Mar 18. The Strange Trip Home.

We were at the airport at 6:45 the next day and first in line at the check in counter.  The process was fairly straight forward from there.

We left on a full flight to Houston at 10:20 am.

Our plane was ready to go.  The Dreamliner

Last view of Sydney.  Manly Beach

After 14 and half hours we were in Houston.  The airport was very different this time.  There was very few passengers making transfers.  Lines were short.  Customs asked the usual questions and we were on our way.  The United flight to Boston had only about 30 people on it.  They distributed us widely around the plane.

Lots of space in Houston.

The Boston airport was even quieter.  Most of the restaurants were closed along with the duty free. It was very quite. There were lots of passengers with masks.  Only 22 of us were on the plane to Air Canada prop jet to Halifax.

Halifax finally

Customs at the Halifax airport was different. There were almost more agents of one sort of another than passengers.  We were asked several times if we had any symptoms and reminded that we had to self isolate for 14 days when we got straight home.  There were to be no stops.

We had left the car at the Hilton Garden Inn on a deal where if you spent a night you got 2 weeks of parking. We were a week early for the second night.   They had left me a message that I hadn't gotten until we got back into a WIFI zone that the hotel had closed due to low bookings and had transferred our reservation to the Holiday Inn express.  We took the shuttle there.  People were practising "social distancing".  The driver of the Park and Fly told me that there was only about a third of the cars in the lot as their should be.  She would only take the driver out to the lot.  Families had to wait at the arrivals area.  It was after 10 at night.

The car was where I left it and went back to the Holiday Inn express, Barbara was negotiating for cancel our reservation for the next week.  We never did pay for the extra week of parking.

The drive home was uneventful.  It was good to be on the normal side of the road. however I found myself turning on the wipers when I meant to hit the turn signal.  A holdover from the Australian car.

We drove through town to see what was going on.  Prince street would usually have cars everyone.  There were only two cars the whole length of it on that night.  Errie.

We arrived a the house about about 11:00 and ended our adventure.  It was good to be home.

Mar 17. Dash to Sidney

We were awakened early by a call from our son Steven to tell us that the Prime minister had announced new restrictions for those coming into Canada that would come into effect on Wednesday.  That was enough to send us to the airport to see if we could get on an earlier flight.

We left the hotel about about 6 am.  It was still dark and raining a bit so the first half of the 3 and a half hour trip through the Blue Mountains was interesting to say the least. The Garmin GPS that we had picked up at the rental agency came in handy.  The speed limit goes changes from 100 to 60 with suddenly (40 when school children are present) and there as speed cameras everywhere.  The GPS beeps when the speed changes giving you a warning which was handy.

At the airport we turned the car in and went to the departures area.  It was not particularly busy but agents told us that there was no space on flights later in the day and that the next day flights were overbook.  They could not check us in for our flights the next day on United and the mobile app would not allow check in either.  Very suspicious.

We ran into Tom and Shirley who had been on the tour with us and they were leaving at 1:00 routing through Los Angles to Boston.   The Boston to Halifax part of their trip had been cancelled. As this was the same flight as we were supposed to be on the following day, it was a bit disconcerting.

There was nothing to do but wait until the next day and check in when the desk opened 3 hours before the flight.  We went to the airport hotel that we had booked for the next week.  With some discussion that moved our reservation to that night.

The Citadines Connect Sydney Airport was a short shuttle ride from the terminal and had an interesting rooftop bar and restaurant. We enjoyed the views.

Mar 16. Orange and a change of Plan

The Covid 19 situation caught up to us in Orange.  After a night of thinking about what we were going to do, we decided that we could not carry on so we spent most of the morning trying to get through to Aeroplan to change our flights from the 24th to something earlier.  Not surprisingly everyone else had the same idea and we could not get an answer.  Instead we used more points to book one way flights leaving Sydney Wednesday (Mar 18th).  That would give us time to get back to Sydney on prepare to go.

We also negotiated to cancel the stay at the Cobb and Co. Hotel in Mudgee and shorten our stay in the de Russie Boutique Hotel in Orange.   Both hotels were very understanding and ultimately accommodated our request.

The de Russie Boutique Hotel  is a fully renovated place very close to the Central Business District in Orange.  We were very comfortable them and would stay their again.

In the afternoon we drove out to the Borrodell Vineyard that had been recommended to us.  It has a restaurant and accommodation and is a lovely place. Unfortunately even thought it was open there was one around other than a tradesman who told us they did not serve lunch. It was a bit spooky with everything set out for tasting but no one around.  We walked around a took a few pictures of the beautiful views and then drove back to town.  We passed other wineries that were closed. 

