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Hello again. How are we all holding up? Still looking after yourself, and each other? Good, it is important we all show the best side of humanity. I keep saying this, and I will keep repeating it, “this too shall pass”. It may not feel like it now. Especially if you are still torturing yourself by watching the news. But, it will pass, and we will all come out the other side. Stronger.

What is happening with us? Well, this will not come as a surprise to those of you reading from Western Australia, but it is bloody hot over here. We are in autumn and the sun shines a lot. This is probably linked to the heat. Perfect blue skies in the morning are making for very pleasant runs in the local park. In my head I am still on holiday, so I am loving a cold beer in the afternoon, and a bottle of excellent local wine in the evening. However, this does mean that we have to keep our exercise up.

As with the rest of our fellow Australians, we have been told not to travel. Not overseas. Not inter state. Not even within state. This means we have had to start looking for somewhere to live as a home base. Apartment hunting in the current crisis is VERY different to how it was.  My first experience in Sydney was of hordes turning up for a 15 minutes slot. Barging and shoving each other as we all tried to get around the cramped apartments the quickest, so we knew whether we wanted to press our, pre-prepared, applications on the real estate agent.

Now, we have virtual viewings. Try getting your head around that. We also have viewings in real life. Considering the current climate, I had thought that we would be the only ones hunting for somewhere to live. Not so. Some apartments we had identified as potentials turn out to have been rented out to people who have committed without even seeing the property in real life. We now have a few viewings lined up and hopefully we can get somewhere very soon. We only have 3 days left in our current AirBnB so the clock is ticking.

Probably more important than finding somewhere to live is finding the best coffee. One of the very first jobs when moving to a new neighbourhood is finding who serves the best caffeine. Being in Australia, I know this is never going to be a problem. We are always spoilt for choice and this proves to be the case here in Perth. Two that I have discovered and can highly recommend are “Chu Bakery”, with its excellent selection of croissants and doughnuts. And “Engine Room Espresso”, with its next level coffee, and tasty “schmear” topped bagels.

Talking of the doughnuts from Chu Bakery, a word of warning if you do as we did, and choose to eat them across the road, in Hyde Park. Remain vigilant. Keep your eyes open. And eat your doughnut surreptitiously. Otherwise you could be in danger of suffering the same fate as me. After just a couple of bites, as I was savouring the soft fluffy doughnut, having a tantalising taste of the strawberry jam, I felt a rush of wind and a nip on my finger. Before I knew what had happened, I was looking at my now empty hand. And perched high above us, a Kookaburra trying to eat a doughnut that was twice the size of its head.

We are halfway through our first week in Perth, and at the time of writing, we are not in lockdown, as many of you are. Yes, all the bars and restaurants are closed. All the gyms are closed. But, importantly, the bottle shops remain open so no need to panic buy booze. The restaurants and cafes have pivoted to a full takeaway model, offering both pickup up and delivery. What this now means is that the market is saturated and I worry that it will only be a matter of time before a few are closing their doors for good.

Times like these do highlight the phenomenon of “unintended consequences”. For example, I have read stories from around the world where animals that usually rely on tourists for food, such as the deers in the Japanese city of Nara, are now venturing out of the parks in search of the humans, and their food. And in terms of jobs. Whilst many are being made redundant as the economy starts collapsing, there has been a massive upsurge of food delivery cyclists on the streets around Perth. I have even found myself checking out the prices of e-bikes in case I need to start bringing in some money in the short term.

One thing we have discovered is that Joe Wicks has branched out into online PE classes in the UK. Yes, I know, these are supposed to be for kids, but with no gym membership, beggars can’t be choosers. So, at 5pm local time here in Perth we will be tuning in!

“Life is what happens whilst you are making plans”, is a quote attributed to numerous people, amongst them, John Lennon of Beatles fame. Never has this aphorism been more true than in recent days.

Over a year in the planning, yesterday should have been the day we were filled with nervous excitement. Wondering what the next 12 months would hold as we embarked on the trip of a lifetime. A round the world travel adventure, sipping cocktails on deserted Filipino beaches. Swimming in the tropical shores of Thailand. Exploring the best of Europe in a campervan, and checking out the best of the vineyards. On to Canada to explore the Rockies, before brushing up my Spanish in a language school in Central America.

Well, you know the rest. Like all of you, our lives have been disrupted by events that are impacting the whole world. Humanity is being tested like never before. Lives are being changed irrevocably. New phrases are entering the lexicon. “Social distancing”. “Self isolation”. Lockdown has become a part of everyday life.

As society slowly learns to adapt to a time where we can’t see our loved ones for fear of making them ill. And jobs are lost in their thousands as social distancing means a loss of our social lives, and with it many people’s incomes. I suppose we still have a lot to be thankful for. Rather than setting off with the whole world being our oyster, we are learning to adapt ourselves.

