Covid, the Border Bubble and an escape to Canberra

There has been the occasional benefit from the Covid lock-downs. One of the best was Zoom where we all learnt how to chat in groups, celebrate birthdays with the family and attend meetings ... on-line. 

Another benefit has been the great travel deals that were on offer, mainly for the brave. One which caught our attention was offering 78% off hotel bookings with 24 months to use it. Too good to ignore! With some big exhibitions coming up at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra we decided to test it out.

This was a genuine deal offering 4* accommodation and we had a ball in Canberra in mid April. As it turned out this was a very small window of opportunity when regional Victorians within the border bubble were fairly free to travel  interstate without permits, self isolation or worse restrictions.

The Botticelli to Van Gogh exhibition provided us with a wonderful opportunity to see some amazing masterpieces from the National Gallery, London. A few of my favourites are shown here, but how do you choose favourites from such an exhibition.

Botticelli, Tintoretto, Rembrandt, Canaletto, El Greco, Velazquez, Degas, Titian, Monet, Van Gogh and many, many more incredible masterpieces.

We walked around Lake Burley Griffin taking in the many intriguing and interesting things - 

On day three we visited the National Portrait Gallery for their exhibition Australian Love Stories which explored love, affection and connection in all its guises. I thoroughly enjoyed this exhibition which included paintings, photography, trinkets and historical documents...portraits all.

We did a little driving to the Botanical Gardens, the National Arboretum and Black Mountain lookout. 

We found a great place to eat near our hotel and enjoyed it every night. Many places were still closed so why go looking when Via Dolce offered ambience, friendly service and great Italian food.

The freedom of five days of being a tourist was exhilarating  and built up a feeling of positivity which I so badly needed.

The day after returning home we had our first covid jab and despite feeling really unwell for five days I was optimistic that travelling was soon to return to our lives. Sadly by late May we were back in lock-down with face masks being compulsory indoors and travel was off the agenda once again. 

Our first tentative steps with our Travellers group on a trip to Bendigo were shattered, the family getting together for May birthdays was cancelled (along with a host of other small occasions planned) and we were back in the doldrums again.

But that 78% off offer is still available and we have booked another and have eyes on a third.   We can't  travel but we can still dream.