I started my 8-week break on 4th August and frustratingly, Victoria was locked down from 6th August and we're STILL in that lockdown which has just been extended with no end date. I don't think it'll be eased before I head back to PNG on 29th September. The health authorities are starting to believe that those underestimating the Delta strain who are flouting the rules are only part of the cause of the stubbornly high daily case numbers (less than 100, compared to close to 1200 in New South Wales today). Honestly I'm finding it increasingly hard to blame these rule-breakers as lockdown-fatigue weighs people down more and more.
As you know, Ision works in a supermarket which in my opinion is a location with the highest COVID risk of all places (hence I don't understand why supermarket staff don't get priority in the vaccination queue), and his work location has been an exposure site five times in two weeks. He's been on leave for two months and managed to avoid all that but he went back to work last week and sure enough, he struck the "Tier 2" exposure site lottery. Consequently he had to go for his first-ever COVID swab yesterday (he's been lucky to have escaped the unpleasant swabs until now, more than a year-and-a-half since the pandemic began) and thankfully he's negative.
There's other good news too—I've had my first Pfizer vaccination and have my next booked. The first Pfizer dose is usually associated with milder side effects compared to the second but I already got a sore arm and even muscle aches, chills and fever from the first, so I'm a little worried about my next jab. I guess I'd have to clear my schedule for those few days after that to recover, not that there's much to do in lockdown anyway! My company will soon be firing people who choose not to be vaccinated so this is good timing. By the way, Ision's having his first AstraZeneca dose three days before my second so we're both on the right track.
To complete my quarantine series (previous posts in the series are here: part 1 part 2), this post documents in pictures my first Australian quarantine experience at the end of last month at The Westin in Brisbane.
After much waiting without food in the hot and humid open for my negative PCR test at the Port Moresby airport (we were told 45 minutes but it was more than 2 hours), we were greeted with more waiting when we landed in Brisbane. We were stuck in the airport for more than 3 hours after we landed because of a quarantine processing "backlog". At the point of departing the airport, it was like the Hunger Games where everyone rushed forward jumping queues to get on the buses that were sending us to the hotels as people were only dispatched in batches (the years of polishing my kiasu skills were certainly put to good use). I was hoping not to get a Gold Coast hotel as that would mean a long bus ride although I was told the hotel there had balconies which I personally don't need. I reached the hotel and checked in close to 10pm and took this picture. Fortunately we were given dinner in those paper bags on the left side of the picture as we headed up to the room. There was NO food or water provided regardless of how long the processing time took at the airport, which was really unacceptable.
Well, at least my room was great and I got to snap a series of "before-I-trash-this-room" pictures. In a parallel universe, the stay at The Westin would have been a really great one. Funny how hotels are no longer synonymous with fun in this new world we live in. In its place are a loss of freedom and COVID swabs. Talking about swabs which ALWAYS come at the most inappropriate times, I had one during lunch and I had to suffer a very gross nasal swab after it went down my throat still coated with all the food!
The view from my room was a gloomy one. This picture was taken the day when Brisbane went into a snap lockdown which explains why the streets were empty (NB: To Victoria, if you're coming straight from hotel quarantine, you're deemed to be coming from a green zone regardless of the actual conditions on the ground and hence I only had to apply for a green zone permit without the need for any COVID test upon arrival in Melbourne. I believe the rule has changed and now we're required to have one test on the 17th day). I've lived in Brisbane for a few months before and know that even if I were free to move around, I'll not be missing much during a Brisbane lockdown. The times when I wasn't working in my room were spent recording and editing the songs I wrote when I was on rotation in PNG.
To claim additional quarantine work allowance, we had to work for at least 6 hours per day which was easily achieved as I had several training sessions lined up. The table in my room was a tad small to fit in my personal, work and training laptops (from left to right). Thankfully the WiFi was holding up albeit not being activated till the second day and my calls to reception to express my irritation didn't help at all. The plant in PNG underwent a total power outage a few days after I left site and they took weeks to restart. Thank goodness for not being subjected to all that stress! That being said, I know I'll have my own share of troubles during my next hitch, not least all the things that I have to fix as found from the power failure investigations—it's always fun and games there.
One of the most important things when in quarantine is the food as that's the only variable thing that one can look forward to. This is a sample of the food we got at The Westin (there's also a Menu B that's not shown). I must say they actually adhere strictly to the menu which was excellent because then you'll know which meals need to be supplemented by Uber Eats. I told them "no lamb" upfront and wasn't expecting there to be any in the menu as it's usually only beef but was glad that I made that request as lamb was indeed featured (in Menu B).
