Woke to a wet, overcast Sydney Harbour after having completed our second night in quarantine.
Interesting to note that the expressway leading to the Sydney Harbour Bridge had very little traffic on it during what is thought to be the rush hour period.
The days are beginning to be divided by the times when our food is to be delivered. The knock on the door indicates that our meal has been left on the chair outside our door.
The continental breakfast left this morning. The hotel has a set time-span for each meal being delivered. At this stage the novelty of what is being presented has not worn off. The meals today were of a good standard. The grilled salmon and Greek salad for lunch was very tasty.
The grilled salmon and other delights.
So much so when the braised beef cheek arrived for dinner, we struggled to each it all.
The main distraction today was the Day 2 Covid-19 testing. The knock on the door came late morning. Two nurses in full PPE instructed us to stand against the door while they probed our throat and nasal cavity. Not that impressed with one of the nurses as to how they went about the process.
There was something special about seeing the sun rise in the eastern skies of Australia. The early morning arrival in Sydney was particularly reassuring.
It was the dawn of a new experience on returning to our homeland- the experience of forced quarantine. There were 22 other Aussies on the flight - we were greeted by very helpful police and military personnel. Special instructions commenced on the flight, and continued at various stages before we reach our hotel room.
Once off the plane we had our temperature taken, then moved onto the passport control and then to the customs force. Once through all these checks we were corralled in a building and waited for a bus to turn up.
Once on the bus it was announced that we were heading to the Marriott Hotel Sydney Harbour. It appeared to be a popular destination - some other hotels have had some not so kind words said about their record.
View from our Marriott suite - not too shabby!
Our first meal, delivered outside our door, was of a very reasonable standard.
Lunch at the Marriott.
We feel that for two weeks we will make the best of the quarantine, fortunate to be back in Oz while thousands of others are still stranded.
An afternoon nap was taken as a little jet lag set in. Or, was this so we could stay awake for the football final on later in the evening!
What we didn’t miss, though, was the arrival of the evening meal. We were in fits of laughter at the sight of the offering.
Top, diner is delivered, left, lunch uncovered and right, diner is now served! Two large boxes were waiting for us outside our door - not to be opened without a face mask. Not often do I leave food on my plate, but this serving was beyond my capacity - the quantity was far and away very generous.
Dinner out of the way left us to concentrate on the football that was in progress.
If this is to be our lives for the next two weeks, so be it. Many others are in a worse place than we find ourselves.
Sitting here in Tokyo we feel that our efforts to return to Oz are almost realised. One more step in a few hours will see us on our final step. But should we, or more importantly, should the other stranded Aussies been put through this fiasco - there are other alternatives!
Just looking at the front of our passport:
Not sure the National Cabinet, in all there wisdom, have had a look at this for a while. Shame on them!
The Tokyo Airport, normally a very busy place, is extremely quiet. A look on the departure boards give a snapshot of this problem.
Our flight JL51 is the only flight on schedule. Flight was away on time and was another pleasant experience on a JAL flight.
We were interested in the Emiliana lasagne. So ordered it for breakfast fast.
Not to miss out on a”Happy Friday” - even though the champers was only served in a plastic cup!
It has been a long wait - finally we have lift off!
Confirmation of our seats came when checking in yesterday. It was with some relief that it was a smooth process. Many Aussies have got to this point only to be disappointed. We now had a boarding pass!
The day has been quite frantic: packing up and cleaning the flat, gathering all our accumulated clobber, calling past Mad’s and Kevan to say good bye and then off to Jim’s before heading to Heathrow with Jim for some wining and dining in Terminal 5.
“Parting is such sweet sorrow!” We are at least on the board!
A very empty Terminal 5. Even the shuttle trains between the terminals we devoid of people! We arrived at the boarding area just in time - our boarding group was being called. Again, even this London to Tokyo leg seemed to be very light on - many empty seats in our area (about 50% full).
The service on this JAL flight was second to none. Fine food and drink, with most comfortable seating.
