Lock down and beyond
March 27th. Lock down has started and we are confined to barracks for the next four weeks except for essential shopping. We have put away our garden furniture in preparation for winter. As you can see....... just in the nick of time.
Did the weekly shop.... limited numbers allowed in the store but all very civilized.
Mar 29th. One of the best things to come out of this is getting to know our neighbours. At 10.am each day we sit 10 metres apart on the grass verge and share info. One of them is currently mowing our front lawn!!!!
April 1st. This is not an April Fool joke. This is us each day catching up with the neighbours. Lynn's knees are on the left.
April 4th. Lock down weekend 2. Still meeting with the neighbours for a morning coffee chat and then back home for our daily briefing on Covid 19. Lynn has encountered bears on her walks which people have put in their gardens/windows so kids have a point of interest when out walking with their parents. Plus views from the end of our road to the Kaimai Ranges.
The jig saw is well on the way.
Apart from that....... we stay the same as so many other people.....stay home, stay safe... save lives!
April 11th. Another gorgeous day in Kereru Place with our ladies meeting at ten am.
Lynn has picked some of our grapes with gloves on and handed them to our morning gatherers. Great way to start the day while the weather is so lovely.
15th April Three weeks in and jigsaw is finished! Yeah!
Onto the next one which Dave and Vrons never finished. Let's hope lock down goes on for another three weeks!
April 16th. Well not exactly! Started the new jigsaw last night and found there were no straight edge pieces.... correct ........none. Thought that was a Dave Leavy prank ( right up his street) but after our phone call to the Leavy's....... Vrons found said pieces (which they had started way back) in their jig saw mat which was rolled up in the games room! They kept their distance this morning and delivered them (unlinked) to our coffee morning so we can make a start. A funny Covid 19 story at last!!!
April 22nd. Many birthday wishes ,txts and face time calls which was nice. Homemade chicken curry and naan ( homemade) so all good. Tied balloons to the walker that I take to coffee chats each morning so the locals could know it was my birthday. Had one card from Lynn which was a Kereru! Looks a bit lonely on its todd so might have to take it down soon.
23rd April. Planned menu for next week and so went to Supermarket. Queued for about five minutes but lock down must be having its effect because as I was unloading the shopping onto the belt when I realised I had left my handbag in the car, where Lynn was waiting. As I left the shop she got out to help unload and was aghast to see I had no food and no trolley!!!! Sign language across the car park resolved the issue and I returned to pay for the goods. What a chump!!!
The good thing about meeting with our neighbours is to gain local knowledge from them. Here is a walk Lynn has found nearby with ducks on the lake.
25th April. Anzac Day with no celebrations allowed just a call to Stand at Dawn. This was for every New Zealander to stand at the end of their driveway as the sun came up and the last post was played. It was such a beautiful morning... completely still with the sun rising at the end of our road. All our neighbours were out standing in silence as the faint sound of the last post could be heard at 6 am. In Mount Maunganui.... this happened. A Lone piper.
Plus other tributes from places in New Zealand in week 5 of total lock down. This is our neighbours houses decorated for Anzac Day with homemade poppies.
We are doing well though and go to Alert level three on Tuesday 28th which means more businesses will be able to open but only delivery or click and collect. Two more weeks at level Three before a reassessment. We are doing well..... only 5 new cases yesterday and all linked to known cases. We watch your news and the news from the USA. What a mess Trump has made of this. Let’s hope this is his early exit as he is so dangerous.
27th April. First day of Alert level three with only two new cases and one possible. Now we must stick to the rules and not think we have cracked this virus. Bottle O is open so no need to buy our night's tipple on line! Jig saw is coming on but slowly as you will see when it has finished.
May 10th. Thanks to all our friends who sent VE Day festivities for us to share. We have completed the jig saw except for three pieces that Dave Leavy took out before giving us the edges from their aborted effort. I reckon i spent at least two hours looking for the pieces and only when we got down to the last grey building did we realise that the end of the red bus was not amongst the pieces left. Vrons was furious with him and dropped the pieces around the very next day. If you expand the picture you can see how notable they should have been.
