WA border crossing - quarantine in a caravan?

Jenny99999 · Member

WA border crossing - quarantine in a caravan?

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Welcome to the gang Jenny, enjoy here and out in the playground.

If you are in one of the lockdown postcodes in Greater Melbourne you have to stay there for the next six weeks. I was told yesterday VIC's are not to cross into SA or WA.

I would make contact with the SA and WA Govemint and ask them how you go about it.

Keep Safe out there.

Jenny99999 · Member

Hi Doug,

Yep 100% agree with you. We are in greater Melbourne and are currently observing the stay at home restrictions. We will comply with all guidance in place at all times as this virus is not something to mess around with. At this stage the restrictions are due to lift at the end of August, and we have the removalists scheduled for early September. This move has been planned for 6 months and until recently we were optimistic that we wouldnt encounter any COVID related restrictions.

Our family is all in WA including a brand new granddaughter that we havent been able to meet yet, so we are very keen to get home safely :)

*Edit* We made contact with WA helpline on Friday, and they could only tell us about the application process. The SA website says we can travel through as exempt travellers (we will need to apply for a pass) as long as we head straight to the WA border.

Cheers,

Jenny.

-- Edited by Jenny99999 on Sunday 12th of July 2020 09:46:03 AM

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Sorry Jenny, I misread the start of your question. I thought you said leave in two weeks not six. I thought I got up first today but Uncle Al must have. That's my excuse anyway.

Keep Safe out there.

Jenny99999 · Member

Its all good Doug. I have an Aunty Al that visits me, along with a cousin Stupid occasionally

Whenarewethere · Guru

Only pencil in your move & have plans B & C, hopefully it is only 6 weeks. Also SA & WA could change their border restrictions & make life more difficult if things get worse in Victoria. Lets hope things improve.

Jenny99999 · Member

Hi Whenwearethere,

Our lease in Melbourne is up in September so our plan B is to move to a caravan park until we can get back to WA. Its not a great plan but we need to get back, so we will cross our fingers and hope the situation doesnt get any worse. I think the lockdown in Melbourne will really help and we will see numbers increase for the next week or so then steadily start improving. We just have to hope that any other areas that see a spike in cases also lock down fast and everyone starts wearing masks when out in public.

Cheers,

Jenny.

Brownie 64 · Veteran Member

We crossed the WA Border At Eucla 28/3/20 in our motorhome, the process was quite underwhelming, because of Covid , inspectors were only performing visual inspections from the door & asking questions. On the Police side there was no issues either, our details were taken, which included our destination & we were told to drive safely, take our time & not stress out about getting to our destination in record time.

We did Port Augusta to Eucla, Eucla to Coolgardie, Coolgardie to Perth, then 14 days mandatory isolation at our destination & the Police did check in on us.

Kebbin · Guru

My best guess seen as this is six weeks time is that borders will be tightened because people are being lazy and even ignoring the directives. At the moment I cannot see WA's requirements for quarantine other then a Covid test at day 11.
There was talk of all states making travellers pay for there own quarantine in Hotels as Qld have done, this would include State borders.
We are not in a good position anymore, if you are a WA resident I would leave now, because you will be treated differently in that they will allow you to go straight home to isolate.

Jenny99999 · Member

Hi Brownie. Thanks so much for that info. Thats really helpful. It sounds like we probably wont be forced into quarantining at the border but can keep going until we get home and then quarantine there. For those of you having a meltdown at a couple from Vic potentially spreading germs all across the country, rest assured we are in self isolation here and plan on staying socially distant and taking all precautions when we do set off, as we have a baby granddaughter to meet once we get home to WA. :)

Bobdown · Guru

Brownie 64 wrote:
We crossed the WA Border At Eucla 28/3/20 in our motorhome, the process was quite underwhelming, because of Covid , inspectors were only performing visual inspections from the door & asking questions. On the Police side there was no issues either, our details were taken, which included our destination & we were told to drive safely, take our time & not stress out about getting to our destination in record time.
We did Port Augusta to Eucla, Eucla to Coolgardie, Coolgardie to Perth, then 14 days mandatory isolation at our destination & the Police did check in on us.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi Brownie,

I'm glad you took your time.......Port Augusta to Eucla..........981 k, Eucla to Coolgardie.............900 k

You would have missed all the Nullarbor cliffs etc, at least you didn't get held up by the Gestapo at the Border. We take our time, usually 10 days Bridgetown to Port Augusta, but there were no virus's around then. smile smile smile

Cheers Bob

Whenarewethere · Guru

We took our time crossing & walked up the escarpment west of Eucla to stretch our legs.

Get a hamburger with the lot at Co_klebiddy, you will be fed for 2 days!

