Tuesday 14 July 2020

Our 'Bubble' has burst!

As most Aussies would know our Queensland border opened to interstate visitors last Friday and since then at least 17,000 have travelled into Queensland. People who have been in Victoria in the past two weeks are not allowed to cross the border and some cars have been refused entry but I am sure there have been some who have slipped in according to media reports. So our little bubble we have been living in since the beginning of April has well and truly burst and a lot of Queenslanders are now holding their breath waiting to see if we have a spike in COVID-19 infections like there is currently in the highly populated cities of Melbourne and Sydney. 



Forgive me if this blog post is a little wonky but I am trying to learn about the new Blogger changes and I think it will take me a while to get used to.....and I don't like change 😏

Regarding the opening of our borders ... we will just have to get used to the fact that we need to be extra careful when out and about and hopefully won't have to go back into lockdown like Melbourne residents have had to. 




After visiting the Farmers Market on Saturday I crossed the road to Queens Park to see how the gardens are progressing in readiness for the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers coming up in September. 




It looks like most of them have been planted now....



...and some of the flowers are opening up already. The gardeners have had plenty of experience with planting these gardens and will have the flowers looking absolutely beautiful by the middle of September so if you intend to visit here for the Carnival and want to avoid the crowds then come the week before it starts when it is quieter. 



While in Queens Park also check out the magnificent trees like this Queensland Kauri. 




It has been rather cold here lately so I actually did some baking as I really need to get used to the ovens in my induction stove which is a Bellings (made in the UK) and has two ovens. Also I was hungry 😅




I made Sourdough Banana Bread from Cultures for Health which was nice with butter. I added some dates and replaced the sugar with Dextrose. 




We have lots of avocados at the moment but they aren't the nicest and I think we probably should have given them more water as the rainfall wasn't the greatest over summer. Still they are okay in a salad.  

Today the temperature is 11C but the apparent temperature is 2.8C and I am freezing sitting here at the computer so need to go and sit in the sun and have a hot coffee.  I hope everyone is keeping well in these crazy times. 'Bye for now!



18 comments:

  1. Stay safe! I hope the tourists in your state behave themselves!

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    1. I hope so too. A lot of them would be grey nomads who are normally responsible people and would be careful.

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  2. Yes Victoria is in a very bad way and that all escalated the week we were opening the borders. I think NSW will be in lockdown in the next 3-4 weeks to be honest and I'm concerned about Queensland because of the NSW pub which apparently is in a location with lots of trucks and distribution centres and on the way out to Queensland. I think Qld will knock anything immediately on the head as they have already banned anyone from NSW that has been there so they won't take any chances. The whole thing is so surreal and to think Australia is in the best position. We are freaking out at 200 cases a day [as we should be] yet the USA is having 66,000 a day. Honestly the whole thing could have been contained and prevented in the first place and the world economy, peoples lives have all been affected....I think we are only in for the start of it to be honest and Australia will be in a little bubble for a good year to 18 months...hopefully.

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    1. Kathy, I can't see overseas travel happening any time soon. I don't think our Premier will waste too much time shutting the borders down again if there are a lot of infections in Queenland. People coming in to the state need to be sensible but unfortunately not everyone is.

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  3. I was thinking of you today Chel - I knew it would be really cold in Toowoomba.

    The office I work in overlooks the Bruce Highway. There was so much traffic. There are a lot of caravans at the overnight stop in town too.

    I was reading on news.com at lunchtime that South Australia has decided not to open their border to NSW on July 20th as they had previously announced they would.

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    1. Sherri it was freezing yesterday but thankfully the wind has died down today. It was icy yesterday.

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  4. Chel, I heard about COVID cases rising in Melbourne. Though it’s not as severe as here, I hope they will be able to contain it quickly. Be careful even if your area doesn’t have new cases. It’s amazing how quickly this virus spreads.

    The banana bread looks delicious.

    Stay safe, and have a wonderful week.

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    1. Nil, I hope you stay safe too as the numbers of new infections over there are staggering.

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  5. It must be very nerve wracking for you. I have been reading about the situation in Melbourne - hope they get things under control soon.
    Today they extended the closure of the US/Canadian border until August 21 - they seem to do it month by month but most of us want it to stay closed until the end of the year! It's difficult to patrol such a long border and in my province they have to check for boats coming across Lake Ontario - it's usually people trying to sneak into their cottages on this side of the border. In BC there is access for Americans to cross and then head straight to Alaska - unfortunately a few have been caught taking a detour or two and they have been heavily fined! Many in BC would like this loophole closed! My brother suggested they could run the empty cruise shops from Seattle to Alaska and get them in that way!

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    1. Margie, hopefully nobody who was infected in Victoria makes it over the border but apparently some people are lying. I can well imagine you would want your border with the US to stay shut but monitoring such a long border would be difficult. I have a niece in BC and a nephew in Alberta and I believe all is well where they live.

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  6. Living in South Australia I'm very worried about the situation in
    Melbourne getting so bad that it spreads to other states. We have
    a friend who has a farm right on the Victorian Border and there has
    been plenty of anecdotal evidence of people trying to sneak across
    on the small unsealed roads around him. We've been lucky so far in
    SA (as you have in Qld) but how long will that last?

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    1. Barbara, I can understand how you feel. Even when our borders were closed some people were still allowed into Queensland for various reasons. It is so hard to monitor all the border roads as Australia is such a huge country.

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  7. Chel I think in a weeks time we will be seeing the first cases of community transmission of the virus. Our little town has swelled in numbers. The amount of vehicles driving around with interstate plates and permit notices on their windscreens is scary. I so hope I am wrong but I dont think I am. Stay safe.

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    1. Jane I have to agree with you. I am going to be extra careful at the Farmers Market tomorrow in particular. Our Carnival of Flowers is still going ahead with lots of changes but we have postponed our simple living workshops until next year....just to be safe.

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  8. Wonderful pictures and the banana bread looks delicious!

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  9. There are an awful lot of caravans on the road now. Hopefully they got out of Victoria before the virus ran free again. We are planning to go out in our caravan this week too now school holidays are over but won't be venturing to Queensland. I like the Bellings stoves - have been eyeing them off as a potential replacement for my wood stove one day.

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  10. We spent the afternoon over at Redcliffe today, Chel. It was busy but we were able to keep our social distance by choosing quieter areas for a beach walk and picnic.
    I think there are steps that governments can take, such as border closures, and there are steps that individuals can take, such as social distancing and hand washing. We all have a responsibility to one another. MegXx

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