“Just been to a bottle shop, and there's no beer left there. At all.”
“Oh? Why's that?”
“People buying everything. The world's going crazy, mate.”

This is a chat I'm having with my new neighbour at my new camping site, after about a couple of days of staying there. March 2020 is entering its last stages, and by now this whole “coronavirus” thing, which has only been a vague presence in the news and conversations, is rapidly becoming more and more real. At least I don't need any toilet paper for the time being, which is also becoming a deficit all of a sudden.

And at least the scenery around is still pretty.

Back in the Mountains.

Plenty of mist.

And quite a few reflections.

By now I'm back in the Blue Mountains, near a town called Ellenborough. A small park/forest reserve close by is clearly a popular spot among locals and passers-by; I'm lucky enough to find myself a spot in the corner. It's so much more humid here, and a tiny bit colder, but that's fine. The surrounding tree-covered mountain slopes, and a small river nearby, provide me with a few opportunities to take a picture or too.

Hastings River.

Quite lovely in the evening, too.

With sun or without!

However, by this stage not only the lack of beer in the local bottle-o's that presents a bit of a problem. My rig is powered by solar panels, and I've been getting precious little sunlight lately, what with all the trees around and the clouds. It hasn't been an issue before, but by now it is an increasingly pressing concern – first of many unexpected concerns that me, and a lot of other people, are going to have this year.

Luckily, the guy who I was having that little chat earlier has a generator, and he lets me use it for a bit, since he's running it himself anyway. Looks like I need to get myself one of those. In the absence of sun I also entertain myself by taking close-up shots of local flowers and thereby flexing my muscles in nature photography.

Pretty white flowers.

A.k.a. potato vine.

Pretty blue flowers.

A.k.a. Commelina.

Pretty yellow flowers, a.k.a. Bidens pilosa, a.k.a. farmer's “friend”.

A pretty purple flower, a.k.a... no idea what it's called.

Very misty today on the river.

Still looks pretty awesome, though.

By Thursday I'm running low on power again, so I decide to relocate further south and find myself a proper power outlet. In a Croki caravan park I do find one, and the place by the river is rather lovely and quiet; unfortunately, they don't accept payments via card. Ugh. Well, it's only for a couple of nights anyway.

And then a much bigger disappointment awaits me the day after, which is the 26th. The plan so far has been that me and Maisie are going to spend a couple of days at the Myall Lakes National Park, but hey presto – all campgrounds statewide are now closed due to Covid-19! Talk about perfect timing. We reconsider our plans and decide to camp elsewhere in the Mountains, closer to Sydney, but this comes as a rather unpleasant blow to my travelling plans.

First of many, as it turns out...