Cnewc wrote:

---

Hi Fellow travellers.  I am a solo traveller.  Left home (Tewantin, Sunshine Coast) in November 2019 and headed to Tasmania for 4 months.  Then Covid hit and with initial lockdown and then Victorias second outbreak with shut borders, spent nearly a year in Tassie - loved it. Left Nov 2020 and headed along the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide to spend Xmas with my daughter. Travelled around SA, using my daughters unit in Adelaide as a base.  Left end of April to head to Darwin up the centre and got as far as Port Augusta and fell Ill and was flown back to Adelaide. All good.  I flew back to Qld to visit son and grandkids - got stuck there for an extra2 weeks (5 in all) with lockdowns.  Managed to get back to Adelaide and my Ute and van, spending 2 weeks in home quarantine at the unit - daughter elsewhere. My intention was to pack up and head across NSW and home by the end of September when my house becomes vacant. Originally, I wanted to head to ACT to have a look around but all that is up the tube With Covid. Ok, so after all that introduction, any idea best way to make it home. I would ideally like to travel across NSW via Broken Hill, trying to keep North, cross the border maybe at Tweed heads or within 24hrs (or less driving distance from Tewantin and do 2 weeks home quarantine. If not home quarantine (and that doesnt look at all likely), then hotel but it appears you can only apply for a border pass three days before and I would already be in NSW at that time.  Also, would I be able to transit across NSW. I am self sufficient so could avoid people except for fuel etc. Dont know, Im totally confused. I have to leave as my daughters lease is up on 22 Sept.  Can anyone enlighten me please. Thanks so much for your time and reading my long ramble - NEWCY

-- Edited by Cnewc on Friday 3rd of September 2021 10:20:58 PM

---

 Are you fully vaccinated?

Some freinds here in SA recently traveled through NT to get to QLD, then back the same way with no problems. It is longer but there was no problems.

Victoria allows Vic residents who are in Qld to cross NSW in a 24 hour window in order to return home, it would be worth checking to see if Qld offers similar to Qld residents in other states.

I don't think you need worry about isolation on the Plenty Highway, it is a well used road, comparatively.

We have just driven from Brisbane to Adelaide.
We were towing a trailer full of "delicate" stuff, so wanted to stay on the bitumen, so the only option was via Mt Isa and Alice Springs, 4,500km.
Just need to complete the border crossing applications along the way.
Cheers,
Peter

Re (Good on big hearted Dan for letting returning Victorian residents cross NSW - unfortunately we dont want you here as you will be just as much risk of transporting the virus from town to town as anyone else regardless of the number plate you may have on your car)

Could be the reason for some of the Non Locally Acquired Covid cases in Vic.

So true.  Thanks

Thanks for the advice EJB. Appreciated

This set of circumstances, and plenty of others, highlight the urgent need for the current sealing of the Strzelecki track to be prioritised by the Feds. At the current rate of sealing, 50km per year and with 450km remaining to be done, ie 9 years, it needs to be declared a National Road and at the very least, double that rate of progress.

Hi Cnewc, 4 of us, 2 couples are currently in Port Augusta, and will be leaving on Monday to go north through Alice then to Tennant creek and crossing into QLD from there and going down to Brisbane. A hell of a detour. AFAIK there are no restrictions on getting into QLD that way. we are making a couple of stops at Cober Pedy, Ayers rock and Alice Springs.

In 2019 we were staying in our van in Broken Hill intending to head down the Silver City Hwy to Victoria, on the night before leaving we heard on the news that the highway had been closed due to some structural problem with a bridge. We decided to do a fairly lengthy detour and go through the SA Riverland and back to Mildura that way. We ended up spending a few days in Morgan,  visited some great vineyards and explored an area that we had never intended on going to. Sometimes what seems like a setback can turn out to be an opportunity we were glad that we decided to go that way or we would have missed a great part of the country. I guess its different if you are in a hurry but most of the time we aren't - IMHO the time you spend bypassing NSW Cnewc might be a bit more interesting (and cheaper) than sitting quarantined in a room for 14 days after you get there.

