COVID-19 lockdowns have given us more time at home and provided more opportunities to engage in favourite pastimes and certainly have encouraged us to learn new and interesting skills. We’re probably reading more but…

Do Wombats really read the Wombat Post? Well, our policy is to respect the privacy of our subscribers so we’re unable to comment but there is some video evidence. One of the candidates in the US Presidential election might call it “fake news”. You’ll have to decide for yourself. Thanks to sometime Daylesford visitor, Clancy Fraser for this little gem. See more of Clancy’s recent isolation-inspired work here.

Of course, unkind commentators might suggest while wombats might not read The Wombat Post, there are at least some of them that produce it!

Be that as it may, we have seen some fabulous examples of creativity during adversity, not least being the Daylesford Community Brass Band collection of music iso-videos.

Hepburn Libraries have taken to Facebook to provide stories and activities for kids.

Members of Geoffrey Williams’ local choir have joined his Virtual Soul Choir for massed online singing.

Local musos Vanessa Craven and Zdena Schwansmeier, performing as Sugar ‘n’ Spice, normally do one or more concerts a day in aged care facilities, but have taken to recording videos at home and putting them on the Central Highlands Rural Health Vimeo site so that residents can continue regular music gigs. Their cover of Leroy Carr’s “Papa’s on the Housetop” is a favourite.  They now have over 50 videos in the CHRH collection!

At The Wombat Post, we extended ourselves almost to the limit to run an all-candidates forum on Zoom and live-stream it to Facebook.

Cooking, gardening, claymation, writing, making videos, knitting, making music, photography… and the list goes on.

And then of course there is this stand out piece from the ABC for Australians in a time of COVID.