COVID-19

Up and go enjoy yourselves . Keep fit

We were thinking along similar lines but have shelved everything for the time being. I copped a dose of one of the early flu viruses when it was quite new to Oz. I was about 12 from memory. I don't ever want to be that sick again. I couldn't imagine being a long way from home and in a van with limited opportunities to get home particularly if we both copped it. Don't think people we only recently met wanting to take care of us.

Might be best to wait until Scomo's release next week. Apparently there is an update on travel within Oz coming. He has come out this arvo and suggested we should not be contemplating any unnecessary travel. Hard to imagine closing mainland state borders as Tas has done but I guess everything is possible.

Depends on where you want to travel. Straight through the NT dessert is out as the Northern Land Council won't issue your necessary permits. The situation is continually evolving so what's allowed now may not be in a few weeks time.

I was had preparing a trip from Perth to Tasmania in a few weeks and was still inclined to go until the decision was taken out of my hands earlier in the week.


I am now thinking of where else I could go. The Kimberley mid-year is a possibility.

The issue for me will be the likelihood of community transmission and how common it becomes. To date I think there has been one case in WA.

And who knows what the Governments, State and Federal, will decide?

Good luck.

Broome health officials are requesting that grey nomads stay away from the Kimberleys, as they do not want to be overwhelmed with virus cases.

Broome health authorities want grey nomads to stay home

Cheers, Ron.

Isn't that how the virus spreads by people travelling around unsuspectingly taking it to areas which don't have it at the moment. I think it would be smarter to keep an ear out on what's happening around the country/world. The places you want to travel to this year will still be there next year maybe go some where local instead. Try to look at it in a positive sense the extra time may give you a chance to discover on the net more places that you can discover next year on your holiday that you may have missed out on if you take off this year. I'm no expert but I think we should all be doing our bit to try and help reduce the spread of this virus so we can get it cleared up faster so normal life can return sooner than later.

There will probably be more trucks on the roads as well now or soon to help keep up supplies to those who are stupidly and selfishly panic buying surplus goods they don't need and would have still been available to purchase as usual so I say postponing unnecessary travel is a very smart idea let me be ridiculed if it's not.

All the state borders are going to be shut soon. It depends if they're open again by May.

Barry

It is an interesting question and not easy to answer. I cannot disagree with any one post thus far, but appreciate there are different viewpoints.
Over Easter for example we are definitely packing our van and heading out bush. We will not be in contact with anyone else so we are safe and there is zero chance of affecting anyone else (only of course if we break down etc). We decided to do this rather than going to a van park or popular destination

For a longer journey like what you are contemplating , on one hand if you are self contained there are certainly possibilities of being in places where you will not leave or attain any 'footprint'. That is good and you will have the benefit of avoiding crowds.

BUT On the other hand, if you enter remote indigenous communities, or overcrowded grey nomad basis like Broome, the opposite is true isn't it? It is in the media already that Kakadu and Kimberley may well be off limits just as Cape York already is.

There is no simple answer, but whatever you do it would be of utmost importance to be able to heed to government instructions at short notice.

Keep safe

We had a 12 month trip planned doing the big lap starting in July from Exmouth, today decided to cancel but will still go to Exmouth for wife's 70th.
Reasons are
1. possibility of getting stuck in a remote spot with the virus and we have been asked not to go and possible put already struggling remote medical facilities under more pressure. 2 Bit like the first uncertainty about the future and where this virus thing will take us. 3. Money checked my supper this morning and it has taken a real hit so instead of selling stuff and therefore locking in the loss we, ll sit tight and pull the belt in we will rebound.

I wouldn't.

What happens if you pick up the bug and spread it along?
Quarantine isn't really an option, a portaloo will be full in a couple of days and then how do you empty it without leaving the van?
What happens to all your stuff if you end up in hospital?
Health assets in remote areas are a bit light on already, do the nurses there really need the extra risk of infection from a blow-in?
What happens if you carry it to the clinic staff?
Remote health centres are really set up for for critical care cases, so it will be an RFDS repatriation flight that could probably be better used for the locals.
Then there are the locals, a lot of which have a lot of health issues already, so a sniffle for you could be a death sentence.

Personally, heading away 'because I want to', I think its selfish and foolhardy.

After the middle of next week your travel might be dictated by whether or not you live in Vic or NSW. The national cabinet is meeting next Tuesday evening to discuss how those two States can be locked down suburb by suburb to stop people moving about and spreading the virus.

After that the only travel you might do could be a walk to your local supermarket, pharmacy or health centre. Everything else could be shut down to reduce the temptation for people to leave their homes.

Sounds a bit drastic but from the newspaper reports there are a few dills out there that don't think before taking actions that put themselves and others at risk of infection.

I read in today's paper that the state of California has just introduced a similar "stay at home" policy.

