Or Sanitiser and unavoidable touch points

We have been ‘on the road’ for 60 or so days since leaving Victoria at the end of the first lockdown. With no plans we now find ourselves wandering around northern New South Wales trying to avoid the virus and discover warm and interesting places to enjoy. The places that we once raced past in our haste to get to Queensland.

In this ‘road life’ it’s hard not to use public restrooms sometimes. We had intended not to use them on our way north but we hadn’t factored in our dodgy caravan door. If the van isn’t perfectly level the door won’t open for anybody. The Prado van has a habit of locking them in and our van has a habit of locking us out.

Stopping at a rest area goes something like this: Woody puts his shoulder to the door and shoves, then he does the same with his knee. He shouts at me to put my knee to it and I shout back “That’s what buggered my knee in the first place” to which he replies “there’s nothing wrong with your bloody knee.” He obviously thinks that my moans in the night are of ecstasy.

Thus, in all but the most perfectly level rest areas we must gallop to the loos kitted up with hand sanitiser and disinfectant wipes and for me a prayer that the dodgy knee will support me for one more visit.

We have found on this trip that caravan parks appear to be keeping their amenities as Covid safe as hospitals. Hand sanitiser is sensibly placed beside toilet key code entries and there are bins provided for used disinfectant wipes. Laundry’s, BBQ’s and Camp Kitchens too have bottles of hand sanitizer. Yes, they have carefully considered those unavoidable touch points.