Covid has been wreaking havoc - but thanks to a long, hard, lockdown in Victoria the situation here (and in the rest of Australia) is much better than it seems to be in most of the world. With more time on my hands, I was able - after nearly 10 years - to make a table base for the piece of inlaid marble we bought in India in 2010.

As well as this, Alison has finally got a wicking bed to grow vegetables and tomatoes in - something which has been in her mind for a long time.

There have been some benefits to the lockdown.

We have been more fortunate than many people, being able to return home to Castlemaine through the "ring of steel" around Melbourne, after going down to work two days a week. This also meant that we were able to go away for a little holiday; we went to the little town of Yackandandah, in the north-east of Victoria, and stayed in a B&B for two nights. It was a good little break; we walked a lot, along the rail trail to Osborne Flat 6km away, and down to the gorge (man-made, during the gold rush). We did run into a small problem on our way home, when we stopped in Mansfield at a cafe for lunch; Alison nearly wasn't served, because she lacks photographic proof that she does not live in Melbourne. After the recent Covid outbreaks in Kilmore and Shepparton (due to a truck driver from Melbourne stopping in cafes when he shouldn't have) cafes now face big fines if they serve people from metropolitan Melbourne.

But now, covid cases are well down; the "Ring of Steel" is being dismantled tonight; and we've booked our next trip. In Victoria, of course, because we're not allowed out yet. We are going on a week-long supported bushwalk near Portland - the "Great South West Walk". Similar to what we had booked to do in July, in Scotland, which of course didn't happen. Back for Christmas, and in February we hope to be allowed to go to Tasmania for a walk there. If Covid remains under control as it is at the moment, we should be allowed to go there.

We both feel so fortunate to have been able to go through the covid lockdown like this; but we hope it all doesn't need to be done again.