Returning to Australia from Cambodia

When Paul and I finished our first working holiday visa in the start of January, we decided to go on a holiday. We had finally achieved our 88 days of farmwork and our plan was to go to Cambodia for a few weeks and from here apply for our Second Working Holiday Visa, but…

A holiday that was meant to last a few weeks, ended up lasting more than 2 months. We actually ended up being stuck, because Pauls second working holiday visa took forever (38 days!!) to be granted. In the midst of his application process, Corona developed quite a lot and we suspect that was part of the reason, that it took so long.

However, around mid march he finally got his visa and the day after we booked our flights back to Australia. A few days later I texted my family and asked if they could look up any new travel restrictions/changes for Malaysia, since that was where we had to transit on our flight back. I really just asked them to be sure, and I did not expect the answer, that I got.
Malaysia had suddenly banned all Danish citizens from flying in and being in transit in Malaysia. I was shocked. Suddenly we couldn’t take the flight, we had booked. We had to cancel it, lost our money and had to book new flights.

It was a circus trying to find out, which countries allowed both a German and a Dane, as we wanted to travel together. It was too risky to travel alone, since one of us could end up being stuck in quarantine in a country and the other one either wouldn’t know or would be somewhere else. Eventually we found flights with transits in Bangkok and Bali and it all worked out perfectly – because now we’re back in Australia!

But then… When we were sitting in Sihanoukville Airport (Cambodia) waiting to board, we found out that same night at 12 pm new travel restrictions to Australia would come into place. Everyone arriving after 12 pm that night would have to go in to 14 days self-isolation. Fuck.
We had planned to stay with some friends in Perth, but they got a bit worried, that we would be infected, so suddenly we couldn’t stay with them during our quarantine.

Arriving in Perth

When we arrived in Perth airport we were handed papers saying we had to isolate for 14 days and that we had to stay in a hotel or home. But, what the hell do you do, when you’re a traveller with no home and no friends to accommodate you. And how are you going to get groceries, when you don’t know anyone who have the resources to come and deliver to you, wherever you are?
Furthermore, we did not have enough money to be able to afford a hotel stay for 14 days and have take-away food everyday, as we wouldn’t be able to cook, if we stayed in a hotel.

Everything about the situation seemed so hilarious, so ironic. When we landed, we got handed these serious papers about self-isolation from people in full-body protection. Then we walked into the arrival area, sat down to have a coffee and went online to find out, where we gonna stay.
We decided to book two nights at the cheapest option available, a homestay at $150 for two nights. At least we would have our own room, kitchen and bathroom. AND then we took public transport to the homestay, but had to wait four hours, before we could even check in. So we were basically prevented from being able to go into self-isolation. Hungry as we were, we had to get into a supermarket to get food and then sit by a lake, until we were able to ‘move inside’.

However, this couldn’t be a 14-day solution, so we had to figure something else out.

Doing self-isolation on a campsite

Fortunately, we had our car parked at one friends house and our rooftop tent stored at another friends house. So after two days we went to get our car and rooftop-tent and then we drove down south to go camping. That was the only way we could see ourselves isolating as good as possible, not perfect, but we did our best.

We spent 12 nights at campsites down south. We camped along the Blackwood River, which was lovely. Before we went, we invested in a Lifestraw bottle, so that we would be able to drink all sorts of water, because we knew our 20 litres wouldn’t be sufficient for 12 days in the bush.

Since we had to isolate as much as possible, we didn’t really do much other than stay around our campground. Luckily, the weather was quite nice. We only had rain a few days. So we spent our time with playing heaps of card games, board games, swimming in the river, having walks along the river and cooking some nice food.

Our current situation – the kindness of strangers

Around the end of our self-isolation the PM announced that all regions in WA would be closing their borders the following Tuesday. At that time, we were in the South West region close to Margaret River. Down there the season at the vineyards just finished and backpackers were highly encouraged to leave by the Augusta-Margaret River president and also not very welcomed by the community, so we decided, that we had to leave that region in order to find work and feel more welcome.

Also, the caravan parks were either closed or way to expensive ($40-45 a night) for us to afford staying at until we would find work. We were told by rangers that we could stay at the Parks and Wildlife Service campgrounds in the bush, however we would not have any water, power or internet, which we desperately need to find jobs.

At other times, we have done well just cruising around, camping here and there, applying for jobs, when we would come to towns with internet, but that is not an option any longer, since we can’t just travel freely. So, we decided to reach out on Facebook for help.

I have been a member of a ‘Danes in Perth’ group for a while, and I thought I would give it a try explaining our situation and asking for help on there. Amazingly, it didn’t take long before a wonderful woman offered us to park at her house and use their facilities. A few days later, we drove to Perth and now we are currently staying with a lovely family in a suburb of Perth. They are letting us stay with them for free for a while, whilst we intensively look for work every day. However, finding work is not as easy, as it has been.

Everyday we go onto seek.com, indeed.com or jora.com to try to find work that is suitable for both of us and fits our skills. We both have heaps of experience with many different jobs, however we don’t have any specific qualifications or tickets, which Australians find very important. So, we are working on attaining RSA, White Card and Police Clearance, so we can at least seem the smallest bit qualified.

We are hoping to get work soon, so that we can move into a place in Perth and start a new lifestyle here. We have had to rethink all of our future plans for our Australia. We never thought, we would have to look for jobs around Perth metro and then move into a house or apartment, but it’s looking like that is how our future is gonna be. Maybe, that’ll be cool as well, who knows.

Why are we staying in Australia? Why not go ‘home’?

Paul and I have our lives in Australia. Australia is home for us. We have been here the past year and we have invested in a car and in our relationship. Since we are from two different countries, going home would mean, that we wouldn’t be able to see each other. Going home would also mean, that we would have to get rid of our car, and currently I don’t see many travellers desperate to buy a car.

We have decided to stay here and fight through. Our lives back in our home-countries won’t be any easier for us. We might as well stay here and try to make it work.

I know a lot of foreigners in Australia on different temporary visas are out there in the same situation as us. I wish you all the best of luck with finding work, a place to stay or returning home, if thats your plan!