This is Australia

Hi Platypus, wishing you all the best with your thread!

It will be nice to see all the Aussies together! ???
Nanna8 is a great regular poster

We were lucky enough to visit Australia in 2019. We did Melbourne to Adelaide on the ocean road, then flew to Sydney for the final week. We had a fabulous time, it was wonderful.

This will be interesting as I am regularly in touch with a friend in Perth (usually with online Words with Friends) and have visited too. Would love to go back one day, when we're allowed to and don't have to wear masks for the duration of the flight, if that ever happens.....

SueDonim: we were there too in Jan/Feb 18, did a 3 weeks organised tour and saw some many great places. Great memories ?

Aww thanks FannyCornforth I’m usually a wallflower but hey yolo!

Might add a bit of Aussie news for those that need an update.

Ummm, we are no longer the beacon of Covid suppression - the state I’m in, NSW, is in total lockdown. I think some of Victoria and Queensland are also locked down. NSW’s daily cases are steadily rising and are around 500 cases per day now.

We have some very confusing rules around lockdown and each state has its own set of rules so NSW is totally different to Victoria’s rules. We are really like a set of mini counties contained on one big and little island.

Anything at all that anyone wants to know about Australia please ask.

SueDonim the Great Ocean Road is truly stunning.
granfromafar you know more people in Perth than I do! Hope you saw some amazing Australian sights on your tour. Yes, do come back if the borders ever open again. I’m glad I went to England in November and December 2019 to see my cousins again as I may not ever get to see them again.

Hello Platypus . We have a few regular posters from Oz, never been but enjoy the word pictures posters paint of their lives.

Platypus ?
The friends in Perth are from the UK originally but have lived in WA for 30+ years. In fact our husbands used to work together many moons ago.
Thanks for updating us with your news. Let's hope your number of cases goes down and number of people vaccinated goes up.

Let's hope your number of cases goes down and number of people vaccinated goes up.

I'm hoping that too.
The continual short lockdowns are causing huge disruption to lives and livelihoods.

The short lockdowns are only in some areas and despite being inconvenienced they’re working in those areas.

Also people are getting paid from the government if they get locked down. I think it’s $1,500 for a short lockdown.

For the long lockdown areas people who can’t work from home and aren’t an essential worker are getting $750 per week.

Businesses are getting grants of between $10,500 and $100,000 and then getting a minimum of $1,500 per week or 40% of their payroll.

So despite our freedom being clipped, no one is starving.

I loved Australia although I didn't mean to! It was just work but as soon as I landed I felt at home. We were in Melbourne at first and travelled round there then on to Sydney. My favourite city in the world. In fact I liked it so much I went back the next year and took DH with me.
Loved the Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley wine route and also the Dandenongs. Doubt I'll ever go back but have such happy memories.
Meanwhile I watch Australian dramas whenever I can find one. 'Offspring'!

I like to hear news from other countries so this thread is a good idea Platypus

Platypus my main aim of going to Australia was to see the Twelve Apostles on the GOR. I’d been sent a postcard of them, maybe 25 or 30 years ago and had kept it all this time because I was simply mesmerised by them. The day we got there was dreadful weather, sea mist and windy and cold but oh, it was wonderful! They were very bit as fascinating as I’d expected.

We went in 2019 because earlier that year my sister had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and succumbed to it within three months. Australia had been on my to-do list for years but losing my sister made me wonder what on earth I was waiting for and so I went and booked it and we traveled six weeks later.

We loved Melbourne & Adelaide, Sydney not so much as it was very anonymous and apart from the Opera House harbour area, could have been almost any city anywhere. We did visit Manley, which we enjoyed. We ate well on our entire visit, which was another pleasure, the food everywhere was so good.

