Lockdown update

13th April

Hi everyone! I’m in week 5 of NZ and 2 and half weeks into lockdown here and not much has changed with me. For all of those of you that haven’t spoken to me recently, lockdown in NZ has been quite strict with it coming into place on a Wednesday evening and the govt saying wherever you are at midnight is where you have to stay for the duration so no travelling around to get to your parents or family after that, telephone numbers and addresses being taken at the supermarket, fines if you are too far from home, no getting in the car to get to somewhere for your daily exercise, no shopping bags in the supermarket, and empty streets and shut shops. However, as we are in a rural area we are allowed to ‘bubble’ with up to 6 people and do self-isolation with other households so we have done exactly this with our lovely neighbours, Mike, Sheryl, Dylan and Jake. Most nights we go over or they come here for drinks and nibbles before supper and chat away (and drink away!!) which keeps us all sane and sociable. Daily life consists of me waking up at 10am (coz what else do I have to wake up for) and Jojo going down to help clear the campsite that Mike and Sheryl have run for the last 11 years and were meant to have sold on the 1st April – unfortunately this has got moved back until lockdown ends ?. On site they have thermal pools which we enjoyed last weekend and sat in for over an hour and took a bubble selfie minus Sheryl.

 

We are very lucky with the weather at the moment with it still being warm enough to sit outside on the deck look at our  beautiful view of the ocean.

With the weather being so lovely we are able to do our daily walks in the sunshine and blue skies. The tides were very good last week so we did 2 walks to the beach equipped with coffee in a flask and hot cross buns at low tide in the morning sun as well as a long and wet walk across the estuary to meet Duncan and Kath in the middle. Mike went to meet his friend for a beer with a deckchair attached to his backpack and sat right in the centre for an hour or so.

Meanwhile, Duncan’s “middle” wasn’t quite the middle we were going for so we ended up practically on the other side at Tanner’s Point where we had a little catch up and a photo (featuring Duncan’s favourite shirt ?).

 

On Good Friday we cleaned the pond out of all the sludge and mud. Mike, Sheryl and Jojo seemed to have it under control (and it also stank so wasn’t going to go near that ?) so the boys and I picked all the fruit around the garden. This included feijoas which are kind of like kiwi where you scoop out the middle but they have quite a perfumed taste which I haven’t learned to like yet despite there being an abundance of them. Freya will be very jealous of all our avocados!!

 

Easter Sunday had a very early start with the village pub quiz that we join at 7am for an 8pm UK start – we will blame the sleepiness for why we came last ?! So lovely to see everyone keeping moral up and it seems that families are getting on well despite having the lack of space among each other. We then headed over to the neighbours for an Easter egg hunt that I persuaded Mike to arrange as I got super excited (and competitive..)about the previous night. The “adults” watched from the deck eating avo on toast, hot cross buns and a cuppa in hand while the kids scoured the garden for little chocolate eggs. I came 2nd with 11 eggs and lost to Dylan’s 16 eggs but I was happy with my position as I was an improvement from coming last earlier that morning. We then hosted Easter Sunday Dinner with a leg of lamb, roast potatoes and veg, and to finish I had made chocolate mousse and tarte tatin for pudding which went down very well!! The day was lovely and a nice distraction from being away from home at Easter but I know it would be no different if I were at home as it wouldn’t be the same weekend with Kimble on Saturday and the cousins over on Sunday. I hope you all had a lovely day too in isolation and keep smiling while the sun is shining ☀️(it’s warmer in England than it is here!!).

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