Masks. The new year brings more cases of the virus as the Northern Beaches cluster seems to be turning into the Sydney cluster. Masks are now mandatory on public transport and in supermarkets and all retailers. The last thing we want to do is take a bus or a train and then see it's date/time listed on the 'get tested and isolate for 14 days' list. This means we are more or less joined at the hip with our 'hip and happening' suburb of Potts Point. We also walk a lot - it's flat - it's perfect. Whilst we can avoid public transport, it's a lot harder to avoid the supermarket - with a fridge/freezer the size of a large shoebox, we shop most days - so mask-up and shop fast. Some supermarkets are essentially refrigerated - Aldi on Oxford Street is our favourite for this reason. Some supermarkets are just hot, humid cesspits of misery - heaven knows how the staff manage to wear masks all day. We are feeling particularly for the small retailers at the moment - we are just two people but imagine it is happening on a grand scale. We don't bother going in anywhere just for a look - sanitising, QR sign in and masking up ususally takes longer than it's worth for a 2 minute nip in and out. So we just don't.

Amongst all this however we are unfailingly grateful to be living somewhere where shops are open, business is cracking on and we're essentially safe - it would have to be very bad luck indeed to have caught it when numbers are so low. Nevertheless - the day the masks stopped being mandatory in retail environments, we were very happy campers indeed.

The first few weeks of the year were spent very close to home. We celebrated James's birthday locally (putting our proposed Darling Harbour restaurant outing on hold when the state government asked people to avoid the CBD) and supported our select local haunts as much as the budget allowed. Suffice to say Opium Den/Nung Len, our Thai joint did well on $10 lunches and our newest discovery, Llankelly Thai, became our go-to for a couple of evenings out. The $5 Singha beers during happy hour got us in, the amazing food kept us coming back. We spent a lot of time in the apartment getting it absolutely how we want it and aside from a bedhead/headboard, another piece of art to go over it and some side tables on the very small side (hard to find), pretty much had it perfect. Once restrictions (and mask requirements) were eased, we headed into the city for a couple of outing days. Had lunch, ran some errands and enjoyed being elsewhere. We even got to use our Groupon at The Little Snail in Darling Harbour. It was a dinner down memory lane (approximately a month late but who's counting) as we visited this place when it was in Broadway, then in Kings Cross and now in Darling Harbour - still excellent. It was great to actually catch the bus that departs from our doorstep and be dropped back later in the evening - essentially door to door service. Almost (almost) worth having a bus stop right outside the apartment.

Our focus was mainly holding our breath as we worked towards 9 February - the start of a five and a half week return housesit in the Blue Mountains - Mount Victoria once more beckons. Melbourne failed to disappoint and had an outbreak shortly before the 9th - our owners had to do a non-stop run across the state of Victoria in order to reach the ferry to Tasmania and avoid the need to quarantine. Thankfully (must have been all the breath holding on everyones part), it all went to plan and we were packed and ready to go by the end of the 8th.