BB 

We only free camped on the routes from Sydney, Bourke, Mt Isa, Tennant Creek in 2018 & in 2019 down the Stuart Highway from Great Central Road until we turned off at the Oodnadatta Track. No issues whatsoever with free camping along the sealed road. We have enough fuel for over 1200km on sealed roads without headwind.

 

We get going in the morning by driving a bit first then have breakfast. We find it gets us going quicker than having breakfast first. By default you then get a break driving.

 

Then start looking 2 hours before it starts to get dark. If you stop early so be it.

I wonder why our EVER SO CONCERNED PM, PREMIERS AND CMOs werent out Closing Borders and Issuing Travel Permits in 2019, when more than 310,000 were DIAGNOSED WITH INFLUENZA during the Flu Season (March - October 8 months) and 913 Australians Died from the INFLUENZA VIRUS?
But here we are 2yrs later with a Virus that in 2020 Infected just 28,100 and was a Factor in the Deaths of 910! And this year 2021, after 8mths we have around the same number of cases, but with a massive reduction in Deaths, down to just 120!
It looks to me that the News that says that this New Variant although more contagious, is less Deadly. And the figures certainly seem to quantify that ascension.
What has happened that has led to us becoming a society of DEATH & ILLNESS DENIERS?
Over 450+ Australians DIE EVERY SINGLE DAY from Preventable Diseases & Accidents, where is our Governments response to those Deaths? Why CANCER alone takes 50+ lives a day in Australia, and a further 150+ Australians a day are Diagnosed with CANCER! Where are the Daily Updates on these DEATHS and NEW CASES? According to the CANCER COUNCIL of Australia, almost 1 in 2 Australians over 70 will die from Cancer, where is the OUTCRY FOR THESE POOR SOULS?
But when 1,000 Australians with a median age of 82 (who all had COMORBIDITIES!) die from a Virus that strangely has all the same symptoms as the Flu, the Government Mobilise the Army and turn our Police Force into the Gestapo! And with the grand Total of just 3 Australians under the age of 20 who have died WITH the Virus, thats 3 under 20s in a YEAR AND A HALF, the Government are now turning their attack on them.
I am not an ANTIVAXXER! If you want to have the Vaccine then by all means have it I would never try to tell anyone not to have it, but the same token those who wish to be vaccinated should extend the same courtesy to those who do not wish to have the vaccine. And if the VACCINE works? What do you have to fear from anyone who is not Vaccinated? The latest news out of Israel, they have the Highest Number of Vaccinated population in the world, they are now experiencing a huge increase in Cases and over 70% of those new cases are those who have been Fully Vaccinated!
Im surprised that people on this site seem to be buying into the hysteria created by the Government and the Media, after all we are all from generations that went through much worse situations than this, and we have all known and seen death in our lifetimes, and we all know that death is a part of life. My mother went through the Spanish Flu, that WAS a Pandemic, with a population of just 5 Millionover 35,000 Australians lost their lives and over 3 Million Australians were infected (thats 3 in every 5 Australians)! Now that was something to PANIC ABOUT! But this Virus has not yet ECLIPSED ANY FLU SEASON INFECTIONS OR DEATHS, and those INFLUENZA VIRUS DEATHS & CASES happen every year!

-- Edited by Liamray on Sunday 5th of September 2021 09:55:56 AM

Liamray, you obviously have no idea what is going on in the world regarding this virus, or the restrictions imposed by our state governments to contain it. We might not all agree with way they are going about it but they have helped in containing this virus. I think it is glaringly obvious that, with this new Delta strain, vaccinations are the only way out. Anyone who is not vaccinated may find themselves in a world of pain.

G'day newsy,
Without trying to be over cynical, Anna & Jeanette will let you into QLD if you're a football team, a film star or have plenty of money that you'll spend in Qld! Otherwise it's almost impossible to "come home". We'd like to see our families, getting there is no problem, coming back is!

There have been a couple of sneaky characters who have found other ways of getting back without detection but they had kids who skited a little too loudly to their school mates & have been hit with some "extra travel expenses"! Personally I agree with the extra fines as these people can put communities at risk.