We finished the left over Chinese food from the night before as our lunch and then talked up and down the main street of Orange to check out the stores. There is a significant downtown with lots of stores and restaurants. 

Orange has a population of about 40 thousand and has always served the surrounding agricultural community. A significance gold find in the 1850's brought some prosperity and there are some fine old building that have survived from this period.  Although there is lots of fruit grown in the area it too cold because of altitude to grow Oranges.

The friendly staff at the de Russie recommended a couple of restaurants for supper and called ahead to the Zona for us.  It was a three minute walk away and we were pleased with our meal.

We had a nice bottle of local Pinot that we also enjoyed. 

Once back at the hotel we finished packing and made had a early evening. News on the TV was all about the virus and reactions in Australia to it.  There were still only a few cases, schools were still open although major sporting events were being cancelled. 

Mar 15. Albury to Orange

We moved today to wine country for the our last week in Australia. Our host Jenny took us to the rental car depot at the airport after breakfast.

On the way we stopped off at a joint Rotary fundraising project. The Clubs in the area run a weekly market in a local car park. They sell spaces to vendors, manage the site and take donations. It's popular and profitable. The 6 clubs take turns so the load is not too great on any group of Rotarians.

We picked up the car from Avis and were on our way north up the Hume highway. It took a bit of getting used to being in the left side of the car. The controls were reversed so I was always putting on the wipers to signal a turn. It got easier as we went. 

We had lunch and a break at a roadside place called Dog on the Tucker box. It's part of Australian history that even has a poem in addition to the Statue. 

We turned off the freeway at Colac and went over to the Olympic highway. This went thru some really big farm country. There were wide valleys, lots of crops and lots of animals. Stunning scenery
in a higher country.

Wineries started to appear soon after Young and were more evident as we got closer to Orange. 

The GPS took us right to the hotel where we checked in.

Supper was Chinese takeout and liquor from a store around the corner. We had enough for two nights. The room had a full kitchen with fridge and stove so we are all set. 

Now to explore the area. 

Mar 14. Bush Fire County. Final day of the RFE

Today was the final day of  #rfeaustralia2020. Our Albury /Wodonga hosts first took us out for a lovely walk along the Murray River at Hodge Island park. There were lots of sculptures to see along with wild life. We saw our first snake in the wild. A red belly back snake. Poisonous as most snake are in Australia. Didn't pick it up.

We then drove thru the country around the upper reaches of Hume lake. Pretty country with lots of grazing. The water is low in the lake so the cattle graze on grass in pastures that are sometimes well under water.

Sculpture of wedge tailed Eagle at Lookoff 

We had lunch at the Jingellic pub. This is an area that has been really hurt by the bush fires and we drove thru miles of valleys where the trees were burned from the top to the roadway. The really surprising thing is how quickly it has begun to regrow. There were lots of people in the pub helping to regenerate the economy.

We also visited the small town of Tumbarumba and poked around the general store.. Again to help the local economy. It was a step back in time

There was a lot of evidence of the recent fires.

Finally we all got together for a last supper with our hosts at Victor Supper club. It was a tasty ending to the RFE.

Mar 13. Albury

We moved on to Albury today from Beechworth. The change over was made in the pretty little town of Yackandandah. It was a gold mining town with many interesting old buildings. This meant saying goodbye to our hosts and new friends Jim and Jocelyn.

After a coffee break our new hosts David and Ginny Dow took us to there home to get settled before going out for the afternoon. 

Coffee in Yackandandah. Lots of interesting stores but not a lot of time. 

We visited Lake Hume dam and took in the view from the Kurrajong Gap Lookoff. Great views. The dam was built in 1919 and is one of the last great packed earth dams. Lake Hume provides water for irrigation as well as drinking. While the levels were down everyone was confident it would refill.

We had lunch at the Boat Shed on the lake Hume resort. The group was treated to an excellent meal but some of us forgot our hats and got a bit too much sun. 

 We visited a project support by Rotary that provided accommodation for families of hospital patients. They had 20 rooms to rent our at a very nominal fee and were building 10 more.

Then it was on to the Fruit Fly circus school where we learned about the schools special programs.

Finally we had supper with area Rotarians at a member's home overlooking the golf course. The hospitality could not have been better.

A group went to look for kangaroos on the golf course. While they saw a mob, those that went got caught in the rain and were wet when they returned.