The Australian Situation
In March 2020, while we were in the USA it became clear that COVID-19 was a pandemic and the Australian Government closed its borders and instituted a pretty serious lockdown. We returned to Australia on one of Qantas’ last international flights before going into home quarantine for 14 days.
Lockdown
During the lockdown my fiancée has her birthday and with all the restrictions
I started to take to cooking at home and most of our dates were re-creating our favourite meals at home.
Lockdown Lifted
On 15 May 2020, Australia came out of lockdown and the experience was varied between states. Some states returned to normal pretty quickly and Victoria was plunged into the pretty deep and long lockdown due to a second wave of COVID-19. In NSW we did have cases, but the NSW government to their credit kept a balance of managing the cases and opening up the economy.
Our first meal out of lockdown on 15 May 2020. We got a bottle of wine and went to a lovely Lebanese Restaurant Eddies in Mortdale.
During the lockdown we were restricted to meeting with just one other person, known as the 2 person rule. Post 15 May we also got to visit friends and family again:
Dining
The restaurant scene took a while to get back into the swing of things – venues were initially constrained with caps and the 1 person per 4 sqm rule. We had to book before going and there was no standing consumption of alcohol or mingling.
Yulli’s
Fei Jai
I simply love the crab egg white omelette here:
Nour Sydney
Tetsuyas
We did a little mini-engagement celebration at Tetsuyas – just the two of us
Bistro Rex
A lovely leisurely lunch with old friends at this French Bistro.
Republic Dining
Franca
I celebrated a key work milestone and we did a leisurely lunch at Franca; a lovely French restaurant.
Regional Getaways
With international borders closed, my fiancée decided to treat me to a weekend getaway in the Hunter Valley.
Staycation
I am generally not a staycation person, but we decided to do one in style and stayed at the Sofitel Darling Harbour. We enjoyed some room service, the restaurant and daily breakfast. I do highly recommend this hotel.
The Honeymoon Staycation
So we then got married and with borders closed we couldn’t do a proper honeymoon, so we did a honeymoon staycation.
Shangri La (Sydney)
We stayed at the Shangri-La and this lovely view each night!
The Pines
Had a lovely lunch at the Pines in Cronulla
Manly Wharf Bar
We spent some time in Manly
Nobu
Nobu finally opened in Sydney and we went for a lovely dinner.
Melbourne
Finally we grew a little confident that the Australian state border restrictions were (largely) behind us and we booked a trip to Melbourne to see the Australian Open Final. We stayed at the Crown and visited some lovely new bars.
The Gimlet
A beautiful French Bar / Bistro with rather quaint cuisine.
We raided the mini bar to avoid going outside and being subject to the mask mandate!
So there you have it – 12 months of COVID-19 – it’s been a wild ride and I’m hoping the world brings it under control so borders can reopen and we can see each other soon!