Where to start with 2020? This was the year that we all want gone and forgotten.

For me it began with getting used to a new home and a new lifestyle. I looked forward to finding some new volunteer work and exploring the northwest coast. I knew I was going to be a bit isolated to begin with. I didn’t know anybody and I was limited by the fact that there is no public transport in Sisters Beach. However, optimistically I thought that these obstacles would be overcome.

Well, we all know what happened next. the pandemic began and I, along with everyone else was not going anywhere. My volunteer job stopped after just one visit. There was no need for volunteers at the visitor centre when there were no visitors, later it closed for about three months and when it reopened the volunteers were asked to remain at home for the time being. I eventually got back there in November.

In any case, getting to Wynyard was a challenge in itself. I had planned to ask local people for rides via the Sisters Beach Facebook page, but even after the hard lockdown ended I felt that people might be reluctant to take a stranger in their car. I wasn’t too sure about using taxis either. Naomi was stuck at Oatlands during this time and we didn’t meet for the entire winter.

I wasn’t really lonely despite the fact that I really didn’t see anyone to talk to except the people at the local shop and the odd chat with a neighbour from a safe distance. What I did find was that as the days seemed all the same it was much harder to find things to blog about, sometimes it was hard to remember what day it was. Nevertheless I have tried to keep the blogs going even when I have not felt that motivated and I’ve tried to keep the negativity out of them because this is where I come to get away from all that.

I did miss the little outings to Hobart or Kingston and visiting my favourite events like the doll show and the model train show but those events were cancelled this year anyway. I guess in a way that made it seem not as bad because if they had been on and I couldn’t go that would have felt worse.

I guess that the most difficult thing that I have experienced this year is the loss of independence and that is not entirely Covid related. I don’t like being dependent on others to take me places but that is my fault for not learning to drive I guess. And no, I don’t want to learn now. I’d be a terrible driver.

On a more positive note I’ve enjoyed living close to the beach and the bush. It’s nice to look out the windows at dusk and see wallabies and potaroos feeding in front of the house. We frequently have them in the garden although I haven’t managed to photograph any yet. Sisters Beach is lovely and peaceful most of the time. You can have the beach almost to yourself more often than not.

Naomi retired from her job earlier this year which is something that I had hoped she would be able to do for some time. She is spending more time here now although she is not completely moved in yet.

So it’s been a year when not very much happened to me even though a lot has happened in the rest of the world.

In 2021 I look forward to a slow return to something that resembles normality. I hope that the doll and model train show will return and that I’ll find a way to get to them. I hope I might get to a cricket match again one day although that’s been pretty impossible for several years now as most cricket is played at night. I look forward to Naomi getting her house sold and moving in, getting the house and garden looking the way we want and finally getting to do some road trips within Tasmania at least. I think that those are all achievable dreams.

Thank you to all our followers for sticking around this year. I hope we’ll be able to tell some more interesting stories in 2021.