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The Long Road Home
  • JulieReganAdventures
Jun – Nov 2021

The Long Road Home

Travelling the Outback with ute and caravan Baca lagi
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  • JulieReganAdventuresThe Long Road HomePengembara
    Chalk art from family session
    ExerciseFood optionsSmall running area but at least we can runSurprise Delivery

    Day 6 Iso

    31 Oktober 2021, New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Almost halfway through and really it has gone pretty quick so far. Today is our third test although we are still waiting for the results of the second test. After this one we get a break until day 12. We have also settled into a bit of a routine, we try to get an exercise slot mid afternoon as this seems to be the longest stretch of the day.

    On Friday afternoon we were surprised with two unexpected deliveries. The first was a beautiful bag of gourmet treats from Regan’s sister including a bottle of Pinot. Not long after it was delivered there was a second knock at the door (such an exciting event) and the hotel delivered chips and fizzy. I am interested to try the feijoa one with gin soon.

    Friday night we had a shared drinks catch up with Judy and Grant and then did a Campbell family call on Saturday morning. It was our chance to freak Emily and Fredrik out with tales from iso. They arrive from UK early in December and are lucky to only have 7 days of managed isolation due to recent changes. Sadly we missed out on the change. Our exercise was at midday so the morning went really quickly

    The afternoon was wet and seemed to go by very slowly. I tried to break up the afternoon with a coffee treat and some yoga and a pre-dinner drink. We had managed to secure a second exercise slot for 8pm as we are struggling a bit to digest dinner in a room which is only 11 steps from one end to the other.

    At 8pm we headed outside, it was still raining so we donned jacket and I had an umbrella. It is not fun walking in the rain with a face mask on but we were desperate to be out. I caused a bit of a drama as one of my ear buds fell out into a garden with a large bush. I ended up with two lovely defence people helping me hunt it out in the pouring rain. Luckily they were white and one of the guys spotted it amongst the leaf mulch. I was very thankful as I have only had them for a week.

    Sunday is housekeeping day so we request what we need and it is dropped off outside our door. We are confined to our rooms this afternoon due to covid testing so our exercise was early this morning. We have requested another session tonight but due to the restricted number of exercise sessions we are on a waiting list at this stage. I feel a Netflix binge coming on.    Baca lagi

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  • JulieReganAdventuresThe Long Road HomePengembara
    Proudly flying the flag
    Diwali lunch time sweetsHalloween sweets

    Day 10 Iso

    4 November 2021, New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    So we are getting towards the pointy end of the isolation experience. Things are pretty routine and even the nightly menus are not so exciting. The end is close but not quite close enough. We have had a few days break from the Covid testing which we have enjoyed. Our last test before freedom is tomorrow.

    Tuesday and Wednesday went quite quickly as both Regan and I have had follow up enquires regarding some work opportunities we had applied for last week. Nothing concrete yet but it appears we might both have interviews next week when we are back in Christchurch so fingers crossed.

    They have extended our walking area - the same car park but three bays now rather than 2. About 150metres loop. It is good news for us as each session can have more people. We have been able to do two sessions each day. We try to do one early in the morning and then the second one later in the afternoon. Podcasts have been my saviour to distract from the endless loops.

    The food has continued to be plentiful but of course because we can’t choose it is losing some of the appeal. We have had a few days where there has been a creamy sauce on at least one meal. I have started to order the vegetarian option to try and get something a little plainer. The hotel is celebrating Diwali today so we had a nice Indian lunch with sweets to follow.

    When we entered isolation we had two MIQ task lists running. The first being the boring tasks we just need to get done such as tax returns, getting the truck and caravan re-registered and insured for example. The second list was more fun items such as yoga, painting, embroidery, book reading and Netflix bingeing. We did a task list check this morning and we have been very productive.

    We have decided to fly back to Christchurch on Monday night. The road trip we had initially planned sort of unravelled with the level 3 restrictions in place in Auckland and Waikato. We are allowed to leave MIQ an hour early in order to make the flight so only 4 sleeps to go now and a very long day on Monday.    Baca lagi

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  • JulieReganAdventuresThe Long Road HomePengembara
    Lovely chalk messages in our exercise area
    Card games. Maybe a drink as well.Packing startedPlane trips still with masksBettys scones are the best

    Iso done

    9 November 2021, New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    The last few days in isolation continued pretty much the same as day 10. As we mentioned in the last post we were able to get two or three exercise sessions each day which was handy as I had a few potential work calls and banished Regan to the car park. Nothing concrete yet but some promising leads we hope. The last couple of days was fabulous weather so getting outside was even more enjoyable.

    Our last Covid test was on Friday and we got the negative test results on Saturday morning. We received our permission letters to travel home and it was frustrating for everyone in the hotel having to stay closed up for another 48 hours. On Monday morning we stayed in bed late then had a walk before lunch. After lunch the packing began. It was all done and dusted within an hour and we had 5 very large bags.

