Perth to Cervantes: escape from lockdown

I’ve just escaped from another lockdown !  This morning I took JL to Kent Street Weir, where volunteers take people for rides around the park in trishaws. This was a really nice thing to do: half an hour being pedalled around.

Setting off in the trishaw.

JL walking on the weir bridge.

JL was interested in the history of the weir, so I captured this info from the display boards for him.  He remembers the old wooden structure, which was later replaced by a stronger steel structure. To the right of the weir is salt water and to the left of the weir it is fresh water.

After the ride we were sitting on a bench enjoying a picnic, when I got a text from C warning of an imminent lockdown of the Perth and Peel Region. I needed to move, as I couldn't afford to be stuck in Perth. I had bookings in Broome and the Kimberley that I didn't want to lose. Apparently, there had been a leak in a hotel quarantine hotel, where several guests had caught the virus from a returned traveller from India. The person had left the hotel after 14 days and gone to stay with someone in the Perth suburb of Kardinya. They later tested positive and so did the person they were staying with. These two people were out and about in the community which is what prompted the lockdown. All of this seems to suggest that the virus travels in the air between hotel rooms. This hotel is the Mercure and is the oldest of the hotels being used for quarantine.

I returned in great haste to our apartment in Burswood and threw everything I could into the car. Fortunately, I was pretty well packed in case of this eventuality. A few things did get left behind, including some frozen food I'd been preparing for the trip, some fruit as well as my beer and wine supplies - (especially bad news!)  I then drove JL back to Koh-i-Noor Aged Care Home and proceeded to drive north as fast as I could. On the way I heard on the radio that the lockdown was to begin at midnight, and it was only for 3 days over the Anzac Day weekend. I could have waited till Tuesday, but who knows if it will be extended if more COVID cases emerge in Perth.  This was a risk I didn't want to take, so I was determined to get away asap.

I drove as far as Cervantes, and decided to check-in at the Pinnacles Motel. This was not easy, as there was a queue and the phones were running hot. The one woman at Reception was being hassled on all sides, some phoning up to cancel and others, like me, desperate for a room. She finally gave me one for $100 - can't complain at that!  I went for a walk to the beach just as the sun was setting:

Cervantes sunset.

Looking north.

Looking south.