Due to the lifting of the lockdowns in South Australia, I'm being let out of isolation early. Yay? We'll see how it goes.
Will also be interesting to see if they charge me the full $2,500 for being here, or around $780 or so (full amount divided by 14, multiplied by 4)...
Edit: this was meant to publish on the 28th of July, not sure why it's showing up in August. :/ And the bill came to $700.
I was quite popular today, lots of messages and calls... from work.
Oh well, guess it's nice to be needed? No doubt I'll be back in the madness soon enough.
Had the usual temperature check, other than that and the work related calls, it's been very quiet. Have loads of ideas for projects that I'd like to make, though none of them are very practical so I doubt I'll ever do them. But I'm itching to have a play with the welder. First time I've ever seen an ad on Gumtree for someone giving away free scrap steel and I'm stuck here. Next time, maybe.
A bit quieter today. Had the normal visit to check my temperature and ask about how I feel but other than that, nothing much has happened. Did receive a message about my brain tickle - test came back negative, as expected.
I've got the aircon on 27, that's the highest I can set it to without it kicking over from cooling to heating. I don't want it too cold so I can try and acclimatise back to Darwin weather. No doubt I'll be spending a lot of time outside when I get back to work.
Had my first brain tickler today. Can't say having the probe jammed into the back of my throat and up my nose is fun - left my eyes watery actually! I suspect this is going to happen a bunch more times before this is all over.
On the plus side, internet is available in my room now. I suspect it needed to be enabled and the mini router in each room susplies enough wifi for just that room. The walls are all metal (moveable mini buildings), and I can only see one wifi signal in the room. I think if I stood between two rooms with the doors open, I'd see two signals.
Not a theory I'm going to be able to test, I intend to have as little interaction with the other residents as possible - none at all if I can help it
At the moment it's not possible to receive things from home, so I'm stuck with the clothes I took down south. Not a huge drama, but I'm going to try and not use the laundry here. Mimimise the risk of exposure as much as possible. If I'm let out when the lockdown in Adelaide is lifted then it becomes a non-issue. If I need to do the full 14 days then I can wash clothes in the shower - though running out of laundry powder may become an issue.
One of the new joys of travelling - pick the wrong dates and you get to stay at one of the many quarantine facilities for a few days, up to a fortnight (or longer if you want to be silly and not follow the rules).
I'd done a bit of travelling around since the pandemic hit but had gotten lucky so far. This is my first time being put into isolation. Fun to see that right at the front of the welcome pamphlet they have the numbers for mental health, beyond blue, suicide assistance and so forth. Guess sitting in a room for a few days is too much for some people.
Current tasks completed:
- submit induction form with emergency contact details and medical information,
- change the aircon from a freezing 20 up to 26, just enough to take the edge off the Darwin heat,
- square away my clothes and stuff, which was pretty easy considering I don't have much (and fewer warm weather clothes since I just came from down south),
- reprogram the tv as it wasn't tuned properly
Waiting to get a brain tickler (new arrivals are tested within 24 hours of arrival), reading through the rest of the information pack and then settling down for the next few days.
