On the 18th of March we would fly to Vancouver, spend a couple of weeks travelling down the West Coast of the US, spending time with my cousin in LA, then on Ness’ 30th birthday one of our closest, Sammy, would meet us and we would spend a month exploring the US national parks. Ness’ family were also to join us in April on a mini road trip of their own.
We were so excited! The last visit we had was back in September when Ness’ sister came to Thailand, it has been a long time since we last saw a loved one.
Then COVID-19 happened. It had been spreading through East Asia and then parts of Europe, but had been a fairly distant thought. We were in Auckland, knowing that this might affect us but hopefully shouldn’t stop us. The spread of the virus was fairly predictable, what we weren’t sure of was how governments would react, in particular if and when borders would be closed between Western countries.
This post is written a little differently, to give you a better insight into our highs and lows as we try and fail to keep ahead of the curve. I began writing it in this diary format after a few days, and continued daily thereafter.
Saturday 14th March
We’ve said goodbye to Kenji, and checked into our slightly grotty hostel, but it’s only for a few days until we fly into the next stage of our trip. We’re sad to be saying goodbye to New Zealand, it has been truly wonderful, but we feel we’ve done a good lap of it and it’s the right time to move on.
We’re excited for our trip down the West Coast of the US, but mostly for seeing Sammy in only 2 weeks! Travelling around the US national parks has been a dream for years, to climb and even just to see these beautiful and iconic scenes, especially Yosemite!
We are nervous about COVID-19 affecting our travel plans, but it looks like it’s fairly in hand and shouldn’t affect us too much…. especially as we plan to be living in a van in the deserts and mountains. The US has barred entry from European countries, but not the UK, so we should be fine!
Sunday 15th March
We wake up to a news notification – the US has extended the travel ban to include the UK. Bugger!
For Ness’ family, that is to be the end of their holiday plans, and the end of our hopes of seeing them.
For our trip with Sammy, this is upsetting for all three of us, but we can work around it. First stop is the library for travel books, turns out that there is actually a queue to get into the library when it opens at 10am….wouldn’t have thought it would be that popular, then we head to our coffee shop of choice – Remedy Coffee – and come up with a plan.
Video call with Sammy and we have a new plan – Canada!
We’d been planning to go to Canada anyway, we were flying into there and were going back after doing the parks with Sammy, so we can just make Canada the focus. I’ve been to Canada but Ness and Sammy haven’t, and none of us have been to British Columbia or the Rockies.
Plan mapped out!
Separately, noticed a chipped filling the other day so went to the dentist today. Got in straight away, she was brutal and took two 45 minute sessions, but got it fixed. Hurts like hell now though!
Monday 16th March
Sammy has moved her flights…we’re set…we’re doing Canada!
Canada only has a few cases of COVID-19, good healthcare, sensible liberal country, so can’t imagine that we’ll have border issues there. We may have to self-isolate, more likely just Sammy as she’ll be arriving in a few weeks when it’s worse, but we can self isolate in a big motorhome.
On a random note – just seen an advert on Facebook for a used parachute. Of everything in the world that you might buy second hand online…a parachute?!?!
Tuesday 17th March
After a gloomy failed attempt to watch sunrise on Mount Eden, we get back to a message from Sammy – Canada has closed it’s borders to everyone. That really screws us!
We thought it was concievable that she might have problems arriving in 2 weeks, but we are flying this time tomorrow, we never thought we’d have difficulties.
Lots of expletives here.
That really screws with the rest of our travel plans.
There is a possible loophole, the announcement says that measures come on on Wednesday…. Even though we leave here on Wednesday afternoon, since we cross the dateline we arrive in Canada in the early hours of Wednesday. Maybe we might just slip in?
No…. 6 hours too late.
Also, Air Canada isn’t cancelling the flight as Canadians and Americans could still get it, so we don’t get a full refund.
We have a tearful conversation with Sammy where we have to accept that it isn’t happening.
