After a wild rollercoaster, we're now back on Aussie soil. The last few weeks I spent countless hours contacting immigration, insurance, the consulate, airlines, reading statements and watching press conferences trying to navigate what to do, while being across both the Indo and Aus Gov rules. There was so much confusion for people abroad. We didn't have enough info from Aus Gov, did they have a plan for stranded aussies? Would they help us? Are we a generation that's so entitled to assume 'she'll be right' and we'd be looked after if we stayed abroad? Along with a number of other reasons, I felt it was morally wrong to stay overseas. What if we were to fall ill and take up a bed to have a local miss out, or be turned away because we're foreigners, would I be ok with that? No. As soon as the consulate told us to leave we booked the first flight we could. We planned to go to Darwin as we have family there and we'd be close to Bali when it blows over. But at the eleventh hour Jetstar cancelled and left us with no option than to spend thousands of dollars with Qantas to get anywhere in Aus. We fortunately arrived in Sydney on Saturday and now in quarantine in Canberra. While all this was going on, we needed to locate our passports that were with immigration for visa processing. It took days to cancel our visa as our agent was inundated and we weren't sure we'd get our passports back in time 🤞 but we did 😨 I'm glad we are back on home soil but this is just the beginning. It's like we've accidentally hit the reset button on life. Like other business owners, ours is at risk of folding and us being unemployed. But we're all in this together and it's time for strength and maturity across our community and to remain indoors. We have a responsibility to protect the vulnerable. Please listen to the local Gov, follow instructions clearly. They have helped us personally through changing quarantine rules, going above and beyond to ensure people like us (travellers) don't pose a public health risk. Take this virus seriously. Don't pass it off as just the flu or a cold. Remember how quickly the fires spread? This is a wild fire too. Stay safe everyone 🙏💜
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