Well at this point we will be travelling, definitely not to Broome as it doesn't float our boat...

What will be will be, it is only slowing the virus not containing it and if you have followed what the authorities have said re the virus I can't see why not.

Yes it kills, yes it will go Australia wide no matter what they put in place, so if you practice what they have said I don't se a problem.

We have decided to go and take it as it comes, if areas close we will avoid them..

You and only you have to pick your right course that suits you. Knowing that you haven't set of with the virus..

Happy travels

Thanks all for your input.

I think most of you have confirmed what I already suspected and we will now cancel our planned trip for this year.

Good luck to all.

Barry

As someone else wrote good question.

We also had plans but now reconsidering, main issues would be:

1/ Resupply, if people continue with this senseless hoarding you may not be able to get items when you need them.

2/ I fin caravan parks if you find you can't move on for some reason things like gastro can spread very quickly through a caravan park, I imagine the virus would be the same.

3/ If things get bad you may get marooned somewhere for sometime if that is not an issue then no problem.

4/ Main issue though as I see it is wherever you go consider the local community, do they have the resources to deal with a travelers if you do get ill with the virus while your there?

At this stage our intention is to still do our regular trip to Broome in June.

We are self sufficient and prefer to camp in the "bush" however that is less practical in and around Broome and so we do use a caravan park there.

As country residents ourselves we are mindful of the locals safety, their concerns and their health and therefore as it gets closer to our departure time we will be guided by the Broom CCI and Broom Shire as to their requests. (I am aware of KAMS requests)

Basically every stop on the road for fuel is a footprint we leave behind and potentially a trail of any infection we may be carrying albeit inadvertently & obviously what we may pick up. So that does need to be seriously considered.

Living on acreage we have always been largely self sufficient and by default sort of self isolated anyway, so apart from trip to town for supplies so its going to be little hardship for us if we do have to stay home,.

However even as I write this the authorities may well be planning bio-security zones and intrastate travel bans or further no-go zones so what will be will be for the greater good at the other end of this evolving and unfolding nightmare

The way this whole pandemic is unfolding brings back memories of On The Beach - the slow inexorable invisible thing which will overtake us all.

Not that I'm planning to fit a hose to the car or go boating from a submarine, but the same feeling of inevitability nevertheless.

Stay Home. My wife was diagnosed with a tumour on friday 13th & operated on last night (all is well at this stage) If you are travelling and get Covid-19 don't think you'll go to a local hospital they likely will not take you. the surgeon told us non elective surgery gets cancelled. Heart attacks, burst appendix ,cancer patients , you get the picture, will go into the private health system. They do not want these patients anywhere near covid-19 people as they are at extreme risk. They will go into the public health system. If you were to have a car accident in the country they don't want you in a hospital were the staff will come into contact with covid-19 patients and risk carrying it to very vulnerable patients besides which many country hospitals are little more than old folks homes these days following Gov. cuts to health over recent years. My wife was an aged care nurse and we live in the country. Would you like to be in a hospital in a serious condition and have a patient down the corridor with the virus. Will you be able to slip into a town and top up supplies, oh the shop is shut because the staff have all been quarantined , who knows. I had a service station for over 20 years & I'm very glad I'm retired used to serve between 400-700 customers a day . Enjoy your time at home until this is over.

Some good replies on this thread, I appreciate them.

I'm in Derby, WA, and it would take very little for this highly contagious virus to rip through town and overwhelm the hospital, which wouldn't be able to handle more than a few locals getting sick. Our systems have been whittled down and just don't have the extra capacity for this - a bit like those people who go on a long trip without a spare tyre because "I haven't had a flat in years," and then complain when they finally need one!

Please don't come up here. It will only take one infected person not showing symptoms to affect a small town like this. I had swine flu and pneumonia here a few years ago and it came very, very close to killing me. That is not an experience anyone should risk.

The major point is YOU may not have any of the symptoms at all but can still be a carrier of Covid 19 , a major part of travel is the integration with locals in the area even if 'remote ' or with other travellers .....

The video below gives an excellent outline of the whole scenario surrounding the COVID-19 virus.

You certainly don't want to get this virus, and you wouldn't want to be identified as a carrier.

One of the interesting parts is how the virus over-stimulates the bodys immune system, so much so, the immune system starts to damage the good cells. Effectively, an Auto-Immune disease. And A-I diseases cause lasting damage to important parts of the body.

Simple answer...you wont be going... This virus threat is deadly.. It will screw the country completely unless we self isolate , not for a fortnight but for months to come. Any travel plans should be halted straight away. The risk is just too great..

Hi Barry

Looks like you will be staying home.

Both South Australia and the Northern Territory have closed its borders.

Even South Australians entering SA now have to go into two weeks self isolation.