Anja, Dallas, Arliah, Ian and Jacqui welcome in the new year at our Saddleworth campsite in South Australia
QF731 was approaching Adelaide airport at 8.10am on Thursday 23rd December 2021. Announcements over the PA system reminded us to have our PCR test results ready for inspection when we disembarked. Jacqui told me to stop fidgeting but I couldn't because I was sure that we were about to be jailed or sent back to Sydney - we'd had our PCR tests 3 days ago, but we still didn't have our results.
The tsunami of travellers and rapidity changing Covid rules enabled us to evade the overworked S.A. health officials and police that greeted us as we disembarked in Adelaide. They dismissed us saying that as we were in transit, we were someone else's problem.
Our next flight, QF 2275, landed in Port Lincoln on time at 11.50am and even though we were reminded again to have our PCR test results ready, there wasn't a police officer or SA health person anywhere in the arrivals hall. We collected our bags and, trying not to look like we'd just robbed a bank, casually bolted for our waiting Nissan X-trail rental car. Three hours later, on our way to Streaky Bay, we received a text message informing us that we didn't have Covid.
Jacqui and I were in South Australia to meet up with the travelling Te Wakes (Anja, Dallas and Arliah) who were on the home leg of their around Australia odyssey. 2021 was ending, we hadn't contracted Covid, we were allowed to travel again, and we weren't criminals. Surely, things were looking up.