07-08-2021, 10:02 AM
Well, it's taken some 18 months or more, with much stress, angst and more than a few tears but my XYL and I are finally residing in our house in the Barossa Valley.
Look out VK5!
We are in the middle of our enforced quarantine but it is a small inconvenience when compared to the bureaucratic nightmare caused by COVID-19 and uncaring or unthinking public servants and politicians.
In May we bought a house in the Barossa Valley, which we intended to live in once we settled up in Sydney.
Since then, it has been one disaster after another.
About 8 weeks ago we finally got to a point where we were almost ready to move. The house was on the market and after two open houses (there's another world of pain) we had several healthy offers, one of which we accepted.
The day before the contract cooling off expired the buyer's bank pulled the finance. We benefited by getting some of the small deposit but we were then back on the market.
A week or so later we had another very keen buyer. Although he didn't seem to grasp the concept of the house still being our home and kept pestering the agent and then us to look at this or that. It did get to the point when I told him that he needed to back off and wait until the settlement had finished as we were quite busy getting ready to move. He threatened to pull out, but went quiet when I reminded him that as the contracts had exchanged and the cooling of period had finished we would get to keep his $140,000 deposit.
We organised packing and removalists, applied and were granted our border permits. We started packing the stuff we couldn't trust the removalists to pack, started organising power, water, internet etc etc etc etc in the new house.
With three days until the removalists arrive we got a phone call. The removalists (one of the biggest in VK) had been trading insolvent and had been wound up. We had to scramble to find someone else. Due to desperation and timeframes we were a prime candidate to be gouged and we were. A new moving date, which was very close to our settlement date but no matter things were in train.
The next day we find out our border permits had been revoked. In fact all SA border permits had been, as you now had to get a SA Health exemption before reapplying for the SA Police (SAPOL) border permit. We rushed in the applications, then for two weeks, tumbleweeds. The five day turnaround had long passed.
Moving day came and went. We transitioned into 'homelessness', the cats went to boarding and we stayed at my brother's place in the heart of the covid explosion.
The one bright thing was that SAPOL recognised the issue and gave us a direct email with which our reapplication would be prioritised once we had SA Health sign off.
A couple of weeks went by (seemed longer) with no word. We got the cats out of boarding.
I contacted the local member here in SA, whose office rattled some cages and came back with a 'secret' email address and the suggestion we plead our case to SA Health as if we had been rejected. At 01:00am on a Friday morning we had our case reviewed and the exemption approved - Yes I was checking emails every couple of hours day and night. Who could sleep? We applied to SAPOL immediately and received our border crossing permits around midday Friday.
Saturday saw the cats back in boarding, we were frantically packing and reorganising the pet transport. We were not going to give them another opportunity to revoke the permits again.
Sunday we jumped in the ute and left at sparrow's fart. We were stopped by every police car we passed and were asked what we were doing on the road and to "confirm our bona fides".
We then hit the Lithgow check point. The officer there was intent on turning every vehicle he could around (especially after the moronic protests in Sydney the week before). We proceeded to bombard him with paperwork, we literally had a folder full of permits, letters, sale contracts, purchase contracts, vaccination certs, covid test results and the rest. He finally understood that we were genuinely relocating. He then waved us on and wished us well. I might add I have no issue with his thoroughness, as even while we were there were a bunch of idiots who were "going for a drive to see the snow". It was snowing and sleeting right through the Blue Mountains and even at the Lithgow checkpoint so his job was not particularly appealing that morning.
That night we reached Nyngan and our booked motel. Two minute noodles for tea as we weren't allowed out of our room to go to a restaurant under our travel conditions.
Next morning we headed off towards Broken Hill. As we got near Cobar the phone beeped. There was a problem with the pet transport. Played phone tag and finally made contact. A flurry of calls and promises that the vet would open early so the pet transport people could pick up the cats in time for the flight. Then out of phone range.
We get to Broken Hill to a tsunami of text messages. It had all turned to poop. The vet was now refusing to open early. Many phone calls and many tears from my XYL later it looked like we'd have to turn around and drive two days to sort it out.
The pet transport then rang to say they had a plan that they could arrange to board the cats in a different facility and to push the flights back two days. We agreed and paid through the nose for this assistance. That is not to say the pet transport we gouging us but the extra transport, boarding, feeding etc costs more.
Next morning we left Broken Hill and drove the 200km to Oodla Wirra where the SA Border Check was located. This was where we held our biggest trepidation. We passed the quarantine check (for fruit and vegetables), then onto the border crossing check. We handed over the paperwork. The SAPOL officer asked us to alight from the vehicle, which concerned us. He then said that as it was a couple of hours since we left Broken Hill we should stretch our legs while they went through the paperwork. Ten minutes later he welcomed us to SA and gave us the directions for our self-quarantine. We were in SA finally.
On the outskirts of the Barossa we again received a tsunami of messages. Now the airline wanted more paper work from the vets. We rang the vet and waited until they called back. Then waited some more for them to email us the paperwork. We weren't game to move as we had phone service on that hill. Paperwork arrived and was forwarded to the airline. Off we went again.
On the next big hill - more texts. All good this time, the uplift and transport were approved and set up for the next day.
We got to the Barossa mid-afternoon and headed straight to Tanunda Hospital for the first of our quarantine COVID-19 tests, then, finally, we got to our new house and unloaded the camping gear.
We are now just over half way through our quarantine. We are camping in the house as our furniture is still almost three weeks away since they can't deliver it while we are in quarantine. The gear is further delayed due to the lockdown in SA so everything has been bumped back another week.
