Tag Archives: nature

New Zealand during Covid : March 2020 – July 2020

New Zealand locked down her borders. No flights allowed to come in. The whole island itself was in full lockdown from the rest of the world and each county (Land District) was to remain closed to others. March 23rd we were picking apples at the local apple orchard and later that day we were notified that we were going into level 3 and that by the 25th we would be in “LEVEL 4 Lockdown”. Only “essential workers” were allowed out and about and only 1 designated family member was allowed at the local grocery stores. The streets were barren, the noise of the surrounding areas that normally occupied people vanished, the water was still even when it was windy. Mandatory lockdown wherever you happened to be when notice hit. No school except to get the required materials. Zoom classes would start at some point when the teachers could get things together. No water sports allowed due to the possible need for coast guard. Mountain Biking can only be done if you were riding to your MTB spot (no driving to any exercise location). Walking outside was allowed but you had to walk 2 meters away from other people.

As an essential worker in the NICU at Wellington Hospital, we rushed to get prepped for the worst, with all the PPE and how we would divide the unit if a baby got covid, how to attend deliveries with a parent who tests positive for covid, etc. We had to limit the number of staff in the breakroom at one time. We also had to change into our scrubs at work so that people didn’t see us outside of work as hospital staff. There was definite panic stirring around everyone. The trains weren’t running, so I had to start driving to work as well. We were allowed to carpool, but few were comfortable with doing that for the first few weeks.

New Zealand’s infection numbers were climbing quickly as everyone checked the latest daily stats. For the most part, everyone followed the Prime Minister, Jacinda’s guidelines. Most people listened in on the daily updated she gave on the news. Her voice became well known and impregnated the minds of most. I still can hear her voice in my head as clearly as if she was giving one of her speeches today. Thankfully the covid related death tolls climbed slowly and even stopped within 6 ish weeks of lockdown. We transitioned to level 3 lockdown April 27th, which allowed the kids of essential workers to resume in person school. The number of kids in each class was small and the work was minimal, but it allowed some rhythm to return to ours and their lives. Businesses had already been allowed to open up during level 4 that were deemed “essential”, so not only was I working, but Christian had some work as well. Nina’s school, being a large high school had to remain on zoom until level 2 was instated. Level 3 only lasted a few weeks and then the real freedom came with level 2 on May 11th.

When in level 2, the trains were back in service, all the shops were back on normal business hours, the gyms were open with the 2 meter boxes and swim lanes were kept to 2 people pre lane limitations, the outdoor activities resumed in full force, the schools were back in full capacity. Work was still on guard for impending doom, but overall much more relaxed. The limitation of gatherings was increased to 100 people and important events such as funerals and weddings started to come to life.

By June 1st New Zealand moved to Level 1. Everyone within the country could move around freely. Huge concerts were back in the mix as the gathering limitation was lifted. Families and loved ones trying to get back into New Zealand could with residency and 14 days quarantine that was really expensive. Eventually there was a lottery system to get your quarantine hotel spot, which ended up being bought by scalpers and sold for even more money to those already struggling people trying to get reunited with their families. This was hard to watch. We had the freedom to roam within the country without fear of covid while the rest of the world was still knee deep in it.

This was all fine and dandy for those in New Zealand, but was it really? Yes, we had a lot of freedom for which the majority were grateful for, but families were still being kept apart. This included ours, but in the opposite way. Ellamae had been with us during the initial lockdown and couldn’t go see her biological dad. Well, I guess she could, but then she couldn’t come back to New Zealand. Many people had families outside of New Zealand who they couldn’t go see because getting back into NZ was so hard and expensive. As for us, we couldn’t leave without risking losing everything, our home which was our boat and all the belonging aboard her. As non-residents, we could leave but wouldn’t have been let back in. We could sail away, but what country would let us in??? So much uncertainty.