Slim possibility though that she could come and join us in New Zealand? Don’t want to hold onto hope, but not ruling it out.
So we’re staying in New Zealand. Trying to look on the positive side – we love New Zealand, absolutely love it – so we will stay here for another 2 and a half months, and have an amazing time! NZ only has a handful of cases and its isolated place in the world give it a good chance if avoiding the worst of this pandemic.
We’re in Auckland and easily decide that we’d rather be in the South Island, so book a flight for tomorrow afternoon back to Christchurch – where it all started!
The government is talking about ‘social distancing’, which makes a lot of sense. We head out to a comedy show and sit on our own at the far end of the room. Unfortunately it wasn’t very funny and we leave half way through. Ness was particularly embarrassed by the fact that I was laughing…the only person in the room to be laughing at the jokes….I felt that it was less awkward if I pretended it was funny, but Ness disagreed!
Also…. After that dentist appointment a few days ago, I’m still in a lot of pain!
Wednesday 18th March
We’re back in Christchurch, a city we love. We’re happy.
We’re looking at vans. With everything that’s going on, so many people trying to get home, we might be able to get a good deal on buying or hiring one.
The FCO advises against all travel, advising Brits to stay put unless at risk, so we are definitely staying in NZ. Unfortunately this puts a spanner in our lingering hope of Sammy joining us.
Thursday 19th March
Ok, I’m getting worried about my mouth…. This tooth thing is an issue. My mother-in-law is a dentist and tells me to go to see a dentist. I do and am told that my tooth is basically knackered. She says to wait 4 weeks as there is like a 5% chance that it’ll get better, but will probably require a root canal (cost over £1000) or removing the tooth. I asked what would happen if there was a ‘lockdown’ like in Europe, they say that dentistry wouldn’t be affected.
NZ has closed it’s borders to all non-residents. The right thing for it to do when it still only has a handful of cases, but that’s the nail in the coffin for us seeing Sammy. We’ve kinda accepted that this would happen though, so not too much disappointment left.
On the upside, we’re back in Therapy Coffee in Christchurch, where the staff recognise us and treat us like family.
Social distancing is becoming a real thing, so we sit in the quiet corner. Also – we’re in a hostel rammed full with other travellers – I bet some of them have arrived recently and not self-isolated! We decide to avoid the communal areas, sleep in our room, wash, then eat food out in parks or quiet cafes.
Friday 20th March
Right, so we’re getting a van and travelling around NZ. That’s exciting. Not the conclusion to the trip we’d expected, but it’ll be good! Hopefully things will calm down in North America and Europe in time that we might be able to fly back via the US and Norway as planned.
We’ve got a list of countless things we still want to do here, so plenty of wonderful things to do.
Saturday 21st March
My mouth hurts so much it’s ridiculous. Talking and eating make it hurt more, so I’ve basically stopped both.
Sunday 22nd March
Nice morning climbing, and now we’ve got a van booked. I can’t talk so Ness negotiated it, got a good discount and we’re collecting it tomorrow.
Monday 23rd March
Van collected! We’re ready to go on another adventure, exploring more of NZ!
We go to Therapy for one last coffee, some lunch and to say goodbye. While there we see the announcement – NZ is going into a 4 week ‘lockdown’ in 48 hours. We can isolate ourselves in the van, but vans must stay in the same place.
Hm….not what we had in mind, but ok we have the van, and we’ve been slowly over-shopping for food over the last few days, so we can disappear somewhere. Where do we want to be? Away from people, somewhere beautiful…. Our favourite camping spot was on Lake Pukaki looking across to Mount Cook, we’ll go there!
I’m still in a lot of pain from my mouth, so I pop back to the dentist to speak to the staff who said they’d be open no matter what. They are lovely, but tell me that they’re closing for 4 weeks. I’m given a 5 day supply of antibiotics and told ‘good luck’.
We’d been planning to go climbing this afternoon, but with the replanning, time was getting on and we were feeling emotionally drained, so we go and park the van somewhere near the crag for tomorrow.