Still into watching cooking programmes with NZ chefs and made corn fritters with Sweet Chilli sauce, slaw, black bean and cucumber dressing with homemade tomato salsa! Yum!
We are on the eve of the government decision to move down to alert level 2 which means much more freedom. We think it might go to a 2.5 level with social distance still in operation but more places open. Only two new cases today so all looking promising. News from around the world is pretty depressing especially the USA and the UK. We cannot believe that they call hundreds of deaths a decline in the spread of the virus and I fear that letting up on restrictions will lead to many more people losing their lives. We have done so well with less than 1500 cases and 21 deaths. It shows that control of the border, isolation, testing and contact tracing is crucial in the fight. Let's hope we can continue to keep this bastard of a virus in check. Last days of coffee mornings with our neighbours as they get ready to return to work. It has been great though and a real reason to get up each day.
Wednesday 20th. Sue and Rick are our first time visitors for eight weeks! Rick had a scan at Grace Hospital so they came for lunch. Great to catch up with them and to sit outside in the warm sun, which has been like this for weeks. It has certainly made lock down more bearable. Sold the difficult jig saw on TradeMe and got enough money for Dave Leavy's coffee for one day!!!! Current jig saw is just as hard!!!! Watching the news last night it turns out that Noel Edmonds has emigrated to NZ and is living in Matakana, North of Auckland. He is launching a community radio project which he says he is funding at the moment. He is living with his partner after some business disasters in the UK and is supposed to be retiring so not sure what that is all about.
We have had our post Covid 19 haircut as seen here.
Patsy has been busy being creative as seen here with her drawing of Lord Byron. How talented is that?!!!!
Thursday 21st May. Sadly woke up to the news that Val Robinson's husband, Gwyn, has died. We had been informed of his illness last week and hearing from Val he was clearly very unwell. Although he had been very unwell and was being looked after at home , losing someone close to you is still a shocking experience. It is three years to the day since my Dad died so Gwyn's passing will always be remembered out here in New Zealand.
Sunday 24th May. Happy birthday Flo! First day of rain for months so hope the drought areas have got some good rains. Temperature has dropped to below 20 degrees for the first time since Christmas so have had a really good spell of weather for five months. The garden tells us that Autumn is here as the fantails and Silver eye birds finish off the grapes. Caught a Silver eye in mid grape sorte today. Fantails are harder as they flit more.
Did you spot it? On the plus side the lemon tree should see us through the winter with hot lemon drinks!!!!
Had a really nice call last night with Min and Tim Chicken. It was lovely to catch up with them and see them both looking well. It is hard to believe that we had Mum and Dad's memorial, with Tim as the Celebrant, back in Potton two years ago this month. We could not have imagined our lives and what it would be like for the next two years. We have loved every minute of it and especially pleased we are in NZ during the pandemic!!!!
Monday 25th May. Earthquake 5.8 near Wellington this morning though not felt here. I expect Janet and Mike felt it as it was not far off the Kapiti Coast. Jacinda was being interviewed as it shook Parliament.......she was so cool about it! Jacinda Earthquake Interview
Just finished our third jig saw. OMG this was difficult!!!!!
Tuesday 26th. Hygienist for one hour today and knee injections tomorrow ........ catching up with maintaining health and well being after isolation. Knee injection will be number three so hopefully will continue to improve.
Wednesday 27th. Third round of knee injections so will be waited on for next 24hrs, hopefully. Dave and Vrons coming for coffee so Lynn is making Lemon drizzle cake ( thanks Ina) for us all.
Thursday 28th. Dave and Vrons came and Drizzle Cake was a hit!!! Good to catch up with them after such a long lock down. Knees sore today so not doing much. Lynn in charge of waiting on the afflicted.