The relief at getting a flight back home was tempered somewhat by the sadness of leaving the family in London. We have had the absolute fortune of landing in the centre of this crazy pandemic with our family in London. It has been a seven months we will never forget.
Woke to an early morning call today. It made our day!
The lovely woman from Japanese Airlines was phoning to see if we would like a seat on their flight to Sydney on 15th October - it didn’t take us long to make up our minds.
So, we have a new flight.
Given the experience of thousands of Australians in the same situation, we needed to take a little bit of a check - there will always the possibility that we could be bumped from the flight in period leading up to the 15th.
The news was not greeted as enthusiastically by Maddie, but she understands that we need to get home at some stage.
But life goes on. Most days we make our way to Maddie and Kevan’s to help out where we can. Still many small jobs as part of their setting up the house, plus time with Emilia - giving Maddie and Kevan to catch up on sleep or work. It is a very treasured time.
Our daily routine would seem most uninteresting to most - so I won’t bore you with all the details, but for us it has been a most rewarding period. This may seem at odds with the news we received via email this morning - our flight to Australia on 30th September has been cancelled - again!
We have now been added to the tens of thousand of Australians that have been shafted by the Australian Government and the airlines. The PR spin by the government - you should have come back in March when we told you to return - hides the true character of all the governments of Australia. How naïve and lack of understanding of personal circumstances of its citizens who happen to be overseas with many other commitments. It is a sad reflection on what is meant by being Australian.
Enough of that! We are in a fortunate position that our extra time in the UK meant that we could see our grand-daughter grow through the first few months of Emilia’s life.
We still have the problem now of where do we go from here? The scramble for seats on planes has sent prices through the roof, as well as the unscrupulous practices by airlines selling seats they know they cannot fill (because of the quotas on the number of passengers allowed into Oz each week), makes us less confident about what is the best approach. We have even reconciled the fact that we could be here in London to well after Christmas. Maddie is very happy about that prospect!
But we still need to get home at some stage - and there is always the problem of our lack of a visa at this stage!
Yes, today should have been the day we commenced our flight back to Australia - our flight has been cancelled by Qantas who have grounded their international fleet. Not sure where this leaves us!
To make the situation more complex the Australian Government has place a cap on the number of passengers allowed into Australia - 4000 a week. A total lack of support for the thousands of Australian stranded overseas.
It has been reported that the Australian passport is the 9th most prized passport in the world - for anywhere other than Australia!
From my understanding, Australia is the only country refusing entry to many of its own citizens. Shame on you, Australian Government!
We are not too concerned as we are totally enjoying the time with our family - and in particular our gorgeous grand-daughter, Emelia.
Even though we are totally valuing our time with our family, we do need to get home. Our six-month visitor visa also ran out today! We are now officially illegal aliens. We guess that the British Government has bigger issues on their plates than chasing down a few ageing Australians.
Daily life goes on. A decision as to what our next move will be is in our thoughts. Many Australians are finding it almost impossible to access a seat on a flight to Oz, so what ever we do will be very problematic.
What a disgraceful performance by the Australian Government. Leaving its own citizens in the lurch, cut off from the support of the families and friends in Australia. There seems to be no effort as to finding alternative arrangements around returning citizens.
Staying put in London has all been worthwhile. The loveliest little bundle arrived at 8.59 am on the 22nd July - Emilia Merlehan. Maddie and Kevan are both doing well, too.
A very happy Granny!
Reading - day 1! Maddie looking well.
Proud dad, Kevan.
The last seventy three days have been leading up to this new addition to the family.
As mentioned in our last post, we had started painting the front reception room. As we progressed, we added the hallway to our endeavours, with other paint jobs becoming obvious- even though they weren’t planned for originally.
A newly painted room made the next one look a bit shabby - so on we went.
The front reception room.
The new nursery.
And, the painted balustrade.
The family room project. Being supervised!
