 We
flew out of Helsinki, with only three small
pieces of carry-on luggage, and one small
bag checked-in. (There would have been no
need for even that, except that it contained
a bottle of shampoo.) Alice picked us up and
drove us home - very convenient, as both my
Myki card and house key are in the luggage
back in Edinburgh. Despite handling the
nearly 24 hour flight well, we both fell
into bed at 7.30pm. Couldn't stay awake any
longer.
The next day, Alison went to visit her
93 year old mother, wore a mask, and did a
RAT test for covid there. Negative. She
brought one home for me, too. (We had a good
supply of these ourselves, but they are all
in the luggage in Edinburgh.) We  drove
up to home in Castlemaine, and I did a test.
Positive. So I have to isolate for seven
days.
Alison, being a contact, needed to do
a RAT test on five out of the seven days; so
she drove up to Bendigo to get more tests.
And did a PCR test while she was there.
Positive. So she needs to isolate for seven
days too.
At least we have been able to isolate
ourselves here, where - after being away for
eight weeks - there are things to do. Though
it is still quite restrictive not being able
to go out at all.
And it is cold! Being thrown
into Castlemaine winter straight from
Helsinki heat- wave
summer is not a lot of fun. Especially as
some of our cold-weather clothing is in our
luggage, because we took it to Scotland
because it may have been cold
there. In retrospect, we overdid it. Like we
overdid the worry about midges in Scotland
as well. But how are you to know, really?
We hear on the news about the daily
deaths every day from Covid in Australia,
but for both of us covid was like having a
relatively minor cold. It appears that there
is enormous variation in the severity of the
disease, and I wonder - why?
Now, having finished this trip which
has been so long in the planning,
we need to get on with planning the next
steps. We have heard that our motorhome
should be ready in a month or so; and we
have our week on Flinders Island in November
booked in; but...... more planning is
needed!
We are getting the hang of this being
retired and able to be much more
flexible planning things. It is a
lovely feeling to be home, free from
responsibilities, better from
covid, and financially secure enough
to dream about seeing new places and doing
new things. It is also a lovely feeling to
not be contemplating any more multi day long
walks at present, not because we are old or
tired but just because the current covid
rules and travel hassles make doing so less
attractive and so much less social than in
the "old days."
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