Jenny99999 · Member

Thanks Whenarewethere - we will try the hamburger :)

Weve done this border crossing quite a few times now, but never taken a walk up the escarpment. Its something to put on the list :)

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Is Brownie related to Speedy Gonzales? And people say there is nothing to see! Well doing those distances, there is no time to stop & see! I have no sympathy to these people who have blinkers on.

Even when I worked on the SA side of the border, we stopped for morning tea, lunch at interesting spots. We knew where most of the blow holes, caves were - something that I won't divulge in here. Yes there were times where an emergency meant only stopping for fuel, to buy a drink, snack.

What about the whales at Head of Bight? They would be in now until September, perhaps slightly later, The visitors centre is worth a look. The cliffs? One can never get enough of those views - just stay away from the edges as it's a long, hard way up if you fall over the eaten away edges!

Jenny, I hope all works out well for you & your family. I know my wife is fretting about not being able to see our 2year olds in SW Victoria physically instead of on the tablet. We'd like to be able to come back home too!

Whenarewethere · Guru

A few boring things to avoid along the Eyre Highway!

normal_IMG_2240-nullabor (1).jpg

20180726084023~2.JPG

Jenny99999 · Member

Thanks Warren. Yes there is so much to see, and we have seen quite a lot in past trips but there is always something new to check out. Its the perfect time of the year for the trip too - not too hot :)

-- Edited by Jenny99999 on Sunday 12th of July 2020 07:52:54 PM

Jenny99999 · Member

Whenarewethere - what great photos! We have done this trip many times but theres a couple of photos you have there of places that I haven't seen before. We will have to find them and take a look :)

-- Edited by Jenny99999 on Sunday 12th of July 2020 07:52:25 PM

Brownie 64 · Veteran Member

Yes, I understand we did miss all that is good to see when we crossed, however our timing was critical, the W.A. Premier had announced

that the border was going to close, we were at Goolwa S.A. when we heard this on the Thursday. I rang WAPOL for more info & got

nothing useful & also rang the Premier`s office only to be told that, it will be soon & to keep an eye on the media, so with that we left

& arrived at our destination near Perth Monday arvo.

We will take our time when we cross back east & visit what we missed, but at the time our priority was to get across the W.A. border.

Even though the numbers were big, I did enjoy the drive, our motorhome is a pleasure to drive & did it easy.

bobsa · Senior Member

Hi Jenny
at the moment you will not be able to enter SA

www.police.sa.gov.au/online-services/cross-border-travel-application

We do take it seriously here in SA and jailed one victoria for 1 month over the weekend that did not adhere to the
quarantine rules
another 4 people from Victoria were staying in a backpackers in the city have been removed and force isolation for 2 weeks
the owner of the backpackers was fined $5000, way too little as a business, and should have been $150,000, it that closed him down so be it

I would not think you will going through SA any time soon
Bob

Brownie 64 · Veteran Member

Thanks, Warren-Pat 01,

But we dont need your sympathy, your memory must be pretty short if you cant remember what was going on around the time

we crossed, so I will remind you, The Premier had announced a hard border closure forthcoming, and with the availability of

comfortable surrounds to isolate at, with family, that opportunity was not going to be missed.

We live in our motorhome & when life gets back to some sort of normality & freedom of travel, we will see the bits me may

missed.

Brownie 64

Whenarewethere · Guru

'Victorian travellers bound for WA left in limbo as coronavirus restrictions on arrivals tightened.

"We actually moved out of our house last Wednesday. A truck rolled up, took all our stuff and is heading to Perth now," he told ABC Radio Perth.

"The very next day the new restrictions came out, we had already moved out and are in an Airbnb now, and just not sure what the next steps will be." '

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-13/victorian-travellers-bound-for-wa-stuck-as-arrivals-restricted/12447192

Jenny99999 · Member

bobsa wrote:
Hi Jenny
at the moment you will not be able to enter SA

www.police.sa.gov.au/online-services/cross-border-travel-application

We do take it seriously here in SA and jailed one victoria for 1 month over the weekend that did not adhere to the
quarantine rules
another 4 people from Victoria were staying in a backpackers in the city have been removed and force isolation for 2 weeks
the owner of the backpackers was fined $5000, way too little as a business, and should have been $150,000, it that closed him down so be it

I would not think you will going through SA any time soon
Bob

Hi Bobsa, We qualify as an essential traveler under section 7 Passing Through. We just have to confirm we will take the most direct route to the WA border (as per second link below).

https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/restrictions-and-responsibilities/travel-restrictions#intosa

https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/219354/Who-is-an-Essential-Traveller-Schedule-2-08072020.pdf

bobsa · Senior Member

Hi Jenny
hope it all goes well for you , safe travels

bob