BACK HOME IN AUSTRALIA

We feel very lucky that we were able to travel during COVID 19. I suppose one of the few benefits of COVID 19 was that we were able to visit major tourist sites without the tourist. A great example was Tikal in Guatemala were we were the only visitors till well after midday.

Upon arrival in Australia we spend 2 weeks in Quarantine in Howard Spring just south of Darwin. (Great accomodation and great staff)

Our latest challenge is the building of our new house, right on the great Barrier Reef. This means that after 18 years of overland travel we are at home for the next 9 months till our house is build.

We have left our vehicle in Mexico and our plan is to return mid next year 2022 to continue our travels in Central and North America. Below a small compilation of 18 years of overland travel.

Overlanding during Covid

We returned to Australia in April 2020 left Australia again to continue our around the world journey in October 2020 and returned home again in April 2021 exploring Mexico and Guatemala as part of our around the world adventure. People ask me why travel while the whole world is affected by COVID-19? Well, the easy answer is WHY NOT!!

First, when Covid became in the news around January 2020, we now feel lucky we did not listen to all the FAKE news coming from the USA at the time. (Trump playing the virus down) Another important decision we made was to make a run to Mexico instead of spending another month in Colombia. Once we arrived in Mexico, we parked our truck and decided to follow up the directions of the Australian Government and Qantas who advised us they would stop flying soon. In hindsight the best decision we made as a month later Qantas flights stopped flying. Australia went in complete lockdown. We are fortunate that we have a house to go back to others who did not have this luxury where either stuck in the country they travelled at the time or had to rely on family or friends.

So why did we decide to travel again in October 2020

Our decision was to keep traveling where and when possible. It did help that we had overlander friends travelling around Mexico and Central America at the time and the feedback was positive. Every year one million people die of Malaria, one million people die of the flu and many other diseases claim more deaths, and this is going on for 100 years, more recently the ZEKA and Sars virus did not close the world down either. Our view was we must learn to live with it get vaccinated as soon as possible and support those who need it most those locals effected by business closures while the public servants, foreign aid workers and those in well paid jobs continue to receive a salary.

The points we considered

10% of the world population (read mostly the lower paid) relies on Tourism. Having been self employed most of my life I could see what it did to those in Australia (and lately in Europe and the USA) and their finance, mortgages etc while decision makers where on full wages.
Imagine if you live in a third world country and work as a Maasai guide in Kenya, Machu Picchu guide, food vendor in India or in the tourist areas of Mexico. Most of them and many others have now lost their income
Doing our own research (right or wrong) we worked out that with a fatality rate of 1.3% (Sept 2020) if you over 50, we decided the risk of getting infected and become critical was at the same level of Malaria (This also kills 1 million people per year for the last 100 years)
We decided that overlanding is travelling in remote places, wide open spaces, and very little time in large, overcrowded cities. Another major benefit was little or no tourist around on the beaches and the major tourist attractions.
We spend 6 months travelling around Central America where everyone wore a mouth cover, temperature checks when entering buildings, retail stores and public busses were mandatory. We felt safe at all times. But we are always aware that we could pick up a virus (not just covid) For the record in the USA we never had to wear a mouth cover or had a temp check while walking around Los Angeles and Hollywood while transiting to Mexico or returning from Mexico? While crossing borders in Central America required a PCR test.
Pls note in Febr and March 2021 more people died in the USA from Covid (population 330 million) than in India (population 1.4 billion)
Last but not the least we spend money in places where income was most needed.

We will receive our booster jab and flu vaccination in the following 2 months and like the many other vaccinations we have had over the last 18 years travelling around the world lets hope we are sufficient covered.

REMEMBER YOU NEVER NEVER KNOW, IF YOU NEVER NEVER GO.

Below Video compilation

Australia 2004-2008

Africa & Middle East 2009-2012

Iceland to Cambodia 2012-2013

Thailand to Europe 2013-2015

South America Part 1 2015-2018

South America Part 2 2018-2020 (under construction)

Central America 2020 to CURRENT (under construction)

OVERLAND AUSTRALIA