With all of that being said, our visas we automatically extended under my essential work visa. School was included with this. We committed to stay for the long haul at this point. We were in a “safe” place with lovely people that we began to make connections with, reliable work and schools that were in person and at full capacity. And the silver lining of it all??? We got to explore New Zealand (Aotearoa) without all the tourist!

There were a few weeks in August that we had 4 cases in Auckland, so Auckland had to to go back into level 3 and the rest of the country into level 2. This was because of a few quarantine cases that slipped out, but that was resolved quickly and back to level 1 it was.

Here are some photos and videos during that time: March 2020 through the end of July 2020. Enjoy!

Immediate days prior to COVID …

The view over Paekakariki looking towards Kapiti Island

Dear Darling Deb from SV Coastal Drifter

Isla and Chloe Practicing the donning and doffing of PPE for Covid patients.

Then COVID came and it was all about Keeping everybody entertained….

I snuck in a few harbour swims before getting told not to… lol 😕

Easter 2020 : Chalk art for all the people walking/riding along the pathway to keep the spirits up.

Group class at work deemed essential for the “Complex Neonatal Nursing Course”! Note, we’re not masked.

I celebrated my birthday with hikes, coffee with friends, off -roading with friends and dinner with friends.

Elli and Taj playing with the fresh water eels.

Still finding those Kiwi Guardian posts!

Dedication to the Rainbow Warrior greenpeace boat.

Above and below: lots of outdoor adventures including campfires, bike rides, hikes and more.

The swing at the start of the Paekakariki to Plimmerton coastal trek.

Ellamae’s class shortly after everyone went back to school.

Lots of skate park time. They were closed off for ~ 4 weeks during level 4 lockdown.

HIGH-TEA with the kids and Trudy and Elli.

July’s Winter School Holiday road trip up the North Island from Wellington to Matauri Bay in the Bay of Islands (Northland Aotearoa). The kids (minus Nina who stayed back with her friend) and I got a head start on the road trip while Christian had to work a few days. He drove up a few days later in the car to meet us.

Stopping along the Taranaki coast.

Waitomo Caves – Glow Worms (click link) Definitely worth a visit in my opinion.

Silver Fern along the Pohuehue Scenic Reserve – Warkworth.

Matauri Bay – Northland Bay of Islands

New literal form for the term of “going out in the bush”!

And southbound again, back to Wellington. First stopover at the Coastal Drifters – Deb and Phil at Marsden Cove.

Trying to capture Taj looking at the camera.

Stanmore Bay stop over – Orewa

Stop over in Raglan for a surf! Not quite Raglan’s epic surf conditions, but fun nonetheless.

Bridal Veil Falls Waikato

We met up with our boat friends (SV Blue Zulu) that we met in Panama for a surf and camp adventure in Raglan!

Kai Iwi – Mowhanau Beach. We wanted to stop here because we read about the shell fossils you can find in the rock and mud along the cliffs in one of Taj’s school books.

New Zealand is all about the flying fox.

Shortly after our return to Wellington from the winter break, Christian and I celebrated out 10th anniversary by doing the Escarpment Track along the Paekakariki coastline. Definitely a top 10 hike.

We’ll leave this at that for now…

More adventures to be had while “stuck” in New Zealand during Covid times.

Life afloat in New Zealand: January 2019-July 2019:

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I’m not sure what happen to the blogging, or lack there of, while we spent life afloat in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Truth be told, I quickly lost touch with the romanticism of cruising life and lost motivation to write about what we were doing. I still, to this day, am not entirely sure what and how to write about our time in New Zealand. And the longer it gets the harder it is. It’s not that New Zealand lacks in amazing things to write about either, and we did do a lot of amazing things! So here I am, finally sitting down with some room to breath and ponder what to write about our time afloat in New Zealand from October 2018 to October 2021.

We arrived into New Zealand late October 2018 and Christian and Taj made their way down to Wellington (south end of the north island). See this part of the journey here in which I did actually write about.

