Coronavirus & Closed Borders

Our original plan, once the property sold, was to jump in Bob and head for Darwin. The nearest country to Australia is East Timor and under normal circumstances it would be relatively straight-forward to put Bob on a cargo ship (usually taking between 5 and 11 days) and for us and Leroy to fly over to Dili (1 hour). Once reunited with Bob we intended to island hop, using local ferries, around Indonesia until such time as the world started to open up again and we could progress to Malaysia and work our way around South-East Asia and eventually towards Europe. However, Covid has made travel rather more challenging and so we are exploring our own backyard (SA) before heading towards Western Australia and then hopefully up to Darwin.

Leaving Australia now seems to be a multi-facetted process. Firstly we will need to apply to the Federal Government for an exemption to travel. As we no longer own property here, have no gainful employment and do not intend to return, we are assuming that we must surely tick the undesirable box and Australia will be only too pleased to send us on our way. Getting into East Timor however, may prove to be a little more tricky as the country is currently in a state of emergency with limited access through its borders. Under normal circumstances we would be able to get a visa on arrival in Dili but will now have to apply to the Consulate for permission to visit. This application will also need to be accompanied by a letter of invitation from either an individual or company and so not straightforward. The current border situation is due to be reviewed on 1 July and I guess we will just have to keep an eye on developments as they happen.

In anticipation of the borders opening up in the short-term, I have received both Covid vaccinations and Ian is due his second shot middle of July. One thing in our favour if the fact that Timor are suggesting that anyone entering the country fully vaccinated will probably not be required to undergo the 14 day quarantin which is really good news as this could prove quite difficult with Leroy in tow.

In the meantime, as we have seen an embarrassingly small amount of this vast country, we have plenty to explore. After all the organising and planning that has taken place over the last few weeks/months, it will be a relief to finally get going and test out the concept of living in a car. There is no doubt that our conversations over the first couple of weeks will revolve around all the things we have packed that we don’t need and all the things we can’t do without that have been forgotten.