One most common gripe about quarantining at The Westin was that the food portions were really small and this picture clearly shows that. Luckily the company provides a $350/week allowance for us to order supplementary food and most would choose Uber Eats although some would have groceries delivered (which doesn't make too much sense as there were no cooking facilities). Another grumble I have about the food is it always came at least an hour later than the scheduled time. Once, I was already in bed ready to sleep when it arrived!
Compared to hotel quarantine food, the above meal from Uber Eats sure looks different eh? I even ordered lobster for one of my dinners! I've never ordered Uber Eats before as I find it EXTREMELY expensive and honestly can't understand how people can be so lazy that they're willing to fork out the price markups. I hope the novelty wears off by my next Australian quarantine as I was clearly getting fat from overeating. Sometimes I couldn't finish and had to store the leftovers in the fridge to be had when the quarantine meal was especially bad. It was frustrating not to have a microwave in the room (honestly how hard is it to have one in each room?!) and I had to soak the takeaway box in hot water in the toilet sink to warm it up. I must pack Ziplock bags in my luggage next time to warm food better. Too bad Uber Eats restaurants don't include alcohol in their menu (which is really strange—does anyone know why?), otherwise that'd be a good way to use up the credits and yet not overeat!
Supplies were topped up every 4 days which included bed linen which I believe no one bothers to change. What was important were the essentials like coffee, toothpaste, body wash, etc. and I was unpleasantly surprised the quarantine staff was not smart enough (i.e. as dumb as PNG's) to supply 14 days worth of supplies at one go which means we had to open the door unnecessarily for piecemeal requests. They were also not intelligent enough to place those discrete items in a bag and instead laid them all out on the floor! I had to tell them how to do their job and fortunately they understood my instructions. Perhaps this is a universal thing all hotels do but for the life of me, I can't figure out why they do it other than the potential little bit of savings they can make in case people don't use up those supplies. Another complaint was that the hotel no longer provided free transport back to the airport and although they said that was due to a change in Queensland government rules, I somehow feel that cost-saving was the real reason behind that. I'm glad the company pays for such trips back to the airport, if not I'd be pissed!
I've stopped taking PrEP when I left for PNG as there's no need for it based on my previous experience (I'd gladly be proven wrong but alas I remain right). As I was going back into civilisation, I restarted taking it. The anticipation of resuming sexual life was one of the things I relied upon to tide me through hotel quarantine. That being said, I'm actually a little too involved in gaming to care about sex (I got a call in my hotel room that my pre-ordered PlayStation 5 was ready for collection). Gaming is a GREAT cure for lockdown. Another thing to "look forward" to was my next hitch and I got my itinerary for that confirmed. From the departure dates, it was evident that the 8-week on/off rotation (i.e. 1 week quarantine in PNG + 5 weeks on site + 2 weeks quarantine in Brisbane) has been approved. I hope now that the Delta strain has reached PNG, they'll not go back on their word and lengthen the rotation back to 10-week on/6-week off again!
There was a warning that laundry could take up to 3 days and I was foolish enough not to take it seriously. I sent them my clothes on Friday morning and I only received it on Tuesday night i.e. the last night of my stay, right on the dot after 3 business days! I really have to pack more clothes next time as I was without any for that weekend and then some, and had to wrap myself with towels when the COVID swabbers came knocking. In the above picture, do you see that disposable mask on top of the returned pile of clothes? That was in my hoodie pocket and I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that they didn't throw that away and put it back in the pile freshly-laundered as if they thought it could be reused!
Without a doubt, the COVID quarantine measures were very much stricter in Australia compared to PNG but as soon as I stepped out of The Westin at the end of my fortnight sentence, the hotel staff couldn't care less about how socially undistant I was, which in my opinion made all the measures seem a little bullshitty. There was also another cock-up when I reached Melbourne—someone called to inform me that I came from a red zone (as Brisbane was locked down) and so had to undergo another 14-day quarantine. Of course that was later clarified to be an error, if not, I'd have died of anger there and then.
I'm tempted to say now that I've experienced the entire PNG/Australian quarantine process, I'd know what to expect next time but I understand this is all very fluid. Hence the only thing I'm expecting is change, so don't be surprised if there's another series with whole new whinges about this new part of my everyday life called quarantine! In the meantime, on this last day of winter, let's hope we all have a better spring ahead.
