To clear up any confusion about the meaning of the 5km from your home rule - effective from today - we offer this explanation, after discussion with the Member for Kiama, Gareth Ward.

The main rule is to stay at home, unless you have a reasonable excuse to leave. These include:

• essential shopping (by one person from a household, plus dependents if they cannot be left at home on their own)
• exercise and outdoor recreation (with people from your household or one person from outside your household).

Whenever you leave, for whatever purpose, you must carry a mask and proof of address.

Full rules available here. On the spot fines of $5000 now apply for non-compliance.

If you do need to leave home, then you can travel anywhere within the Kiama Municipality for the goods and services you need - so it is the perfect time to discover what is available locally.

The 5km from you home rule applies only if you have to leave the LGA. As this map shows, the geography of our LGA means that for most people - except for those who live a small portion of Minnamurra who can reach the shops at Shell Cove Marina - this means that shopping must be done within our Council area.

This map shows that the closest shopping areas outside our LGA are out of bounds for most residents

The map above was generated at KM From Home, a site created in Ireland for people facing the same situation. Use it to see if you have exercise or recreation options within the 5km radius from your home.