At the end of our travels we had made the life changing decision to uproot our fabulous life in Sydney, and transport it to beautiful Western Australia. Specifically to Perth. A place we have visited a number of times and love. A place where the sun seems to constantly shine. That Margaret River, one of my favourite places in the world (in part due to the wonderful wineries and beautiful beaches) is on the doorstep of Perth, may have something to do with our choice.

Fast forward to Sunday, and with the announcement that Western Australia would be closing its borders on Tuesday afternoon, we quickly jumped on to the Qantas website and booked ourselves on a flight out. The next day. And here we are. After a flight of just under 5 hours, and a time difference of minus 3 hours from Sydney, we are safely at an AirBnB in Perth.

This is day 1. What day 2, and subsequent days hold, we don’t know. We have a week booked in our accommodation. And we need to sort out what to do after that. We don’t yet know if we will all be in full lockdown as the UK now is. We do know that across Australia all pubs, restaurants have had to close, with cafes only allowed to do a takeaway service. Importantly, the bottle shops are currently excluded from the closures so are able to stay sane through drinking copious amounts of wine. And more importantly, there is a bottle shop conveniently located a short walk from where we are staying. If a wider, New Zealand style lockdown is put in place, we will just have to find somewhere we can stay a little longer, and head out for a large supply of food and the elusive toilet roll.

Whilst this is a terrible time for everyone, the fact that a relatively “normal” life is returning in China does give me some hope. A glint of light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Until that light gets brighter, please adhere to the official advice that your respective government is giving you. It is very important. The less people we are in contact with, the less opportunity we give this virus chance to spread amongst us.

Let’s all work together to keep everyone safe. Once the darks clouds have passed, everyone is invited to the virus  “going away” party!

Let’s have a quick show of hands. How many of you are still watching the news? A few of you over there at the back. A couple of you over here. It looks as though many of you, like me, have decided we have seen enough bad news. If it is not a story about social distancing, or different opinions on whether schools should stay open or closed, it is an update of the number of people affected worldwide by current events.

At times like this I would turn to my social media feed for some mood lifting pictures. Sausage dogs in raincoats. Or maybe giant burgers that leave me salivating all day. But now even social media has been taken over by the dreaded “c” word.

I’ll whisper this, but even though I am now without employment (through choice), I still found myself checking LinkedIn. This was until I discovered that despite it being a thing for many years, everyone now seems to be an expert on working remotely. Strewth. What is a person to do?

As the sun continues to shine, and we are experiencing unseasonably warm weather, a long walk around the water was in order. Followed by lunch at a local cafe. Looking around the cafes, business remains brisk. There are now new rules about how much space there needs to be between tables, when sat indoors, but we are yet to see a marked drop off in people eating out. That said, the cafes and restaurants are pre-emptying people’s worries by everyone now offering take out services. We may be struggling to get toilet rolls, and hand sanitiser, but we definitely won’t go hungry.

In terms of our plans, as I wrote previously, we are now on plan b. We have little choice to press on with our intention to leave Sydney, and eventually relocate to Perth. Why would we do this now, in the middle of all this craziness? Well, we are now jobless. And from Monday we will be homeless. We will embrace the philosophy of slow travel, and take an unplanned road trip around this beautiful country of ours. Then, we will probably relocate to Perth a lot earlier than we originally anticipated.

Like all of you, we are taking each day as it comes. We won’t take any unnecessary risks. We will follow the official advice and watch for when any of that changes. We will keep you updated from the road, and share some of Australia with you. 

In the meantime, stay safe. Stay calm. Stay rational. Shop like a normal person. Nobody needs to stockpile toilet rolls. And we all need access to basics, like eggs. This is a time like no other. A time to support each other. Pick up the phone and talk to your friends and family. Let’s show the best of humanity. 

And let’s start putting a little money aside for the party of all parties once we get rid of this thing.

The last couple of days I have been musing a little about the world, current events, and where we fit into this confusing picture. And it is confusing, isn’t it? Please don’t tell me that I am the only one who wakes up and checks what new levels of craziness the world has descended into whilst we slept.

Dan Ariely, in The Upside of Irrationality, talks about how we adapt to new situations. Whether this be a life changing lottery win. Or on the other end of the spectrum, a life changing injury. Whichever end of the spectrum we move to, we will adapt to the new situation. And a lot better than we think. Like the apocryphal frog sat in water, waiting for it to boil, are we becoming immune to the new normal?

A piece of advice I have been sharing is for you to start journaling how you feel as we move through these uncertain times. Not only is the act of journaling therapeutic, and cathartic, but a year from now you will find it hard to believe the words you wrote as we lived it. This is an extraordinary time to be alive. There is no doubt of that.