We drive to a beautiful spot in the hills above Christchurch, unfortunately the wind really picked up and in this high-sided van we are being battered, with a considerable chance of rolling. The forecast is for the wind to get to 100km/h – let’s go somewhere else. We drive down to Brighton Beach.
Over the course of this evening we’ve realised how rubbish this Jucy van is. It’s much bigger than Kenji was, but has so much less storage space. And little things just haven’t been thought through, and things are broken. It’s disappointing.
Tuesday 24th March
That was a frigging cold night!
We’re both feeling really down. We will spend at least the next 4 weeks in a van in the same spot. Our ‘travelling’ is over….our dream is over. We’re now basically waiting to go home. The FCO has just issued a notice that all Brits who are travelling but live in the UK are ‘strongly advised’ to return now. There are about 2 days left before Singapore closes its borders as a transit hub, which Australia has already done, and we can’t get home. I look at flights, at 6am I see there is one flight tomorrow available for about £3000 per person. By the time Ness is awake that is gone. We have no choice but to stay, and all of our plans are just being shredded. Starting to feel pretty shit really. Never thought I’d say this, but maybe I just want to go home.
A lovely positive is that we had a video call with the wonderful girls from our meditation retreat in Thailand (you may remember one of our more popular blog posts – In Two Minds). The call featured us in NZ, Gauri an Indian living in Germany, Marloes in the Netherlands, and Nora in Texas; it was so cool to get everyone together and interesting to learn what it feels like in different countries during this time.
First stop is back to the Jucy depot to get them to replace all of the broken stuff, including a steel saucepan with holes in the sides – how do you even do that?!
Thankfully we get to speak to a mechanic at Jucy, who is an absolute star. He fixes so many things, and they are generous in helping us out with extra bits, understanding the situation we’re going into.
We reassess where we want to be – do we want to go to Pukaki or are we just making ourselves more alone, no internet, no power, just one small shop a 40 minute drive away. The alternatives aren’t much better so we decide to go.
Long drive to Pukaki and we settle in. It is beautiful here, and peaceful. No, I don’t want to go home, this is beautiful.
Wednesday 25th March
The ‘lockdown’ starts at midnight tonight. Last night in the van wasn’t bad, and we’ve woken up to this spectacular scenery.
We relax together, do a workout in the sun, drive into the town for a few bits, then settle back into our spot. It’s beautiful and we are together, this could be a lovely 4 weeks.
Extra bonus, we get very intermittent 4G here, so can still connect to the world.
After a lot of thinking, we decide that the best thing we can do is to book a new flight home, for 22nd May. That is a couple of weeks earlier than we’d planned to go home, but it means that if it is cancelled (very likely) then we have time time to re-plan. It also means that we have locked in the cost of the flight, rather than waiting to see what happens and finding that costs have shot up.
As we lay in bed, we watch a video by the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden. I have always been impressed by the politics of New Zealand, where common sense and values seem more important than the political rubbish that dominates in the US and has come to dominate in the UK. They believe in human rights, fighting climate change, and working together for a better future regardless of differences. Over the last week or two we have watched daily updates from the PM (referred to as ‘Jacinda’ in a far more respectful and affectionate way than how we might say ‘Boris’), and we are heartened by her strength, integrity, clarity and humanity. She did her big briefing earlier in a suit at a podium sounding very official, and is now doing a Facebook Live webcam session, in her hoodie after putting her toddler to bed, answering questions and reassuring people about what is ahead. I’m not a Kiwi but I nonetheless feel led by her, I’m reassured that she is the person controlling our destiny, and I secretly want her to be my friend. Ness admits to having a bit of a girl-crush. Wikipedia tells us that she is 39, engaged, has a toddler, and actually gave birth while serving as Prime Minister. Raising an infant while leading a country…. Wow!
Thursday 26th March
We wake up to a beautiful day, we are warm in bed, but it is bitterly cold outside of the duvet, it was about 1° overnight and the van doesn’t hold much heat in.
