Oh no! They cancelled our flights!

FEBRUARY 14, 2020 : All the planning and preparations could not prepare us for two major catastrophes that are affecting our trip.

First came the bushfires in Australia. When I tell someone that we are going on a campervan trip, the response is always – but what about the bushfires?

Yes there were, and still are, some horrific bushfires in Australia. However, Australia is a huge country (about the same size as the USA) and when looking in detail at our itinerary, only about two weeks of the 5-month trip are in burnt areas. The earliest we will reach those areas is the beginning of May, and hopefully the parks will reopen by then. I strongly feel that now is an important time to go to Australia and not to cancel the trip – they need and want our tourist dollars.

The place where we will feel the bushfire devastation the most, I think, will be Kangaroo Island. The Flinders Chase National Park and the Western KI Caravan Park where I wanted to stay, are still closed and off limits. The national park’s visitor center burnt down. We already purchased tickets for the ferry to Kangaroo Island (maybe I should have taken the insurance…) so we are going. This comes towards the end of our trip, so hopefully by then, in July they will have resumed hosting visitors.

The next major catastrophe to affect this trip is the Coronavirus. How does the virus in China affect our trip to Australia? Direct flights from Tel Aviv to Australia only start in April, but we are leaving in March. Our flight was scheduled with a stop in Hong Kong – El Al to Hong Kong and then Qantas to Melbourne. Not totally unexpected, I received notices in the middle of the night yesterday, that El Al has cancelled all flights to Hong Kong due to the virus.

So as of now, we do not have flights. But I am working on it.

Two catastrophes are enough for one trip. Please God – no more hurdles.

P.S. At least the face masks I ordered for the bushfires can also be used for the virus.