Quarantine: Day 12

One of our final hurdles today - last COVID-19 test in quarantine! (We have one more test after we get released into the community on Day 16).  Our lovely Irish nurses were kind and gentle when they did all of our tests, and we got them to tell us a few silly stories of people they have tested who don't follow directs or spout their "COVID is a hoax" opinions!  The testing was done early in the day so that the results will be ready tomorrow.  Once we get cleared for our tests, the NSW police can meet with us to coordinate our release procedures, and provide us the coveted wristbands that indicate you have been approved for departure!  Along with the wristbands we will also get our certificates of completion of quarantine, which we have to upload to our cross-border travel forms in order for approval to enter South Australia.  

Now that we are getting so, so close to departure, we are beginning to get excited about our rental house for the next few months. Jeremy has been in touch with our AirBnB host, and she's confirmed there's no issue with an early check-in Sunday afternoon, and she'll load our fridge will have some welcome snacks!  The house looks lovely for us, with lots of perks including a gorgeous back deck and fancy BBQ grill. [Please, please don't say that we have to "put some shrimp on the barbie" as that is definitely not Aussie slang.  Barbie, yes, but they call shrimp prawns.  And that saying just doesn't roll of the tongue in quite the same way.]

One of my quarantiner friends alerted me to the need to arrange a "maxi taxi" in order to have enough space for our 14 pieces of luggage (6 small/medium suitcases + backpacks/carryons).  I managed to find a recommended service that met the COVID-19 safety requirements and chatted with the guy via WhatsApp; we got our transport squared away for early Sunday morning.  I appreciated that my friend Sakina tipped me off that an UberXL probably wouldn't be big enough to haul all of our gear!  Of course this will also be an issue once we arrive in Adelaide, too.  Our rental car in Adelaide definitely won't be big enough to manage all of our luggage, but we can supplement with an Uber to get us to our rental which is less than 15 minutes from the Adelaide airport.  It's definitely exciting to think about our ability to finally get out into the community after long last!