COVID? Right, that was a thing. While New Zealand had briefly declared itself a zero-COVID country (only to have a few cases pop up again shortly after), we were down to roughly ten daily cases here in Australia — though Victoria was ticking up again.
Outside and in the shopping centres, though, you’d think we’d already beaten the invisible enemy. Sure, there was hand sanitiser at the entrance of every shop, but hardly anyone used it anymore. Apparently not worth the effort.
The kids had been back at school full-time for about three weeks, with no social distancing in sight. Yesterday, Vincent went to his first football training since lockdown. The boys were each assigned to their own little “swim lane” on the grass — marked out with cones, not allowed to leave. It looked absurd, and you had to wonder why they were so strict about it when the kids mix freely everywhere else. It’s an outdoor sport, after all.
Lilia and Valentin were still waiting for the badminton courts to reopen, and Jolanda wasn’t allowed back at gymnastics yet either. At least she’d had Zoom gym classes the past few weeks.
Restrictions had been loosening steadily, and we could move around more freely again. We still couldn’t cross into Queensland, though. Nobody in or out of Australia, full stop. But there were early signs of movement even there.
The cashed-up international students from Asia were about to be welcomed back. They were being properly courted — universities and state governments offering to cover flights. Education is Australia’s third-largest export sector, and the revenue had obviously taken a massive hit.
Tourists still weren’t allowed in, and Australians couldn’t leave until at least September 17. Not that we were planning a trip to Bali or New Zealand anyway.
The coastal walk
Enough about COVID. We were allowed to go out again. Winter here is fairly mild — daytime temperatures sit between 18 and 20 degrees most days. Perfectly manageable.
Today we headed to Wallarah National Park. The park is about fifteen minutes from home, starting just south of Caves Beach. The coastal walk is perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon. You start through a small eucalyptus and mahogany forest, with the views regularly opening up to the open ocean — container ships and sailing yachts dotting the water.
After about twenty minutes, the path winds down to Pinny Beach. The sand isn’t the finest, but we spotted plenty of fishermen and a washed-up shark. It had seen better days.
From there it’s back up onto the cliffs. The whales are migrating north to Queensland right now, and we could make out several in the distance. We’re hoping they’ll cruise a bit closer to the coast one of these days so we can actually get a decent photo.
On the way back, we walked along the coast through a stretch of heathland — low green scrub with the odd patch of grass — right along the water. Brilliant. Everything is so close to home. We’ll be back out here very soon.
I also filmed a few more impressions of the walk, though the footage lived on Vimeo and may or may not have survived the internet’s tendency to forget things.
This started life in German on reinergaertner.de, my blog since 1997. The English version was AI-assisted. My German-trained eyes may have missed a few things along the way. She’ll be right.