It’s feeling weirder and weirder but I’m also getting more and more excited!! I haven’t been in Aus in over a year and I haven’t been in Aus at all since Covid started circulating the hemisphere. I have so many questions! Has everyone forgotten about the bushfires? Are the animals reproducing? Do people here take Covid seriously? Are people wearing masks?! ?!
I had my typical quarantine morning. Reading, yoga, a bit of drawing (and spilt my tea on it as well as my laptop – go me) and yep, another bath. Since I leave tomorrow I decided this would be my last one and so I made it a good one. Asked ‘Magic’ for more verbena and lavender scented body wash and ran it under the tap to make giant mountains of bubbles. Made a tea, turned the lights off and lit the candles. It was perfect… then the police knocked on the door.
Here I am, warm, bubbling, melting into this soft and scented puddle of bliss, and the knock for my Covid test results and information on my departure starts rapping at the door. I thought maybe if I don’t answer they’ll just come back… Second knock – of course, you should always knock a second time, whoever is inside may have not heard it… Third knock – this ones in case you’ve fallen asleep, I get it I get it… Forth knock – okay they’re clearly not leaving… “coming”. Now the water is still warm and the bubbles are still high. There is no way I’m ending the bath now and I can’t change very quickly while still wet. Sigh, towel robe it is.
I answer the door, with my hotel robe and slippers, still dripping with bubbles slowly popping down my legs. And the police officer responds with a “mid-day bath, really?” – Umm yes sir, I can’t exactly head down to the pool or bar so I am getting full use of the “amenities” that I am provided with. Of course I didn’t say that, but hey I’d expect everyone to be indulging like this. I mean they should be… So anyway, the nurse takes my temperature and read it with a distressed look on her face and I had to remind her that I just got out of a hot bath. So she takes it again and we’re all good. I get my test results – NEGATIVE. And I am allowed to leave any time between 4am-10am… I’ll take the 10am slot, thanks. And huzzah! Just like that and I’ve got less than 24-hours left in my temporary home. Feeling weirder…
Lunch was an Asian sticky tofu pudding with steamed bok choy in a soy dressing, a green bean salad with edamame and fried tofu with sesame dressing, and walnuts and grapes.
After turning this business hotel room into my own little temporary studio apartment, it was time – TO PACK. I stood around, then did some random walks to and from the bathroom. I honestly had no idea where to start. Then I started with “things”. As I’ve mentioned, I asked my sister to drop off an empty suitcase so I could pack my 13-months of living away, again. This time without nearly breaking the zipper and with the fear of everything falling out during the plane ride home. I now have a ‘things’ bag, a ‘shoes’ bag, a ‘clothes’ bag, a ‘toiletries’ bag and a ‘stuff I’ve used in quarantine bag’. Really feeding my organisational OCD side but I do not look forward to unpacking all of this stuff!
GOLDEN HOUR! To my absolute delight, the sunset was gorgeous this evening. The most perfect last scenic look out of the Sydney skyscrapers. The tangerine sunshine was bouncing off of the mirrored exterior of the office buildings and the clouds were hovering over the CBD, emitting a concoction of colours from indigo to peach. I was in awe.
Then dinner came and I was ecstatic! They delivered Mexican food (I’m drooling thinking about it, too). I had a veggie version of chilli con carne with black bean tortilla chippies to dip, a Mexican corn salad, a slice of red velvet cake (yay), and another box of my favourite – POPCORN (double yay!!!)! What a good way to go out! I love when that happens.
The perfect scenery and the perfect meal to enjoy my last. night. in. quarantine. GASP – Hopefully I don’t forget anything…