Ness is struggling. I am more contemplative by nature than she is, and happier with different types of stimulation….I have written a list of books I want to read or re-read, writing to do, photography, exercise, I’m fairly content. Ness requires a bit more engagement with the social world, more positive interaction and activities, she is becoming quite scared about how the next 4 weeks will pan out. She also feels the cold far more than I do, and is struggling a bit.
The sun comes out and we do some exercise so we feel better, but a shadow is hanging over our head, that we are basically now just biding our time until we go home. We don’t want to go home, but it looks like we can’t actually do anything between now and then. If the lockdown ends on time or early then we could still do some more in NZ, but that seems unlikely. At least we’re somewhere beautiful.
We’ve just read that Germany is chartering planes to fly their citizens home from NZ, charging passengers an ‘economy fare’. What if the UK does this? Do we fly home now, and totally end our travelling, sit in the home of a friend or family member for 2 months just waiting to return to work? I’ve just emailed my work to say that I’ll do everything I can to get back in time for my return date of 15th June, and if repatriation flights happen then this could be the last chance, but we’d loose all this time. We’d also loose the money we spent on a flight yesterday. We’re conscious that if the opportunity arises then the window is likely to be small, so need to start thinking now.
We got an email yesterday from our travel insurance. Turns out that none of this COVID-19 stuff is covered. Despite buying a very good policy, lots of small print means that the hundreds of pounds we are loosing to cancellations isn’t included.
Oh, looks like we’re out of electricity already.
Big positive though…my tooth is feeling much better, I can talk again and the prospect of 4 weeks of agony are looking far less concerning.
Friday 27th March
We wake up to a calm day under the grey skies from last night’s rain. As we sit in bed reading, the cloud clears to a beautiful day, and the mountains in front of us show the glistening snow that has sprinkled them overnight. I’m looking forward to watching the landscape turn from summer to winter over this coming month.
We are both feeling better this morning, and enjoy our morning workout in the sun, followed by our routine bath in the glacial lake.
The UK consulate has said that a few routes home have opened up over the coming days. We look online and tickets for 2 people are $28,000 NZD (or about £14,000) – so we won’t be buying them! Interesting though to see that if that’s the price the market sets, people are clearly willing to spend it!
As we enjoy lunch in the beautiful afternoon, we both feel happy here. Not what we want, gutting in a lot of ways, but happy.
We needed to put some charge in the battery and refill the water, so we drive 40 minutes to town. It all goes well and we are on our way back when a council worker stops us and asks what we are doing. She is the first person we’ve spoken to in a few days. We explain that we are just here doing the essentials, heading back out to our remote camping spot, probably 10km from the nearest other humans (possibly a lie, on our drive out here we saw evidence that there might be a other camper about 5km from us, but small detail). The council worker hands us a notice and tells us that all freedom camping is banned now, we must go to a paid campsite.
My heart sinks through the floor. There are downsides to what we are doing, but we have freedom, beauty and space, whilst abiding by the isolation rules in the strictest of ways. Now we must pay to be imprisoned in a campsite. The pain is in the ridiculousness that the campsites are all busy so we will go from being truly isolated to being surrounded by people.
We park up and have a cuppa while calling around campsites to find one with space. Ness does the calling as my eyes are teary, the dream, whether real or imagined, of living out the lockdown in peace, tranquility and beauty have been shattered. From the layby I gaze at the lake, listening to the water lapping at the shore, beautiful snow covered peaks across the water. I’m sad.
Ness is also sad, though a little relieved that we will have some basic comforts. I feel a lot better knowing that there is a positive in Ness feeling better….this pulls me out of my trough.
We find a campsite in Wanaka, about 2 hours drive, and in a town we adore. We make our way there, just stopping for a couple of roadside photos and a chat to a police officer who pulls us over to check we’re not disregarding the isolation. We have a great chat about work, comparing rural New Zealand policing to what I do.
We have just arrived at the campsite. We have a rubbish spot but the lady kindly moves us to somewhere with a nicer view.