Where does this leave us in regards to our pending departure? As I said earlier this week, it is evolving and changing every day. Just yesterday Qantas reduced their international flights by 90%. We are yet to see whether this includes our scheduled flight to Singapore, however, I suspect it will. And for the time being, Malaysia has closed it’s borders to foreign travellers. So even if we got to Singapore, we wouldn’t be able to leave for Malaysia as we intended.

Watching the Prime Minister’s press conference just this morning brought fresh news. Scott Morrison announced that international travel is banned. No ifs, nor buts. This means that for the first time in a few weeks we have some certainty. If not the certainty we would want.

So, just like the best agilists, we will pivot, and activate plan b. This involves us road tripping around this beautiful country of ours. We will continue to “inspect and adapt” over the coming days, but we will be doing a little more research on both the red centre, and up past Uluru, On to Darwin. And, also across the Nullarbor, to the west coast. We are checking out camper vans as we speak.

Tomorrow may well be different. It depends on what news we wake up to. But what we do know, is that we will be saying to goodbye to our current home in a few short days.

In the meantime, stay safe, look after each other, and keep journaling.

Calm is contagious. And staying calm amidst all this madness is something we would do well to keep doing. No doubt, across the world, we are getting information from every direction, and it can feel overwhelming. In our hyper connected world, someone’s opinion is only a click away. Don’t fall prey to the information overload. Limit your consumption of news to a few sources that you trust, and filter out the rest of the “noise”. Stay healthy. Stay hydrated. And look out for each other.

Not a day, maybe even an hour, goes by without someone asking me the question, “what does this mean for your travel plans?” I wish I had an answer that I was confident of. But I haven’t. Like everyone else, we are watching the events unfold, across the globe, and taking it one day at a time.

Today, Monday March 16th, the very few confirmed plans we have can still go ahead. The first couple of weeks are a road trip within Australia. Road tripping will allow us to keep our “social distance”, as is the current recommended advice from the Australian government. But 2 weeks from now, and every day in between, we know the situation could change, and we will have to change with it.

The tricky part of the situation for us, is that from next Monday, 23 March, we will be homeless. Our apartment has already been re-let, and our meagre belongings will be collected and put into storage.  We will, literally, be nomads. The positive part is that without any time constraints, we have flexibility built into our “plans”. Today’s plan is history tomorrow. In my work with organisations, I often quote Dwight D Eisenhower, who said that “plans are useless, but planning is essential”. Never has that been more true than at the present time.

So, ask me today whether we are still going travelling, then the answer is a resounding yes. We have little choice. We will be homeless. But, ask me tomorrow whether our plans remain the same, the answer could be very different. We are remaining calm, because this is the type of contagious we want.

If you want to lift your spirits, go and watch the videos from Italy and Spain, where whole neighbourhoods are bursting into collective song. The human spirit is strong. Let’s be strong for each other.

Looking around the apartment, you could be mistaken for thinking we had been burgled. No television. Bookcase bereft of reading material. And a patio area that now looks a lot larger without the outdoor table and chairs.

Thankfully, we haven’t been burgled. We are downsizing as much as we can in readiness for packing up our Sydney life, and starting a new adventure. What we don’t sell, or give away, we will put in storage. By the time we see our stuff again we will no doubt wonder why we paid to store half of it.

Once the removal van drives away from our little home in Mosman, we won’t be far behind. With what we have left, packed into a small backpack each, (Victoria is still in shock at just how small), we will pick up our hire car and head off on the start of our travels. A road trip, starting with a drive to the nation’s capital, Canberra, somewhere I haven’t been for over 20 years. Knowing Canberra, it is unlikely to have changed much in the intervening years. What I have discovered is that there are numerous wineries en route to Canberra, so we are sure to sample a few, in the name of research, obviously.

From Canberra we will head in the direction of Melbourne, breaking the 8 hour journey up with an overnight stop at Albury, for a slice of Australian country life. Pressing on to Melbourne, we will spend a couple of nights in beautiful, beach side St Kilda before (hopefully) picking up a campervan to explore the Great Ocean Road.

The wishlist for the Great Ocean Road is:

1. Koalas in the wild 

2. Whisky from Timboon distillery 

3. Beach front camp sites 

4. Fresh, local produce

5. Sleepy coastal towns

Current plans have us overnighting in Adelaide, having dinner with friends, before heading over to the west coast. Our flight from Perth to Singapore is on April 3rd, and of course, in light of the ever evolving global situation, we are taking each day as it comes. Qantas is still currently flying into Singapore, a country that has seemingly managed to contain the virus due to early, strict measures. Travel advice seems to change daily, and we will change with it, as needed.

The impending change to our lives is bittersweet. Mosman has been good to us. We have loved living here. And we will be sad to leave. But a little sadness shouldn’t get in the way of starting a new chapter in your life. Change is needed if we are to grow as humans. We need new experiences. We need to learn new things. We need a new challenge.

And for us, that challenge is excitedly accepted.

Follow along as we start our journey. It is sure to be a roller coaster!