Once the interior had been almost finished we felt that the outside deck had seen better days - out with the sander and two coats of decking oil saw an amazing transformation.
This success made the pine floorboards in the family-kitchen area look second rate - so, the sander came out again, and with a couple of coats of floorboard wax/oil it was looking almost original.
Original floor boards returned to near new.
We were now ready for the new addition to the family. Emilia, born on Wednesday and home on Thursday, with the house looking all shiny and welcoming.
Emilia was now ready to meet Some of her new family.
After three months in lockdown at James’ apartment, we have now moved to Maddie’s and Kevan’s apartment in Hanwell. We are being terribly spoilt with James still doing all our grocery shopping, with Kevan and Maddie insisting on purchasing Hello Fresh for our main meal each day.
Our daily walk now is to Maddie’s house - a forty minute walk (4700 steps!) - where we have been painting the new nursery, the hallway and the front reception room - at the moment!
Freshly painted rosette ceiling medallion centre piece.
Having not done a full days work in ten years, so a bit knackered at the end of the day. Nevertheless, quite rewarding when reflecting on the progress being made each day.
Charging up ready for more painting.
We have been living in an environment where we hear of the COVID-19 happing all around us, but to our surprise, we had been living in the midst of an early Covider - James!
The UK newspapers reported on the first infected UK resident on 31st January. The date for the virus appearing in the UK is now being seriously revised. It is thought that the virus was present well before this date. The snippet in the Guardian this week read:
“ Andrew Soppitt, a retired hospital consultant from West Sussex, is convinced he became infected with coronavirus on a skiing trip to Austria in late January. The ski resorts he visited, St Anton and Bad Hofgastein, were the suspected locus of many subsequent infections. “I was really ill. I felt like death. I just couldn’t get out of bed. I could barely get up the stairs.”
For many weeks now James has been wondering if he had had the virus when reflecting on his illness back in January. He got himself tested last Thursday and the results came back positive. He had the antibodies of COVID-19 racing around his system!
James’ Covid-19 test results.
On 20th January he, and a few mates, flew out to Austria for a ski trip, which was cut short for him because on the third day he didn’t feel well, so much so that he organised for an early return to London. Over the next few days his condition deteriorated to such an extent that he had to phone for an ambulance. They did testing for heart condition and a number of other test but wanted to take him to hospital there and then. They suspected he perhaps had pneumonia.
The antibodies man - barbecuing for all.
James assured them that he would see his GP the next day for further tests. A throw away comment by the ambo doctor suggested that James may have had “that Chinese infection that was being reported.” This was in the 24th January.
To continue the oddities of London’s development, this video of explains a little of how not all plans come to fruition.
With very much care and monitoring by James and Maddie, we have, so far, negotiated the lockdown with a great deal of success - still a long way to go!
The week has had one major highlight, Maddie and Kevan have finally settled on their new house and moved
Relief and happiness as they are about to unlock the door of their new home
The settlement on realestate in the UK seems to be a convoluted process compared with that in Australia. But at the end of a seven-month long process, they finally got their keys on Friday morning. Maddie and Kevan plan to put their own mark on their home, with some lovely ideas - starting with a change of room colours! So, the next few weeks will be taken up isolating ourselves while painting.
We started some preparations for the painting by filling holes in the plaster and masking up around woodwork and other fixtures.
Going to the hardware store - one of the UK big ones - was another interesting experience. Why couldn’t Bunnings have make a success of business here in the UK!
Prep for painting, and lining up for hardware store visit.
We have continued our daily routine of walks around Chiswick. The roses are blooming magnificently with many archways and doorways being framed by these blooms.
The colours at Chiswick House and Gardens are constantly changing with the rhododendrons in full bloom at the moment.
On Sunday we moved into Maddie and Kevan's vacated flat - giving James a little respite from the oldies! That has gone well - about a 40-minute walk to Maddie’s home - not prepared to run the gauntlet of the public transport system at this stage!
To continue the discovery of London here is another interesting video on the eccentricities of London.
