Double quarantine news

After spending several hours waiting on hold over several days, I finally got through to the toll free COVID-19 hotline for SA and talked to a person!  That person has confirmed that we do NOT HAVE TO DOUBLE QUARANTINE!!  We have to complete the following steps:

1. On Day 13, after testing negative for COVID-19  we will receive a certificate of completion of quarantine from the New South Wales police in our hotel.

2. Everyone in the family must complete a Cross-border travel form.  In this form we upload a copy of the certificate, along with our Visas. 

3. We aim to check out of our hotel on Sunday July 11th in the early morning. We must be masked at all times from this point forward. We will photograph ourselves to demonstrate this. #maskedselfie

4. Travel by private vehicle (taxi or Uber) to Sydney airport.  We must not arrive more than 2 hours ahead of our flight. Masks mandatory. [For a full picture of this scene, please remember, we have 14 pieces of luggage].

5. Catch Virgin Australia flight direct to Adelaide (~2 hours).

6. On arrival, use the MySA GOV app to check-in (for each person) in the Adelaide airport.  

7. Present ourselves to the SA police with copies of our quarantine certificates, Visas, passports, photographic evidence of our taxi and time stamp of arrival at SYD airport.  

8. Police will review and (hopefully) conditionally approve our cross-border travel form.  

9. Pick-up rental car and drive to our rental place (AirBnB) for the next 5 months.  

10.  Breathe a giant UNMASKED sigh of relief once we get inside our rental apartment.  

11. Step foot outside in Australia for the first real opportunity in 15 days!

12. Get a COVID-19 test on Day 16 as the final condition of quarantine.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister announced yesterday they are halving the caps on travels into Australia to 3,000 travelers a week, which breaks down to pretty darn small numbers (below), including 265 passengers into Adelaide per week.  We lucked out that we got in when we did, even if this doesn't feel particularly lucky.

I cannot tell you HOW THRILLED we are that we have confirmed that the SA police are expected to accept our hotel quarantine in NSW as equivalent to that completed in SA, and require no further actions other than a Day 16 COVID-19 test. While these are a lot of steps, we are happy to comply in order to begin our Adelaide adventure.