DAY ONE - QUARANTINE IN AUSTRALIA

 Today is 'officially' DAY ONE of my Quarantine.  My get out of here day/time will be September 22nd in the afternoon.

So one of the first things I will do today is find out when I can catch a flight to Coffs Harbour... it might have to be on the 23rd of September, depending on when flights go to Coffs Harbour from Sydney.  I will find out.

Now... here's a few photos I took yesterday:

ABOVE:  The VIRTUALLY EMPTY plane!  There were 30 passengers and about 10 flight crew on board.

ABOVE:  Leaving New Zealand... that is the mouth of the Manukau Harbour.

ABOVE:  First view of Sydney, Australia.

ABOVE:  Coming in to land... landing is the worst bit I've decided.

ABOVE:  This was cool.  I watched the progress of our plane all the way over the Tasman Sea.  That's my plane ... about to land.

ABOVE:  This is where I'm staying.  Sadly, I don't have a good view AT ALL.  But hey... at least my room has a window.  I'm sure there's plenty that don't.

Exercise?  Well, I'm not allowed to set foot outside my room AT ALL, so I'm going to set myself an exercise routine... one that involves various stretches, cardio 'on the spot' stuff and so on.  I haven't counted how many steps I can do from one end of my room to the other YET... but I will. 😂😆😏  IT'S... NOT... MANY!

NOW:  I know ya all want to see me room, the view and whatever else I can show you... but you will have to wait.

I'm going to eeek it out over the next few days... cos shit, what else am I going to show you?

Today you might be lucky and see ... ONE thing in the room! 

Shit this is gunna be fun... (for me).  I have NOTHING else to do right?

That's all for now... I'll be back later.

ONWARD...

After last night's horrible dinner, I'm hoping breakfast is 100% better!  A blogger friend here told me that the food and lack of quality has been mentioned on the news here!  Sheesh, I hope it isn't going to be that bad.

I can order food from 'outside' once a day, or from the hotel's Dining Menu if it really is awful I suppose.  But then I have to pay for it. *sigh*

Some confusion abounds re: time.

My phone switched over automatically to Aussy time, but my computer didn't.  So sometimes I'm saying it's like, 4 pm and in fact it's only 2 pm here in Sydney!  I just have to remember my computer is on NEW ZEALAND time!

From now on, if I mention a time, it will be in AUSSY TIME.

So, right now it's 7.44 am, and breakfast has not arrived yet.

I've been up since about 5 am.  My new 'normal' overnight is I wake up about every two hours.

Check the time.  Check emails.  Go back to sleep.  Repeat.

A bit frustrating.

Now, I said my view was a bit suckful eh?  Well it's not THAT BAD... it could be worse!

ABOVE:  View to the right...

ABOVE:  View straight ahead...

ABOVE:  View to the left.

I can see 'part' of Darling Harbour waterfront.  At night I can see the ferris wheel going around and some of the light attractions.  If I was one or two stories higher I'd see it all.  But I'm in a 

standard room (Superior Room), so yeah, less than perfect view.

BUT.... it's a busy view!  I can see lots going on.  I actually like it!

8.01 am:  And breakfast arrived.

ABOVE:  This is what greets you when you open your door.  A table (DON'T FRIGGIN' MOVE IT OR ELSE!)... and a paper bag with food in it.

ABOVE:  Today's breakfast.  Looks good?  There was ham under the baked beans. The hash browns looked nice.  The tomato was the size of a teaspoon, it made me laugh!

But... IT.  WAS.  COLD.

 

So, it get's a solid 5/10.

Now I'm wondering, what will lunch be like?

This might be the highlight of my days.... what's the food gunna be like ???  😊😉😆

A little alarmed this morning... I got a phone call from my niece, she's staying in Coffs Harbour right now, visiting THE OLD MOO.

Well, THE OLD MOO had to go back to hospital last night with 'break out pain'.

I'm assured she will MOST LIKELY be allowed home later on today.

It's a juggling act getting her pain medication sorted out... but Shelley will do that.

