In Australia you're allowed to do many things. The right to protest, enjoy freedom of speech, call for a politician's resignation. The one thing you absolutely cannot do is to punch a horse.
This guy was promptly arrested
Lesson in Lockdown #1: Do not punch a police horse during a protest. Or any horse in any situation actually.
So we've just done week 4 of lockdown and there was a major protest across major cities in Australia on Saturday. Supposedly the protest was to mark "Freedom Day" in response to the strict public health orders which without surprise turned violent pretty quickly.
Protest against lockdown while 100% spreading Covid-19
Sydney's lockdown is scheduled to end this Friday, July 30 but the case numbers don't seem to indicate that will happen. Either way, we're still going to be in Sydney so might as well make the best of that ride as unexciting as it may be.
Here's what we did to get through this week's lockdown minus the usual food photos because we have way too much of that and lessons learnt in lockdown.
Since Tuesday was a public holiday in Singapore, we went out to do the usually crowded Coogee to Bondi walk to beat the crowds. Was a little gloomy but enjoyable with less people on a weekday afternoon.
Yes, that's another coastal walk but that's like complaining oh I won 4D again. Coastal walks are always awesome. And also the only exception during lockdown so might as well make the best of it for now.
Lesson in Lockdown #2: Be thankful of having nature accessible where we are.
The best bit of that walk was the heritage listed cliffside Waverley Cemetery overlooking the ocean. It's pretty amazing that they would use such a prime piece of land for a cemetery. In Singapore, they would 100% exhume the plot and put a condo on it.
So you could say it was a grave mistake. HAHA.
Lesson in Lockdown #3: Pun jokes are always funny.
I see dead people
The day after, Sarah received the news about not getting the job which you can read up on it here. That was a difficult day for her because of all the effort she put into the interviews, making it to the final round (Four rounds by the way), and really wanting to be a part of the organisation. Coming in close second sucks. In case I've not said it enough to her, I'm super proud of how well she did throughout and there's really nothing to regret there.
We stepped out in the evening to a nearby park to get some fresh air and talk through the disappointment. The walk helped a little though time is the ultimate healer. Just have to trust the process.
Lesson in Lockdown #4: You can only see how the dots in your life connect in hindsight.
Back home, we loaded up on lockdown activities to keep us busy. Our first project was this awesome $5 The Office jigsaw which Sarah picked up online. Was a lot of fun doing this because:
We've been binge watching episodes of The Office. You should too, it's awesome.
It's been a long time since I did a jigsaw. Like 30 years plus long.
We're both nerds.
This 500 piece puzzle took us two days to complete
We also picked this up but not started yet
Special shoutout to our only two friends in Sydney who gave us this jigsaw seeing how quickly we breezed through The Office puzzle
Lesson in Lockdown #5: Jigsaws. Are. Awesome.
Fast forward to the weekend, we managed to step out both days because of the nice weather. Started the weekend with walking the Harbour Bridge. Oh yeah, this wasn't a coastal walk
Does not count as a coastal walk
I thought the walk was average at best. Probably cause the walkway was designed in a concentration camp style with barb wires and essentially a wired cage. I guess that makes sense to prevent the Harbour Bridge from being the preferred suicide spot in Sydney.
Lesson in Lockdown #6: Coastal walks are better than city walks.
Today we went over to pick up some Lamingtons since 21 July was World Lamington Day (duh, everyone knows that).
Did you know that Lord Lamington first invented the Australian cake in Queensland? The recipe first appeared in the Queensland Country Life newspaper as early at 1900. Wow.
Fancy packaging which opens in a fancier way
Anyway, a Lamington is a sponge or butter cake dipped in chocolate, sometimes with a layer of jam and covered on the outside with coconut flakes. It's very Australian. And we've never really had one before so this was a pleasant initiation to the world of Lamingtons. I think we're now fans but only with the right flavour.
Lesson in Lockdown #7: Lamingtons are cool.
We picked up Hungry Jacks (Oo. Look at Gabe being all Aussie with his "Hungry Jacks" now) for lunch and went over to Sydney Park to eat out of our car boot. Thankfully we didn't get any flak from anyone for doing that because it's kinda not encouraged during lockdown.
Side note here on racism in Sydney that we've not encountered any of it since we've arrived so good on you Sydney-siders.
So how are we doing after four weeks in lockdown with potentially two to four more weeks to go?
I guess we're doing alright. We've not really lost our minds yet. There will always be good and bad days even if we're back home in Singapore. The only difference is that we have a lot more outdoor options here and they're all pretty satisfying (Except city walks. I'm looking at you Harbour Bridge walk!), and there are hundreds of places we've never been so that keeps things fresh.
We're holding on as best as we can and hoping that there are better days ahead when lockdown ends, to meet our only two Sydney friends in person, and hopefully see the travel bubble towards the end of the year for friends and family to come up.
In the meantime, we'll continue to appreciate life lessons from the easy wins to the hard knocks.
Lesson in Lockdown #8: We have each other and that's more than enough.
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