So the saga is not finished but we feel we can see the finish line from here.
Look out VK5!
We are in the middle of our enforced quarantine but it is a small inconvenience when compared to the bureaucratic nightmare caused by COVID-19 and uncaring or unthinking public servants and politicians.
In May we bought a house in the Barossa Valley, which we intended to live in once we settled up in Sydney.
Since then, it has been one disaster after another.
About 8 weeks ago we finally got to a point where we were almost ready to move. The house was on the market and after two open houses (there's another world of pain) we had several healthy offers, one of which we accepted.
The day before the contract cooling off expired the buyer's bank pulled the finance. We benefited by getting some of the small deposit but we were then back on the market.
A week or so later we had another very keen buyer. Although he didn't seem to grasp the concept of the house still being our home and kept pestering the agent and then us to look at this or that. It did get to the point when I told him that he needed to back off and wait until the settlement had finished as we were quite busy getting ready to move. He threatened to pull out, but went quiet when I reminded him that as the contracts had exchanged and the cooling of period had finished we would get to keep his $140,000 deposit.
We organised packing and removalists, applied and were granted our border permits. We started packing the stuff we couldn't trust the removalists to pack, started organising power, water, internet etc etc etc etc in the new house.
With three days until the removalists arrive we got a phone call. The removalists (one of the biggest in VK) had been trading insolvent and had been wound up. We had to scramble to find someone else. Due to desperation and timeframes we were a prime candidate to be gouged and we were. A new moving date, which was very close to our settlement date but no matter things were in train.
The next day we find out our border permits had been revoked. In fact all SA border permits had been, as you now had to get a SA Health exemption before reapplying for the SA Police (SAPOL) border permit. We rushed in the applications, then for two weeks, tumbleweeds. The five day turnaround had long passed.
Moving day came and went. We transitioned into 'homelessness', the cats went to boarding and we stayed at my brother's place in the heart of the covid explosion.
The one bright thing was that SAPOL recognised the issue and gave us a direct email with which our reapplication would be prioritised once we had SA Health sign off.
A couple of weeks went by (seemed longer) with no word. We got the cats out of boarding.
I contacted the local member here in SA, whose office rattled some cages and came back with a 'secret' email address and the suggestion we plead our case to SA Health as if we had been rejected. At 01:00am on a Friday morning we had our case reviewed and the exemption approved - Yes I was checking emails every couple of hours day and night. Who could sleep? We applied to SAPOL immediately and received our border crossing permits around midday Friday.
Saturday saw the cats back in boarding, we were frantically packing and reorganising the pet transport. We were not going to give them another opportunity to revoke the permits again.
Sunday we jumped in the ute and left at sparrow's fart. We were stopped by every police car we passed and were asked what we were doing on the road and to "confirm our bona fides".
We then hit the Lithgow check point. The officer there was intent on turning every vehicle he could around (especially after the moronic protests in Sydney the week before). We proceeded to bombard him with paperwork, we literally had a folder full of permits, letters, sale contracts, purchase contracts, vaccination certs, covid test results and the rest. He finally understood that we were genuinely relocating. He then waved us on and wished us well. I might add I have no issue with his thoroughness, as even while we were there were a bunch of idiots who were "going for a drive to see the snow". It was snowing and sleeting right through the Blue Mountains and even at the Lithgow checkpoint so his job was not particularly appealing that morning.
That night we reached Nyngan and our booked motel. Two minute noodles for tea as we weren't allowed out of our room to go to a restaurant under our travel conditions.
Next morning we headed off towards Broken Hill. As we got near Cobar the phone beeped. There was a problem with the pet transport. Played phone tag and finally made contact. A flurry of calls and promises that the vet would open early so the pet transport people could pick up the cats in time for the flight. Then out of phone range.
We get to Broken Hill to a tsunami of text messages. It had all turned to poop. The vet was now refusing to open early. Many phone calls and many tears from my XYL later it looked like we'd have to turn around and drive two days to sort it out.
The pet transport then rang to say they had a plan that they could arrange to board the cats in a different facility and to push the flights back two days. We agreed and paid through the nose for this assistance. That is not to say the pet transport we gouging us but the extra transport, boarding, feeding etc costs more.
Next morning we left Broken Hill and drove the 200km to Oodla Wirra where the SA Border Check was located. This was where we held our biggest trepidation. We passed the quarantine check (for fruit and vegetables), then onto the border crossing check. We handed over the paperwork. The SAPOL officer asked us to alight from the vehicle, which concerned us. He then said that as it was a couple of hours since we left Broken Hill we should stretch our legs while they went through the paperwork. Ten minutes later he welcomed us to SA and gave us the directions for our self-quarantine. We were in SA finally.
On the outskirts of the Barossa we again received a tsunami of messages. Now the airline wanted more paper work from the vets. We rang the vet and waited until they called back. Then waited some more for them to email us the paperwork. We weren't game to move as we had phone service on that hill. Paperwork arrived and was forwarded to the airline. Off we went again.
On the next big hill - more texts. All good this time, the uplift and transport were approved and set up for the next day.
We got to the Barossa mid-afternoon and headed straight to Tanunda Hospital for the first of our quarantine COVID-19 tests, then, finally, we got to our new house and unloaded the camping gear.
We are now just over half way through our quarantine. We are camping in the house as our furniture is still almost three weeks away since they can't deliver it while we are in quarantine. The gear is further delayed due to the lockdown in SA so everything has been bumped back another week.
So the saga is not finished but we feel we can see the finish line from here.