Happy birthday! Here’s two weeks of isolation
Mercury contributor Emma Hope was one of the unfortunate few to have the rug pulled from under her as the borders to Victoria were slammed shut. She recounts her doomed flight to Hobart >>
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
NOT exactly the 40th birthday present I had in mind — two weeks’ home isolation.
Travelling during Covid times always carries risks but having not left the state for 18 months a couple of days in the big smoke of Melbourne eating and drinking and pouring money into the embattled Victorian economy seemed like a worthwhile birthday treat.
We arrived on Monday, on my actual birthday, and had a great few days. Despite all it had been through with endless lockdowns Melbourne had so much of the vibrancy I remember, just a few more empty shopfronts from businesses, largely bars and restaurants, falling victim to the Covid curse.
At his midday press conference Premier Peter Gutwein announced a hard border closure from 2pm. Not exactly ample notice.
We listened to the presser from the airport lounge as we waited for our 2.30pm flight. Our fate was sealed. Two weeks iso.
Despite rushing to the airport early that morning as word of a Melbourne lockdown spread it was the earliest flight we could get. It just wasn’t early enough.
I understand why it has to be done but our full 2.30pm Virgin flight and the 2.15pm Jetstar flight were then left in limbo.
Despite going nowhere near any of the exposure sites we are now in quarantine with harsher restrictions and for double the time of the Melbourne lockdown.
All because we touched down in Hobart shortly after the 2pm cut-off.
During the long wait at the airport and prior to Mr Gutwein’s announcement I decided to try to book a Covid test for on arrival in Hobart.
I have a stall at Salamanca Market which is my primary income so I thought if I need to return a negative test and get the results before Saturday I would book in to be tested ASAP to ensure enough time to process the results.
No joy. The city testing site closes at 3.30pm and the Moonah one was booked out.
As it was this was irrelevant but a sad indictment on a system that is supposedly there to crackdown on Covid and keep Tasmanians safe.
So now I will miss two markets during my busiest time of year (I sell jumpers so thrive in the cold!). Working from home isn’t an option.
Not to mention I will have to cancel the social event of the year – my 40th birthday party!
Was it worth it? I mean the crayfish rolls at Super Normal, the seafood and truffle fried rice at Flower Drum and the bang chicken at Spice Temple were pretty damn good so it’s arguable.
What saddens me the most is that next time we go back Melbourne will likely have even more empty shopfronts.
A stroll down Brunswick St Fitzroy with a local friend was a walking tour of hospitality venues of Christmas past.
“That used to be a great family-run Japanese restaurant, that was a fabulous little wine bar” and so on.
As we popped into a bar on Wednesday afternoon the friendly bar man told us he wasn’t tapping any new kegs as a lockdown was imminent.
We knew there’d been rising cases but hoped as they were traceable it wasn’t true.
Moral of the story – always listen to the bar man, he has his ear to the ground more than any other. If we had we would have headed straight to the airport and avoided the quarantine conundrum.
I asked the bar man how he felt.
“It’s tough,” he sighed, battle weary.
He said they and many others were holding on by a thread since the end of JobKeeper and for quite a few this could be their unravelling.
But at the end of the day Melburnians don’t want to hear your supportive (patronising) social media posts and words of motivation like ‘stay strong Melbs, you got this’.
What they want is for us to go back, when we can and in numbers. And drink and eat so much you have to roll back on the plane at the end of it. And hope and pray that unlike us you don’t get two weeks hard lockdown as punishment.
Hobart’s Emma Hope is a Mercury contributor.
Maiden: Cashed-up Albo is rubbing young voters noses in it
It’s one thing to be loaded after decades in parliament but it’s another to flaunt it so close to an election, writes Samantha Maiden.
Downer: Don’t like Australia’s values? Australia’s not for you
Tolerance is a core Australian value and the pro-Islamic terrorism demonstrations show none whatsoever if you disagree with them, writes Alexander Downer.