Clicking your heels three times and repeating the phrase “There’s no place like home” doesn’t seem to work.

Our flight back to Canada is scheduled for April 1st, which is sounding way too late with each passing day. We’ve contacted Air Canada, who instructed us to contact the agent we booked the flights with to reschedule. The agent (CIBC Rewards) said that unless we were scheduled to fly in the next 72 hours, we’re at the back of the queue. After seeing some of the footage of how crowded the airports are at the moment, maybe it’s best if we just sit tight for now.

The grocery stores around here are also affected by the panic buying, so they’ve instituted an hour each day to allow vulnerable segments of the population exclusive access to the essentials between 7 and 8 am. The soap and toilet paper (or “date roll” as some people call it here), is gone before 9 though.

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We’re in Port MacQuarie, New South Wales in a camper van. “Traveller’s Autobarn” which in Aussie sounds like “Traveller’s Autobahn”.

We have everything we need and not much that we don’t. The weather is perfect and sunny but not too hot. We’re apparently staying at the best rated RV park (Breakwall Holiday Park) in New South Wales, and the third best in all of Australia.

They’re taking Covid-19 very seriously here, so we feel safe staying put for a little while until we get some traction on return tickets home.

We just left my Uncle Paul and Aunt Robyn’s place in Halliday’s Point, NSW. Their house is a five minute walk to the ocean!

Here are a few pics of what we got up to yesterday.

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We walked along the rocky shoreline to some rock baths for a swim. Those are picks of the walk. My Aunt Robyn celebrated her 80th birthday in November, and could navigate the craggy path better than I could. She swims twice a day, works out at the outdoor gym and plays tennis twice a week. Pretty good retirement setup if you ask me.

I don’t imagine anyone is particularly interested in our fabulous time in Australia at the moment, what with all that’s happening, but if you need a break from the virus, I’ll post some of our adventures while we sit tight here in Port MacQuarrie. The WiFi here is good, and the scenery is spectacular, and it’s easy to be socially isolated far from the big city.

We’re going to the beach today, and maybe visit the koala sanctuary tomorrow. Many koalas that survived the bush fires were injured and need rehab.

Hope everyone is well at home, and not too stressed out.