Hi Platypus, I’m in NZ and have had many happy holidays in Oz. It’s hard, but I think our favourite state is SA. Beautiful Adelaide and surrounding countryside, so much to see. Then Sydney, that truly magnificent harbour, beyond words, the old ferries nipping back and forth. And Melbourne with those lovely laneways, a surprise awaiting on each day out. I too read with real concern at the escalating number of Covid cases in NSW especially, this new variant making itself sorely felt. Sincerely hoping with the vaccination program rolling out you see a steady reduction in the number of new infections. Very well aware it could be in NZ in a heartbeat, it’s tough for you. Good luck, stay safe and well, and on behalf of many kiwis, we look forward to our next much awaited return visit to Australia.

Wow Platypus thanks! My two sons and families live there and I love hearing anything to do with Oz. I’ve been lucky to be able to visit many times, can’t wait to go again!

Thanks Platypus , what a good idea. I used to read the Silver Brumby books as a child and I think that's how I became fascinated with Australia! I finally got to visit in 2019 and spent a month visiting Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. I absolutely loved the place and I think you Australians have a wonderful sense of humour and a belief in community. Since I came back I've been listening to a couple of podcasts, Nightlife and Life Matters, both very thoughtful and often fun. I so want to visit again when it's possible.

I can recommend the Patricia Shaw books if you want to read interesting, well-researched fiction about early Australian immigration by the Europeans and other nations.

Thank you Platypus I visited, maybe 30 years ago. I was working, a few days in Melbourne, similar in Sydney. Then I had a weeks holiday in Port Douglas, good memories.

As both my son and daughter live in NSW I’ve visited several times. The last time, two years ago, we flew to Perth and took the four day Indian Pacific train to Sydney - quite an experience! I’ve just been watching one of the Australia in Colour series. Well worth watching.
www.pbsamerica.co.uk/series/australia-in-colour/

We're watching this too Juliet27.
A fascinating evening's viewing.
Highly recommended!

Thanks Juliet27

Well I guess it comes as no surprise but the Melbourne lockdown has just been extended until September 2nd - was supposed to end this Thursday. New/additional restrictions will be put in place as of tonight which include a 9pm - 5am curfew, work permits for essential workers to be carried, most will have to work from home, playgrounds, skate parks and the like closed. Masks must be worn when away from one's home and can only be removed to eat or drink non alcoholic beverages. They must be kept on if consuming alcoholic beverages. The point of this is to stop people having impromptu street parties or gatherings and generally stop the movement of people.
By other countries numbers we still have very few but our authorities have been consistent in trying to stop the spread and they really are very concerned that this Delta strain is not behaving as others have. This time children are being affected so much more than they were with other strains and so schools are once again remote learning.

The vaccination rate which has been a real stuff up, is slowly improving and I think that in the next couple of weeks there will be a lot of older people that have their second shot so the number of fully vaccinated will increase.

Meanwhile it looks like my planned spending spree for new furniture etc. will be restricted to online shopping.
At least we are nearly out of winter and can expect some nicer weather before too long.

Oh no Spice101 hearing you’re 7th lockdown is extended is so sad for you guys - you’re rules are very clear or appears - far easier to understand than ours in NSW. I do try to believe our State Premiers are all trying the best in this ever evolving situation.

Furniture shopping - oooww I’m jealous - what’s the occasion? An update? Redecorate? New house?

I’d kill for a cut and colour at the moment!

Hello Platypus. Nice to see greetings from Oz.

We lived in Darwin for two years 1989/91 and I have happy memories of it. My DC went to school there, and I worked as a supply (relief) teacher. We were there because of my late DH's job which I am not supposed to talk about, but he worked for the British government.

I have many happy memories of friends made, places visited. Kakadu, Katherine Gorge, Litchfield Park etc. The Northern Territory seemed to have its own distinctive character.

We had a holiday sailing around the Whitsunday Islands, and also visited family in Adelaide for a wedding. Happy days!

DH and I went back 10 years later and revisited Darwin, then went on to Adelaide to see family again, then on to Sydney which we hadn't managed to get to first time round.

Hoping to visit again (on my own this time, sadly), and visit family again who have now relocated to Brisbane and Port Douglas.