On Tuesday the 17th August I heard some rumours about a covid case in Auckland. For a year New Zealand had been pursuing an elimination strategy and hasn't had any cases in the community. To do this, the border has been closed to everyone but citizens and permanent residents. The only cases have been coming in from abroad, and with a mandatory two week stay in an isolation facility (two weeks in a specified hotel room) any cases are caught before they reach the outside world of Aotearoa.
But with the travel bubble that NZ started up with Australia and the rising cases there, it was only a matter of time before it got in here. And with the Delta variant we knew it would be soon. I think the forewarning prepared us all for that Tuesday.
With only 1 covid case discovered in the morning, the entire country was shut down by midnight. People who were away from home had 48 hours to get back before there would be no more travel. My neighbour/landlord/friend Jess and her family caught the last ferry to the south island to be with her father, who has terminal cancer. But within a few days, there were 85 a day, even with lockdown, so we all knew it had been a good decision.
The quiet on that first day of lockdown was so stark. Last time, we knew it would be at least 6 weeks, but this time it was just a few days. That bought the government time to figure out the extent of the outbreak. So every few days they would reevaluate and for three weeks that decision was to stay in lockdown. So that meant no restaurants were open and the only place you are allowed to go is out for exercise and to the supermarket (with a mask on).
The press conference with the prime minister announcing lockdown. Quinn doing the NZ sign language sign for sad.
But, admittedly, it was lovely for us. So much amazing family time. We got into making tamales. Impossible to find here but we love them!
Jess said we could use her house and yard so we jumped on the trampoline every day and the girls went up into her treehouse. Watering her plants and bringing in her mail was part of our routine and allowed for a change of venue. It was more of a juggle this time with both of us working but when Lucas and I had meetings we could find quiet there while the other parent was with the kids.
Lots of lego challenges. This one was our name or initials...
The extremely empty bread shelves at the grocery store. Luckily Lucas makes all our bread already...but there was also no flour since many others had the same idea.
Nothin' to do but sit in a basket and read.
Blindfolded lego challenge
Floating lego challenge, Wren won with this one, including dolphin!
Lockdown is made much easier when you live a block from the beach
Quinn is really into chess. She's very good and makes me play my hardest.
Daily tide pool exploration
We got to see the ocean's ebb and flow and found this starfish held fast in the low tide to this same spot for a few days.
A friend in the states told us about an app called SimplyPiano (and guitar). We invested in it and the girls were suddenly playing piano and guitar all the time.
Jump rope was a theme to the lockdown. Here's the double jump.
Wren and I hiked from our house up to Oku Reserve for a beautiful view of the ocean.
Out for a stroll with Wren
Wren playing piano
Local hike with Lucas through one of my planting sites for work, down to Island Bay.
At the end of 3 weeks the country (except for Auckland) went down from Level 4 to Level 3. Level 3 meant that I could do field work again and restaurants were open for takeout. No travel still, but within a few days the country went down to Level 2 which meant all was back to normal, but with masks in any indoor space where you are with strangers. We were all a little sad for lockdown to end, but the girls were happy to see their friends at school. Auckland continued with lockdown in an attempt to get cases back down to zero.
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