stay home if possible.
That afternoon the Aqua Joggers linked up on Zoom in preparation for an 8 o’clock exercise class three times a week. We all had fun talking to each other. It helped us survive several lockdowns and adjust to a limited lifestyle.
That all seems so long ago. We were able to get refunds from some of our accommodation and the ferry trip. Qantas eventually refunded most of our airfares. Our insurance covered the rest except for the gulet. Every year Goolets Yacht Charters asks if we are ready to rebook our boat trip in Croatia. They wouldn’t refund us our deposit so it is still there waiting for us. At first the thought of catching Covid while overseas was the biggest deterrent but now the long uncomfortable flights in economy class and the possibility of illness in a foreign country are enough to convince us “there’s no place like home”. That’s not to say we won’t change our minds. Never say never.
The Curry Apple Orchard 