Friday 29th. Early morning wake up call from our Landlords who want to come and plant some bushes. Here are some before, during and after photos.
Alexis planted two Hibiscus plants to cover the fence and a couple of low lying, fragrant plants as ground cover so that was nice of them.
Saturday 30th May. One week now with no new Covid 19 cases. Sent for Asian Fusion takeaway tonight.... first buy in for ten weeks!!! Knees are gradually less painful so hopefully that will continue. 30 more pieces of sky to put in and then fourth jigsaw done.
All done but two bits missing! New jig saw is of a Pohutukawa tree in the Coromandel....... on a lake!!!! Wish us luck on that one! Patsy sent through another painting which she has completed during lockdown and I have urged her to get them framed and sold as they are stunning.
June 1st. Queen Elizabeth's birthday ( official ) and Australia and NZ have a long weekend to celebrate. We woke up to the fifth day of riots in the USA. It is no longer the country I loved visiting during the 70's and 80's at Camp Merestead and Purdue University........... it needs fixing by the people who live there........ all of them. We have our first heavy rain for five months so hopefully some will land in the areas that need it most namely Napier, the Eastern Cape and Northland.
June 17th. Been busy out of lockdown to catch up on things missed eg dentist, hygienist, knee injections, non essential shopping etc. It has been so good being Covid free for 24 days and great that our progress has been recognised all over the world. Sadly two brits yesterday have been diagnosed after they were given dispensation to shorten their quarantine time because of the health of their parents. We have to stay strong at the borders or we will be just like other countries and go backwards with regard to social distancing and other restrictions. In the time I have not been writing the blog, ( last two weeks,) the world has gone mad between the Pandemic decisions in the UK/USA and the world response to the death of black Americans from excessive force by the police. Potentially these white officers face charges of murder while the world marches to highlight inequalities in all areas of the world. On the plus side have received three more birthday cards this week!!!!
June 23rd. At last I can write about something nice to cheer us all up! We did a road trip down to Sue and Rick's with Dave and Vrons. It is about a 2 hr run but the weather was a gorgeous sunny winter's day highlighting the fantastic scenery. You may remember from earlier Blogs that they live on the cliff overlooking the Eastern Cape and White Island ........ it is stunning place to visit.
White Island is still smoking.....
Sue and Rick built these steps down to their Kumara and Potato bed.... during lock down. A tad daunting I think.
Their drive and view out the back!
A really nice day out...... the first for some considerable time!
June 24th. With the latest spike of cases in NZ and Australia, our trip late August is looking increasingly unlikely. We have been notified that our chosen Hotel in Auckland, The Jet Park Hotel is being used to quarantine Covid 19 confirmed cases and so we won't be staying there even if the trip is on!!!
The Pohutakawa jigsaw did for us....too much blue sky..... and this one almost did!
June 28th Great to chat with Flo last night and to catch up on her dreadful news. Flo was in a car accident, hit by an ambulance, which wrecked her and her car. Within 24 hours Alex was in intensive care, diagnosed with Eclampsia and sadly lost her baby. Flo was saying last night that they almost lost Alex. Still it was good to hear they are both ok considering. Flo has still got her arm in a sling with a broken collar bone and fractured ribs. She has banned me putting the photos in the blog but she was so lucky it hit her just behind the drivers door............. doesn't bear thinking about any other outcomes. She said her friends had been great and rallied around her so well done them.
Monday 29th June. The strange thing about living in a country on the other side of the world is getting used to eating seasonal veggies and fruits and not being able to get certain other things. We have solved the pork pie problem but my latest desire is to source crab meat.... fresh or tinned. Sadly it does not exist in the shops but thank goodness for Google. Today we had delivered frozen crab meat from Napier ..... so exciting to thaw some for this weekend and prepare some meals I have been itching to do. Easily pleased of Tauranga!!!!
Talking of seasonal fruits..... here is a collection from Patsy's allotment. Wow how lovely does that look!
