I’ve been pretty slack in putting together blog posts lately. I’ve been keen to touch base with everyone, but haven’t had a lot to write about given the ongoing pandemic. I reckon people are pretty much buggered with the pandemic but I decided to think outside the square a bit and describe the pandemic situation Aussie style. Hopefully some of yous will want to take a squiz even if without all the pics! (Don’t worry, I still tossed in a few randoms!)
When COVID-19 first hit here, the uni asked staff to work from home if they were able so the campus wouldn’t be chock-a-block. The view from my home office is sweet as, so I defo chose to stay home! Who wouldn’t choose to sit around in tracky-daks and thongs instead of dresses and heels! It was great to be able to work from home full time but it was a flat out year as we moved our face-to-face teaching to online. The uni also sacked a large number of staff last July so that also created a fair few challenges. I was stoked to still have a job though and have tried my best not to whinge. I reckon the bottle-o probably saved me from completely losing the plot!
At the start of the pandemic, Australia’s response was aimed at suppression, but our state premiers smashed it and we ended up with elimination instead – too good! But as Australia’s leaders implemented heaps of restrictions, I was gobsmacked to see the slack approach taken elsewhere. The loss of human life in some countries was dearer than anything we could have imagined! It was honestly hard to pull our eyes away from the tele. The confronting scenes were just devo!
Even though Australia’s rigid restrictions have resulted in fewer deaths from COVID than many other countries, some Aussies have really been doing it tough this past year, Meburnians especially! They spent a shocking four months in full on lock down. Far out!! We didn’t cop it nearly as badly in Queensland. Our cafes and shops opened up after only a few months and whilst we were meant to continue to comply with social distancing, life here pretty much felt back to normal. Rob and I even snuck in a cracker trip to Lady Elliot Island. I will admit we felt a bit cheeky heading off on an island holiday while our relos were stuck in lockdown, but we were keen to go to the reef and get amongst it. So we packed our bathers and sunnies and headed out for a few days of leisure – easy as!
Since our little get away to Lady Elliot in February, we’ve stayed pretty close to home. We’ve supported our community by going to a few local events, like the kite festival and Beef Week.
Rocky has painted cows like these all over the city to highlight our status as Beef Capital of Australia.
We both enjoyed seeing people out and about and enjoying life again. Nothing beats watching little bubs with icy poles melting down their sweet faces! We will both be most excited though when the musos return to live shows though! Until then, we spend our off time by the pool and sometimes, we’ll head out to the servo for some petrol and take the new car for a drive…no hooning or skidmarks on the bitumen for us though! Just a leisurely drive to take in the beautiful scenery around us.
This tree sparkles in the sunlight. 
We’ve also managed a beach day or two. Rob will throw a few tinnies into the esky (and G-man salad too of course!) and we’ll spend a few hours just listening to the waves. I reckon sitting with your feet in the sand with the sea breeze on your face is one of the best ways to just slow down and catch your breath again. Deadset!
You can walk forever on our beaches without hardly seeing another person.
It’s now been about 18 months since the pandemic started and we are finally starting to see some light after a binfire of a year. Even footy has returned…with crowds! I reckon Straya was considered pretty flash in its handling of COVID but our vaccine rollout has been rubbish and journos here are crackin the shits at our polis and telling them to pull their heads in at every turn. The maths suggest that Aussies won’t all have an opportunity for their first jab until the end of 2021 because we have low supply and a dodgy approach to getting the supply we do have into people’s arms. I think we currently have one of the lowest vaccination rates in the world and while the rest of the world is emerging from lockdowns and restrictions, last week, almost every state in our country had at least one key area in lockdown. International flights for returning Aussies were also halved. If our government doesn’t start thinking outside the square, it’s possible Australia will remain closed to international travel for another year or two. Tots devo but she’ll be right!
Thankfully Rob’s managed to concoct an Aussie version of the Caesar to get us through until our next visit to Canada.
I think we can handle this view a while longer!
As pandemic rages on, there has been a lot of argy bargy among our state leaders with each one acting like all the others are complete wankers and almost all of them dobbing in the PM each time things escalate. But the debate about his overall handling of the pandemic is big as with some people hoping he’ll be sacked and others heralding him as a fair dinkum bloke who is just a victim of circumstance.
Despite the dodgy vaccine rollout, Rob and I rocked up to our doctor’s office and got our first jabs a few weeks ago. No dramas! We just put our names on a list and then one arvo a day or two later, the doctor rang with an appointment for the next week. No bickies or Maccas coupons as an incentive but we were just chuffed to do our bit!
Getting our first jabs was the perfect birthday present!
We hope everyone back home is going well, staying safe and enjoying your summer weather! It feels funny that whilst you’re all in a heat wave, I’m needing a jumper, but winter here is nearly over so I’ll be back to wearing vests at night soon. I think it will be awhile before we get to see you all in person, but until then, we’ll continue to be stickybeaks on social media so we can keep up with all your banger get togethers. Hopefully we’ll get back to some travel and adventures within Australia soon so I can share some fun blogs again soon. Thanks for your company everyone. See you on the other side.
Hilarious… love the Aussie lingo!
It really is entertaining!!