Aussie Tales of the "Rona" in 2020!

G'day from Australia! We live in Port Macquarie, New South Wales and just over a year ago took over a Bed & Breakfast only 200m from Lighthouse Beach - such a dream come true since touring in Europe on our honeymoon in 1997 and falling in love with the concept of B&B's and hosting people from around the world! We've been absolutely loving welcoming guests from 30 different countries since taking over - we have such a beautiful gift to share this part of the world with them. My passion is helping each guest to have a memorable story to share and precious moments to cherish when they return home. We had months of bookings disappear in a matter of days once the borders were closed and we were placed into a lockdown mode in March of this year... as a Bed & Breakfast we were legally only allowed to host essential workers or for compassionate reasons (persons without a fixed address temporarily due to not being able to travel home). Was quite a shock to see all that we knew to be to just disappear and shift within a blink of an eye... and a 'new normal' was upon us.

We had a couple from Germany that was with us for a few nights as this started unfolding and they extended a few more nights as we all waited for what the travel directions would be... they tried to move their flight home but were unsuccessful and thus had 3 more weeks still here in Australia. As we discussed options of how much they could travel from Port Macquarie to see for day trips - this too was cut short with increasing restrictions and only essential reasons to leave your home was enforced. 

We realized that it was a gift to host them in such a stressful time in history and decided we'd offer to keep them safe here until it was time for them to leave to catch their flights home. What an incredible bond was created as they became like family! We invited them to join us for Easter Dinner - roasting a lamb and all the fixin's as would be their custom in Germany. We had many games nights, homemade cheese fondue, picnics with take away on the driveway with neighbours across the street, daily walks along the beach and the coast line (exercise was allowed) - so many great memories were created in the midst of uncertainty and unknown outcome of what was happening all around the world! Tears were shed with big hugs as they departed to get to travel at last to catch their flights -which they decided to upgrade tickets to first class for safety purposes. What was meant to be a dark and scary time became a joyful, peace-filled season for us all - such a gift indeed. We'll have a forever friendship and look forward to their return at the end of the year when the Australian borders are re-opened for overseas visitors again!

We then over the next 6 weeks hosted a handful of essential workers, baking special goodies to bless them on their way! Days for us were filled with continued coastal walks, take away dinners and creating new delicious meals in my Thermomix - a gift to be able to cook restaurant quality food from scratch at home! Movies, games and FaceTime calls with our son who was overseas in Canada filled our days and it was amazing how lovely slowing down felt and yet how quickly the time still seemed to pass!

As life has returned to normal here over the past few weeks - it's amazing to see so many cars on the road, people on the streets and but for the presence of hand sanitizer and recording personal contact details at restaurants/cafes you'd never know the world as we knew it has stopped for months!

Our 20 year old son has returned to Australia and we get to pick him up this Saturday after a 14 day mandatory quarantine - he was taken by military right off his flight to a hotel in Sydney where he is being fed 3 meals a day delivered to his door (airplane/cafeteria style food) and he needs to wait 10 seconds after the knock on the door before he can open the hotel room door. His windows don't open and there are army dudes in the hallway... he's definitely ready to be 'sprung' in 3 more sleeps! Testing was done yesterday and his expression when I asked how was it - was “I've never felt a Q-tip touch my brain before!" Ewww! Poor guy as he has no symptoms but needs to be cleared apparently before they'll let him go. Can not WAIT to hug my son!! 8 1/2 months is a VERY long time since I've seen him and held him in my arms!!

We have our B&B doors and books opened again and are thoroughly enjoying hosting such beautiful people here with us! 💖 Overall - my prayer is that people have a new sense of appreciation of family, of nature and of health as we move into the next season. We have been very blessed to live in Australia in the midst of this worldwide pandemic and pray the other countries continue to recover quickly healthwise and economically. Blessings wherever you are as you read this little bit of history from our part of the world to yours!

Candace, Anchors B&B, Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia

If want to stay at Anchors B&B and try out Candace's hospitality for yourself next time you're in Australia check out their website and Facebook page and make a reservation! 😉

www.anchorsbnb.com & www.facebook.com/Anchorsbnb/