July 1st. Coffee with Dave and Vrons yesterday which was its usual entertaining meetup. Solved David's difficulty with editing old documents on his laptop so hopefully he should be all set up for his writing desire.
Good to chat to Barbs last night and catching up with Mary tonight. Another jigsaw finished..... bought it for 3 dollars from a charity shop.......... best three dollars of fun we have had for a long time!
Knees continue to improve..... less pain and less swelling so hopefully this trend will continue. Intend to restart at the Gym tomorrow to see if that helps.
July 3rd. Karen Richards phoned to check up on the "Oldies" as she does. Sadly she reported the death of David Reed, Jane Reed's ex husband. He had been ill for sometime apparently but had been well supported by Naomi and Zoe over the past few months. Always sad when your contemporaries fall ill and die.
July 7th. Started back at the Gym and knees are a tad stiff after two sessions.......... will keep going though in the hopes I can get stronger.
We are well into winter now with temps around 12 or 13 during the day and dropping to 4 or 5 at night. The recent spike of Covid 19 in Melbourne has closed the NSW/ Victoria border so it seems unlikely that our trip to Aussie will be on at the end of August. Now looking into a trip within New Zealand around Lynn's birthday in December.
The gardener, Tita, has done a great job on the grape vines. The same birds visit to eat grubs but a new visitor has become an afternoon regular............a green-finch.
There are a few good non covid jokes going around. Jane R keeps us going with most. Here is her latest antipodean example.
Latest jig saw puzzle...... yet again beaten by the sky but pleased we completed the Lake and the tree at Wanaka!!!!!
Sad news today from Liz Cobb who said Brian was seriously ill in hospital and because of Covid is not allowed visitors. It must be so hard for families trying to cope at this time and our thoughts go out to Liz and Brian.
Dave and Vrons came for coffee July 15th. Usual chat and banter which is always good. Finished another jig saw and really enjoyed this one!!!! Looks a bit like Rye !
We are in the process of canceling Australia because of Covid. However our intent is to book a trip back to Lynn's first NZ school and the area beyond that she visited with Jill in 1973. This will be in December and finish on her birthday. Here is the link to the trip.
https://moatours.co.nz/sites/default/files/2019-04/tour-map-bridge-to-nowhere-forgotten-worlds-moatours.jpg The description of the trip is as follows......
"We follow rail, river and walking tracks, once the lifeblood of the Central North Island. Ride rail carts and cruise the Whanganui River by jet boat up to the landing to the Bridge to Nowhere. Then the delights of Hawkes Bay await, reached via the historic “Gentle Annie” route."
We have received our refund for the Air BNB in Noosa and are cancelling our flights in August. Flights will be held as credits and we need to re book before 11 months is up. Not sure that applies to Virgin Australia as they have gone bust and are being taken over. Still glad we have booked a trip within NZ for December, which we are really looking forward to.
July 18th. Marshie and Steve are in the process of postponing their trip to NZ 2020 due to Covid. Currently only NZ citizens can fly into NZ and even then, they are staggered, due to space in compulsory quarantine hotels being at capacity. We are still Covid free with only cases coming from returning Kiwi's and isolated in quarantine. For that we are very thankful. With the recent spike in cases in Australia, it will be some time before there will be any travel across the Tasman.
The publishing of Blog 21 will almost coincide with our decision to move out here announced on Charity Day two years ago. That was a massive decision but one which we have thoroughly enjoyed. We miss our English friends but face time and WhatsApp allow us to stay in touch. We love living here, especially during these incredible times and appreciate the clear direction and leadership from Jacinda and her Government. The election is only two months away and the National Party has pretty much imploded this week so hopefully she will be re-elected.
July 19th Time to publish this as a true record of our time over the last four months. As a factual account of what life has been like for us, it must read so differently to how it has been for many of you. We wish you all well and hope the Covid 19 crisis improves soon and allows you to return to a more normal life.
