We finally made it! The big 1-4, the end of quarantine and the start of officially being out in Sydney.
We both started the day early again because the nurses rang us and wanted to come up and take our pulse and blood pressure as the final health check before our discharge. Another day in quarantine.
Once we had that done, we both were excited because there was a rough confirmation that our release time would be 7:30pm. I say rough because we're subject to whatever the health people dictate. Not like you can call up and demand to be let out at 7:30pm.
Finishing quarantine was definitely seen as a milestone for us. Yes, we got lucky with the massive apartment but the inability to go out, exercise properly, finding things to occupy your time, spending 24/7 with another person (Even during Circuit Breaker, we both could go out to exercise and dapao food), and eating microwaved food is a challenge.
Speaking of food and since we had nothing much to do today, we took out all the food that piled up over the 14 days and looked like this:
14 days worth of accumulated food
This is after we consumed quite a bit of the delivered food. We just couldn't keep up with the food that kept coming. Before you judge us (You know who you are judgey people), we did the following to minimise wastage:
1. Called them several time to tell them to stop sending breakfast/lunch/dinner. I think they had to play it safe and still send some basics just in case quarantine people die of hunger and then blame the authorities that they didn't send anything.
2. We packed up as much food as we could to bring over to our new apartment.
3. A friend was kind enough to look into distributing this to the needy.
UPDATE from friend:
Making little packs!
From big brown bags to little brown bags
Yes, there was some food wastage but not everything went to waste. There's a difference.
Moving on, we had our lunch delivered for the last time. Sandwiches for day 14, a repeat of last week's lunch which we ate again. And like last week, it was barely decent.
We packed up the house pretty quickly this time. Maybe cause we didn't fully unpack or we were just excited to get out of quarantine. Packing was a breeze this time because we didn't have to meet any luggage allowance (No to 32kg per luggage!) or worry about how many bags two of us could manage.
The original configuration we arrived with + one backpack + one tote bag. Left with these 8 bags + 3 paper bags + 2 large tote bags.
We both tried to catch a nap while waiting but didn't quite sleep. I got hungry after the sandwiches so I ate not one, but TWO microwave meals which Sarah quickly judged me for. #Nofoodwastage
Our discharge letter arrived in Sarah's email at 3:46pm which confirmed our departure time at 7:30pm since our last swab test was Covid negative and we were both in good health. We confirmed transport with our friend to come pick us up later, completed packing and waited out the next couple of hours.
4:20pm: We watch the sun set on our day 14 from our balcony.
5:30pm: We put on real outside world clothes for the first time in 14-days. It feels strange.
5:31pm: How long has it been?
6:25pm: Officially one hour to go! TV is on, bags are packed, we are in our outside world outfits.
7:25pm: We were told to call the nurses to come and escort us out of our rooms so we made the call. If we decided to leave on our own, we would likely have to restart the 14-days. Nurses came promptly, we loaded our 13 bags onto two trolleys and we were out of there! No bittersweet feelings. Just let's go.
It was super strange to finally see the full corridor because all we could see for 14 days was the door across from us. Actually everything was strange because we've not seen anything other than the inside of our apartment, the view from the balcony, and the door opposite us.
It was a pretty quick escort out of the premises. Straight to the lift, down, and then straight out of the serviced apartment. I think the nurses wanted to make sure we had a clean exit without the complications of running into another quarantine group or something. Our bags and both of us were dumped by the kerbside for pick up and the nurses left us. Our quarantine was officially over.
Looking back, we're super grateful and happy at the way quarantine went for us. From the apartment allocation, sleeping pretty well, doing two swab tests, fully utilising the stuff that was such a pain to bring over, working around the food situation, having a great partner, and just having these 14 days to settle in, acclimatise, and rest from the craziness of moving.
Our awesome friends (If you're reading this, you're awesome!) arrived shortly after and we barely managed to load all our stuff in but we made it.
First stop was a real, proper dinner that didn't come in a brown paper bag and a knock on the door. Tacos from a pop-up food truck (Typical Australia) near our place were very good and we were both finally able to speak with another human being other than each other.
Sweet, sweet tacos
Our friends then dropped us at our new apartment and they made us an amazing care pack full of Aussie stuff to welcome us officially to Sydney.
Told you they were awesome.
So that's it. 14 days of quarantine check ✅ and we're moving on to real life with hearts full of gratitude for everyone who's supported us through this entire crazy process.
A very different view from our home for three months
Next stop: Life in Sydney!
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