    It was a very slow afternoon once we were all packed and just waiting. Thankfully we had saved the Netflix series “Clickbait” until our last few days so we immersed ourself in a couple of episodes. The health nurse called at 5pm and give us the final sign off. The shuttle arrived at 5:45pm and we were allowed to leave our rooms. There were only 5 of us heading to the airport.

    Auckland airport was completely dead, there was only one entrance. We needed to show photo ID, our permission to travel letter and our boarding passes. Air New Zealand was all self service and allowed our luggage on the plane. We had intended to have a bite to eat before our flight however we were totally out of luck as everything was closed.

    There were approximately 50 people on the flight so plenty of space. They had suspended food service however we could get water if we requested it. It was a very smooth flight and we landed in Christchurch early. Our friends Deb and Gerard were there to meet us and give us the car keys. The masks come off as soon as we got in the car.

    It was a miserable evening in Christchurch, drizzly and cold. The heating went on when we got home and had a cuppa before we climbed into our own bed. Neither of us slept very well. I think we were processing that we were actually home. The weather today has been just as miserable and the slippers and jumpers have been unpacked.

    Mum delivered some of her incredible scones for breakfast and some essential supplies. We then exploded and emptied 7 large suitcases (shipping and plane) into to at least the right room. The house is looking very lived in! This afternoon we caught up with friends and stocked the fridge. We thoroughly enjoyed a simple dinner and sitting in our living room.

    I think it is going to take a few days for it to sink in that we are back in Christchurch permanently and our Aussie adventure is finished. We have one last blog entry to put up in the next couple of days which will be a highlights summary and then we will be done and back to a normal working life......until next time.    Baca lagi

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  • JulieReganAdventuresThe Long Road HomePengembara
    Big Red Badh sunrise
    Emily Gap near Alice SpringsUluruLitchfieldTown Beach at BroomeHorizontal Falls before we landedPaul Kelly at the Big Red Bash

    The Last Post

    11 November 2021, New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    After leaving Melbourne on 27th June and finally arriving to our new home in Kaiapoi on 8th November we sure have crammed in some excitement in 135 days.

    The people we have met along the way all have their own stories and are so interesting. Some have been travelling for months and even a couple of years. The tricks we learned and stories we heard were amazing. So many like-minded people and wide ranging ages from young families to all the grey nomads. Some rigs were enormous and others were more than happy living in a roof top tent. The record for me was 5 kids and parents in a Hiace van and tent which they set up each night. Another was the elderly couple with 3 dogs (one was a Great Dane) and a cat all in caravan and annex.

    We stayed ahead of covid lockdowns – the closest was finding out on the NT WA border that we were 4hrs from being locked out.

    Some facts:
    94 nights in campgrounds (paid)
    9 nights freedom camping
    4 nights staying at a roadhouse
    3 nights at the Big Red Bash
    7 nights staying with friends
    18 nights in a hotel (14 in managed isolation)
    19000km driven
    6300km flown (4 flights)
    Nil breakdowns
    1 puncture
    1 new windscreen
    1 oil change
    1 new microwave oven
    1 dentist appointment (and a pedicure at the adjoining shop. Guess who was at the pedicure??)
    Quite a few hours under the caravan repairing plumbing due to rocks.
    Unknown weight in collected red dust
    6 Covid tests and the second covid jab each
    Fuel prices varied from $1.34 to $2.06/ litre

    Highlights- so many people have asked us what was our best place and that is so hard to compare what we have experienced so here’s a few:
    Litchfield area- easy to get to, plenty of safe swimming and a relatively compact area close to Darwin.
    Cable Beach- Broome- great beach but also the first sea swim after thousands of km driving inland.
    Big Red Bash- a real bucket list experience and meeting up with such a great group of people.
    Alice Springs – incredible landscapes and a very spiritual place.
    Uluru- not many tourists there which made it very special.
    Horizontal falls- natures best.
    The long straight roads- yes sometimes boring but that countryside is spectacular.

    Not so good:
    Midge attack at Derby. The town was lovely but boy did we take a beating with midges.
    Red dust- it just gets everywhere.
    Bush flies in WA- little blighters.
    The road into the Bungles.
    14 days hotel isolation.
    Now we are back in our little house in Kaiapoi which feels huge after 4 months in confined spaces. It all feels a little dream-like and we question ourselves if it really did happen. We are going to play a game next winter where I send Regan a photo of red rocks and dusty ground and ask him to guess which gorge it is! We both feel very privileged to have had this opportunity and for anyone thinking about a similar trip we would say go for it. Even the hard days were the best.    Baca lagi

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    Tamat perjalanan
    8 November 2021
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