Teenagers, presumably working travellers, amble around the campsite and past our pitch, their music carries up the hill to us. This was not the dream….admittedly we are onto roughly Plan F by now, but this wasn’t anywhere in there.
We do have some luxuries though…. Water, electricity and internet, none of which we had much of before. We are safe and well, and through the trees is a beautiful view across Lake Wanaka. Look on the bright side.
Ness is reading me Twitter posts…. NZ have closed all domestic travel. People who paid the $28,000 for a flight tomorrow from Auckland have now lost their internal connecting flight to get there. Can you imagine that, for 2 people loosing $28,000….. £14,000. Wow! To pay that you must really be desperate to get home, and now they can’t get home and they’ve lost an earth shattering amount of money….we feel for them!
I pride myself in being someone who rolls with the changes, who accepts uncertainty with grace – but it is becoming harder. The rollercoaster of the last few weeks are taking their toll on us both, we feel emotionally drained. But we are safe and this is but a flash in the pan, for us life will continue, there are so many others who will not be so fortunate.
Saturday 28th March
We woke up to a grey day, and lay in bed for a while, chatting, cuddling and watching a film about the Thailand cave rescue (the climbing centre we joined in Chiang Mai played a huge role in the rescue, and many people from it feature in the film).
We didn’t get up until lunch time, but the sky cleared to a beautiful day. We have lunch in the sun, then go for a walk along the beach. We are certainly far less ‘isolated’ than we were in Pukaki, but everyone is obeying the rules by keeping their distance, and we can enjoy the beauty of Wanaka.
By the time we return to the van we feel much happier about the situation. Coming here wasn’t the plan, but it’s not so bad really. I’m writing this looking out the van window as the sun sets over beautiful mountains and the lake.
A week later – 4th April
We are still here, in the campsite we moved to, and it looks like we’ll be here for a while.
There are 3 more weeks of lockdown at the moment, and indications from the NZ government are that the lockdown will be extended until the virus is completely eliminated in NZ. If this happens and all hopes exploring New Zealand any further are crushed, we will think about where we want to spend the rest of our time off, here or back in the UK.
There is still a small possibility though that the lockdown will end and we can continue in NZ; or that the situation in the US, burning so hot at the moment, will have burned out so quickly that it is suitable for us to travel there in a couple of months. We have learned that we just cannot know, cannot plan more than a week in advance, and so we try to keep all options open.
We receive daily updates from the UK foreign office and the UK consulate in NZ, and keep a close eye on flights and the state of several relevant countries. Things change rapidly every day, new flights open up then are cancelled, transit airports open then close. Air New Zealand who we booked our flight with have made most of their pilots redundant and said that they will probably end all international flights to become domestic only. We are regularly asked by friends and family whether we will be on repatriation flights that have been mentioned in the UK media… The consulate here have made clear a decision which we wholeheartedly agree with – that this is a safe and developed country with very few COVID cases, so NZ is about the last country which the UK will be sending planes to. Even if it does then of the 20,000 Brits here, we will rightly be at the bottom of the list as we are young, healthy and have money.
This period was obviously quite unstable, our plans dramatically changing every couple of days as the situation evolved. That was emotionally draining, and bitterly disappointing, but throughout it we knew that we were safe and well with money.
We are very sad that having saved and planned for this trip for 4 years, the last quarter of it has been taken away. Nonetheless we accept our place as ants in a huge world, and that we must be thankful for having control over our lives for the vast majority of the time. A brief period where we feel like passengers is unfortunate but a healthy reminder to not take freedom for granted, and to seize it with both hands when we do have it.
We remain safe, well and healthy, with funds to support us through this uncertain time, something we see many people without. We wonder what we will think of this time when we look back in 6 months, a year or more. Will it have been a flash in the pan, or is it the start of something lasting? For now we cannot really know, and we end this post with very little idea of what comes next.
To read about more of our journey through New Zealand, click here. Or use the menu in your left to take a look at some of our other experiences.
