A New Year?

It is official – we have morphed from intrepid adventurers to holiday-makers in the far north of Queensland.  Despite repeated attempts to get overseas we have been unable to come up with a workable plan and are now resigned to waiting until this wave of Omicron has peaked and hope that borders will start to open. 

Despite being on the best holiday of our lives, we haven’t been idle, in fact far from it, as we have explored a number of possibilities to get ourselves, Bob and Leroy onto a different continent.  We have gone round and round in circles playing with all the different dynamics only to keep coming up short.  The following is a summary of our efforts so far.

Timor, our initial destination, has not reopened its borders and there have been no updates at all since the end of October.  Through a friend of a friend, we did make contact with a Consulate official living in Dili who kindly tried to pull some strings on our behalf but, in the end, was unable to help us gain entry.  Taking into account the fragility of their health care system, we figure that this country will not be one of the front runners in terms of opening up.

Warm walk in the rain

New Years eve, PD

Our visas to get into Indonesia are valid until the beginning of February and we looked at the possibility of shipping/flying into Jakarta.  Coming from Australia (a non-rabies country), flying Leroy in is straight-forward, the problem arises when we decide to leave Indonesia and fly/ship onto the mainland of Malaysia (rabies free) as he will be required to go into quarantine.  Also, we will have to go through the logistics of shipping the car again and dealing with airport regulations which are always going to be more tricky than navigating land borders.  We have been communicating with various groups on FB and it seems that travel between the Indonesian islands is also going to be tricky with Leroy as some islands have rabies and some do not which could present major issues as we try to move around.  Of course, there is that voice in the back of your mind that keeps telling you that this is Indonesia we are talking about and surely nothing is insurmountable if you are prepared to throw a bit of money at it but, still, starting our overseas travel with so much potential for issues is not really motivating us to put this option into effect. 

A typical day on four mile beach

Next, we considered flying/shipping to Singapore, a plan that was looking very promising for a while.  Just before Christmas, we booked Bob on a freighter from Brisbane due to sail on 12th January and arranged for us and Leroy to fly out with Singapore airlines a week later.  Everything seemed to be going well until we found out that the land bridge between Singapore and Malaysia has not yet opened up for private vehicles and, at the time of writing, the only way to get across was by bus and that option was only available for citizens or long-term residents.  Although we do like Singapore, the thought of being stuck there for the foreseeable is not that attractive due to the high cost of living and muzzle laws that would affect Leroy.  However, a bigger problem arose a couple of days after we made all the arrangements in that the VLB between Oz and Singapore closed and is still closed, due to be reviewed 20th January. 

high tide

Next we considered going back to the UK.  The only real downside of this option is the length of the flight for Leroy and the time it will take to ship Bob.  Everything else is doable and once over there we would have easy access to Europe.  When we first started to look seriously at making this happen France had just closed its borders to UK but those restrictions are now lifting which keeps this option on the back-burner.

The closest country for us to get to without any major set-backs is Malaysia.  There are regular shipping lines between Brisbane and Port Klang and also direct flights from Brisbane to KL.  We do need to get permission to bring Leroy in as he is on their restricted breeds list but this shouldn’t be too difficult to sort out.  Once there we would have land all the way back to Europe so the nightmare of co-ordinating ships, planes and dog imports would be firmly behind us.  The only issue with this plan is that Malaysia’s borders are currently closed.  The appearance of Omicron has certainly put a spanner in the works in terms of border restrictions loosening, however, the wave in the UK appears to be peaking with more and more talk about England moving towards an endemic situation.  It remains to be seen what other countries will decide to do.

Do you ever get the feeling you are banging your head against a brick wall?  In fact, so much so, that maybe it is time to kick back, relax and wait for the craziness to subside.  And, that is where we now find ourselves, floating in the pool at the Pink Flamingo on a pair of inflatable unicorns that have kindly been provided for us.  All thoughts of overlanding have been buried (for the time being at least) and we are now enjoying day after day of sunshine with the occasional tropical downpour.  We were truly fortunate to have landed in Port Douglas given that we have now been here some time and are still loving it.  The wet season is just starting and being long-term in such a climate is a new experience for us.  Humidity most days is around 85% and the temperature moves between 28-33°C which sounds uncomfortable but you do get used to it.  Cycling, walking and yoga, interspersed with time spent at the local cafes and restaurants probably sums up how our days are spent, although Ian does like to visit Coles – not to buy food, just to wander around in the air-con. 

What else can I say, we always knew there was a chance that we would be waiting for the world to open up before we could start out travels and that is exactly where we find ourselves.  Lucky for us that we are where we are, no external pressures and plenty of time!  We are sharing our holiday snaps and fingers crossed that you will be hearing from us sooner rather than later with more exciting news.

PS: I had to include this photo of the designated swimming area off Four Mile Beach. It so perfectly sums up much of Australia. Vast and stunningly beautiful but watch out for the bitey things.