So I made it to Byron Bay. An eleven hour train ride and a one hour bus ride later. But I made it.
I didn’t realize that the hostel was so far away from the main town, which isn’t that big to begin with. I had to walk another 30 minutes to get to the hostel.
When I arrived I was questioned by the staff on duty. She decided to put me in a private room and strongly encouraged me to go to the hospital down the road and get tested for COVID-19. Once they were sure I was healthy they could put me in a dorm room, which was what I originally had booked.
I woke up this morning with the intention of going early but the weather called for heavy rain. And the forecast was not wrong. So I decided to wait until the afternoon to head over there.
The weather broke at about one o’clock and I started walking towards the hospital. The hospital was about an hour away on foot. I would have taken the bus but the public transport isn’t all that great here. The next bus wasn’t scheduled to arrive at the hospital until well after three o’clock and I didn’t want to get there that late. The testing clinic was scheduled to close at 4 PM.
It rained on the way there but nothing too bad. I had my poncho with me and that kept me dry for the most part.
When I arrived a little after two o’clock I was told that I would have to come back earlier in the day tomorrow. They had too many people to test today and they didn’t have the time to add another name to the list.
That was disappointing because I wanted to get back into a dorm room and start socializing with the people here. I’ve had to keep my distance until now. And I’ll have to continue to do so until I get tested tomorrow. I’m not even sure when I’ll get the results back. Hopefully it’s later the same day or the next day.
On the way back to the hostel it poured. Seriously torrential rain. Like a monsoon. All I could do was laugh. I was soaked and you get so wet that you just continue walking. You can’t get any more wet at that point so it doesn’t matter.
I did see a nice double rainbow on the walk back and that was pretty cool. Definitely not one of the best days I’ve had but I have to laugh this one off and stay positive. I knew heading into this that not every day was going to be easy. It’s days like these that test your character and your resilience.