Are we essential travellers?

As we have to be out of our house in just under three weeks, we have decided to start moving the big things into our storage shed.  The first thing to move was the camper.  Our storage shed is at Port Douglas and it is a 30 minute/30km drive.  We started our journey down the range and the passenger in the first car that we passed started shaking her fist at us.  What?  The passengers in the next car almost screwed their heads off watching us as we passed by them. What?  The third car tooted us with their horn. What? So I have a question.  Are we carrying out essential travel?  Of course we are.  We have to be off our property very soon and how else are we going to do it without travel.  We travel from Point A (home) to Point B (storage shed) with no stopping in-between and no interaction with anybody at all.  I feel very sorry for the Grey Nomads that through no fault of their own have been caught up in all of this. A big majority of them are living in the Vans full-time and have nowhere to go. We intend to be just like them when this lockdown is finished......a person "of no fixed address"
Please lets try to not be so judgmental of our fellow Australians.  We do not know their story. Whinge over....

Our storage shed

Our isolation continues to be one of very little change to our lives.  The only thing I'm doing more of is cooking using ingredients that I already have on hand in my freezer and pantry and staying away from the supermarket.  I am also doing this for our own benefit so that we have less food to take with us!
I started writing this blog a few days ago and today is Easter Sunday.  Happy Easter everybody and I hope the Easter Bunny visited your house and left you lots of chocolate.  He must have lost his way to our place as there is not a chocolate in sight!
I whipped up a batch of Hot Cross Buns for Easter and even if I do say so myself they are quite delicious.  Flour is something that I have not been able to source since we have been in lockdown but I did find a packet of Spelt flour in the health food section so I used that.  So my buns have now accidentally become Gluten Free.....

Can you ever have too much butter?

Another delicious meal that I whipped up through the week was Hayden Quinns Lettuce Wedge Salad with "poor man's parmesan" served alongside a piece of marinated steak.  I may have had one too many Margarita's when I took this photo but you get the idea....

Well folks, stay safe and enjoy your self imposed isolation.

Crazy Times

My last post was on the 5th March and it seems like a lifetime ago.  Back then in my blog I told you that Corronavirus was simply a flu that would pass by.  My view has not changed since then and I am still not worried about Covid-19 (as it is now called) and I am one of the ones who has a compromised immune system! What I am worried about is the financial side of things.  Now that is a REAL worry.  Australia is now billions of dollars in debt that will take more than a decade to claw back.  But, I am so proud of our Prime Minister who has seen where the difficulties lie and has addressed them.  My goodness,  PM Scomo looks like he hasn't slept for weeks (probably hasn't) and he is constantly being attacked for whether he does or doesn't.  Thank goodness he has resolve.

So how are we treating self-isolation?  To be honest nothing is very different for us. We are lucky that we breath crisp clean air and that we have many acres to roam on if we wish.  I have tried to cut my grocery shop back to once a fortnight but haven't succeeded because there are many things on my list that I can't get.  Fortunately we have plenty of toilet paper.  It has actually been a good thing for me to use up what is in the pantry and freezer and to get my thinking cap on regarding food substitution if I don't have a particular ingredient.  

I still make lunch our main meal and we have been eating a lot more outside to take in the beauty that surrounds us and to be grateful for where we live.  

Speaking of which, we now have a contract in place on our property that will settle on the 24th April if everything goes according to plan. Unfortunately that is something that no-one can foresee at the moment. It is probably the worst time possible to sell our property and re-locate and all our plans for retirement have gone down the drain.  It was our intention to drive to Newcastle to pick up our new caravan and set off on a journey around Australia for a couple of years.  That is now off the agenda.  Instead we will rent in Port Douglas until such time that it is safe to travel.

To all my friends and family, wherever you live, be safe, isolate and switch off all social media, particularly Fakebook.  

If you want genuine Covid-19 information go to 

https://www.health.gov.au/ 

or 

https://www.health.qld.gov.au/

xx Judi