So, panic over.  Phew.

8.46 am:  Who would be surprised to learn I've just MOVED some furniture in me room?  LOL

I will show you what I moved... TOMORROW.

Yesterday when I arrived into this room I really had a low moment (or two).  Bawled me eyes out in fact.

So near yet so far still to being with my Mum.

But today I'm feeling a lot better.

I'm so thankful I bit the bullet and bought a laptop to bring with me.

I am listening to all my music and I can blog, catch up with everyone, video chat and so on.

Thank god I got it!  I'm sitting here bopping to me music, contemplating checking out a walking programme.

Here is a really lovely bonus to today's post:

ABOVE:  There is my Mum, meeting her first GREAT GREAT GRANDCHILD, little Ardie.  Ardie is 6 weeks old.   

And yes, he is named after our All Black rugby player, Ardie Savea!  The Daddy is a rugby fan obviously.  

Such a perfect day they had yesterday, Mum got to hold and dote on little Ardie for a good long time.  Having the girls there (Granddaughter's etc) was just an added bonus to the baby really.

Mum just loves babies, like me.

10.30 am:  And I've just caved in and put a sweatshirt on!  I have the air con on 26 C, and it's bloody cold in my room!

I'm wondering if it's a faulty air conditioning unit?  Here I was worried I'd be too hot.  Pfffft.

It's raining outside.  A very overcast day.  

And just like that, I have solved the air con problem.  I turned it off!  Now it's much warmer in the room.  No draft.  I friggin hate a draft.

Lunch today:

ABOVE:  And OH wow... what a difference!  It was just lovely!  I had the Pesto Wrap for lunch and an hour later I had the salad.  Both were so nice.  

It's good they are not adding sweet things to the packs!  I am missing something sweet, but I sure don't need it.

So, today's lunch gets a solid 10/10.

I'm now going to do a few exercises, even though I really don't feel like it.  Has to be done.

4.39 pm:  And I just had my first video chat with Stew and Brylee.  Stew was cooking dinner, bearing in mind they are two hours ahead of Aussy time. It was so nice to see and talk to them.  Thank God for modern technology, enabling video chats!

I see Lacy just popped on... so I might go yak with her now.

5.59 pm:  And after yakking to Lacy, I yakked with Steve 'n' Bex.  

Then dinner arrived.

ABOVE:  Tonight's dinner.  Beef stew, slightly better than last nights, over pasta!  Who the fuck puts beef and gravy over pasta?  SO... MUCH... PASTA!

I ate the meat, left the pasta. The bun was STALE, didn't eat it. 

The salad was exactly the same as last night, only bigger pieces of tomato... all two pieces of it,  4 thin slices of cucumber, lots of carrot and leaves.

ABOVE:  And what the hell was this?  It was soft, TOTALLY dry and tasteless.  I have no idea what it was supposed to be!  Didn't eat that either.

ABOVE:  Anyone want some pasta?  NO?  Right.  In the bin it goes.

Tonight's dinner gets a resounding 3/10.

The catering company should be damn well fired.

This is JUST CHEAP AND NASTY FOOD.

Very disappointed, and if tomorrow's dinner is this bad I will be ordering in.

So... I was so incensed by the dinner, I rang and talked to the catering company.  I told them exactly what I thought of their food, and said tonight's and last night's dinners went in the bin.  So... I've asked for NO CARBS, cos I don't want my meals to be 80% friggin carbs!  AND I told her the 'dessert' was disgusting too.  Might as well be honest right?  The poor girl was very diplomatic, I'll give her that.

I wonder if many people have complained?  Surely I'm not the only one.  Can't be.  Cos that food is disgusting.

Two weeks of that?  NO FREAKIN' WAY.

Oh and she told me last night's meal was LAMB!  Lamb my arse.  It was beef, dried up, over cooked beef. Grrrrr.

And ya know what?  There ends DAY ONE of Quarantine.

I'm gunna lie in bed and watch something on Netflix.