Coronavirus: A New Reality

The determination on what’s possible in this weird age of corona changes hourly.

This morning as I write, the United Kingdom went into police-enforced lockdown. By the time you read this, Australia could also be well into adopting similar measures. The army could be called out to shore up essential supply and logistical channels and maintain civil order. Nothing is fully known or understood. It’s strange to write these words. It feels like we’re living in a George A Romero zombie movie, come real.

What does this mean? Well the bluntness of the prescribed directions offered by our political leaders is growing clearer by the day. They say, from a practical sense, that it’s up to every individual to exercise ethical due diligence, especially when it comes to the practise of self-isolation and ‘unnecessary travel’ concerns. Failure to exercise practical and responsible due diligence, for example ignoring the isolation doctrine of the day, could well result in you incurring a hefty fine, or worse. Strangeness to the normal order of how the world normally operates is here to stay, and it’s here to stay for quite some time. Six months, at least, seems to be the timeframe most authorities put on it.

WHAT NEXT?

No-one knows much about how this thing plays out. It has never happened before in the modern world as we know it. The last pandemic, the much mentioned Spanish Flu, went down in 1919, only thirteen years after the Wright Brothers’ first 59 second first airplane flight. Now, more than 100 years later, the entire airline industry that blossomed from those 59 seconds is on its knees. Television hadn’t been invented. Super-fast mass communication technology hadn’t been invented. Modern medical apparatus hadn’t been invented. In terms of where we are now, as a collective species living on planet Earth, this pandemic is, as every leader on the planet has been saying, unprecedented. What went on a century ago is impossible to transpose onto where we are, now. Similarly, the bubonic plague that ravaged people in medieval times cannot be transposed over to the present to offer insight on how coronavirus plays out for us, today, and into the immediate future.

Everyone is waiting for...something.

Last week, for instance, we imagined people could simply pile into their campers, load up with supplies and head out into the wide blue open. Now, as it stands, this is not possible. Those wishing to do this may have to explain themselves to the police or even the army. The contagion is that serious. Everyone in the world is being told the same thing: stay at home.

TUNE UP WHILE ISOLATED

That said, it is, undoubtedly, extremely beneficial to ensure your camper and tow tug are both tuned-up and ready to go. The coronavirus scourge is a rapidly evolving matter. Fuel up your tanks and spend some of your enforced time cooped up at home making sure everything with rig and tow-tug is ship-shape and ready to roll. If this bizarre self-isolating scenario does stretch out for six months, they’ll probably be the longest six months for all of us in our collective living memories. The first thing many of us will want to do when the curfew is lifted, after a stubby or two of course, is get out of dodge for a good, long, while to recharge in nature, far away from walls and roof.

Another beneficial aspect to having a camper in the garage or driveway is its use as a separate self-service quarantine area, should a family member or friend need it for 14 days.

THE WAY FORWARD FOR CAMPER

Camper is committed to working through the morass, sticking resolutely to our usual high-standard world-class production of ethical outdoor adventure journalism.

“First and foremost, the health and safety of our community — our employees, customers, and partners — is our top priority. The rapidly changing nature of the pandemic means a high level of uncertainty but we are committed to providing the highest level of service while we can,” EMPRISE CEO, Rob Gallagher, said in a recent address to staff and partners.

“This is a remarkable time and we are conscious of trying to support everyone as best we can.

We look forward to getting through, together.”

Camper stands ready to help all our friends and partners navigate the current stormy seas as best we can. Our clear goal, once through this, is getting all Australians out into our magnificent Outback as soon as possible.

Despite the virus, Australians still like to read and they still like to plan for the future. Camper, while COVID-19 remains a malignant threat, will bring you reviews, yarns and information designed to help you best prepare for a post-coronavirus world. A world where everyone will, in all likelihood, have a near insatiable hunger for Outback and remote adventure.

We’re fully geared up for the bizarre reality of the present, but are in full planning mode for the onset of a magnificent future. Let’s hope it’s a future that isn’t too far off.