I’ve somewhat already summarized 2019 in this post here, but I mostly just posted photos without explanations/captions. Now with a little more time to write, I’ll give you more words and many more photos.

January is summer time in New Zealand and school starts at the beginning of February. Nina was set to start “year 12 in College”at Aotea College, which is junior year of high school in American terms. The school was not but a 10 minute bike ride from Mana Marina. Ellamae started in “year 7” at Paremata School, which was 6th grade. Her school was even closer, a short walk away. And Taj was still homeschooled for a short time and enrolled at a local Playcentre, which is a child led play-based co-op type learning center. I had started work on January 14th, 2019 as nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Wellington City. (Please feel free to send me a message if you have questions about nursing in New Zealand.) Christian ended up connecting with a Mountain bike buddy who needed help at his shop @getfixedbicyclecafe with bike mechanics and e-bike conversions. Our lives quickly became back into “standard life” mode, but of course not really, because when do we Lauduccikins ever do “standard”?!

6.5 months (January- July) went by super quick. A half a year into school, work, and life in New Zealand! I accepted a permanent position at my job since we felt confident that Nina wanted to finish high school there and we were enjoying exploring New Zealand on our vacations (called holidays there) from work and school. One really cool thing about Kiwi working and living, they sure do value their vacations. Every 8-10 weeks, the schools take a 2 week “holiday” and then summer is about 6 weeks. My holiday pay accrued quite quickly, so I was able to take time off (at least part of the time) during those holidays and go on family adventures.

Camping, hot springs, and Mountain Biking near Rotorua our first Autumn Easter in NZ.

Soon July would roll around, and it would be time for Ellamae to fly back to spend time with her Papa in Florida. New Zealand schooling was ok with her swapping back to homeschool since we were already registered as US homeschoolers and weren’t NZ residents.

It was our first winter there that we had bought a camper, named Sharkie. We realised that it cost us >$50 /night to sleep in a tent on the cold and wet ground. With a camper we could do what they call “freedom camping” there. With a self contained certification, there are loads of designated sites where you can just pull up in your vehicle and camp for the night. Most places are limited to a certain number of nights, some have very limited spaced, some are in a busy parking lot, and some are remote gems overlooking the surf break. They also have a motor caravan association called NZMCA , which gets you discounts on the ferries across the the North and South Islands, more options for private camping areas, and a few other cool perks as well. Sharkie took us on some amazing adventures and it started with taking Ellamae up to Auckland airport!

The rest of this post will just be more photos and captions. Enjoy!

New sites to take in and new birds to discover!

At my coworker’s for dinner with a view of the bay that our marina (Mana Marina) was in.

One week into being liveaboards at Mana Marina we were Bbq’ing and camping with our new fellow liveaboards.

The waterfront dive platform in Wellington.

We were so excited to have visitors from outside of New Zealand come and see us! Always fun to be a tour guide.

SV Bajka : A kid boat we met sailing crossing the Pacific.

Christian went up to Paihia to grab our new dinghy , the OCTender that we’ve been dreaming about since we started cruising!

Some more scenes around Mana Marina.

Taj hanging with the Marina Manager , Neil.

More photos of Taj’s school (Playcentre).

July 2019 came quickly and it was time to take Ellamae to Auckland Airport to fly back to the US to spend the next 6 months with her biological dad. We left at the beginning of the Winter break in our camper for the first real adventure in “Sharkie”. After Ellamae flew off, we continued north all the way up to see our friend’s Russell and Karin of OCtenders and then west and back down!

6 months to the date: bottom picture upon arrival to NZ in summer and top photo is winter.

And that about sums it up for the first half of 2019 in Aotearoa (New Zealand). I’ll admit getting this ready to post took a lot more time than I expected, but I sure did enjoy rummaging through the photos that jogged many amazing memories. It’s a good way to journal and it feels more “real” than Instagram or Facebook, but I do wonder…. do people even read blogs anymore? Please leave a comment on your thoughts on the matter.

Looking from the marina towards the town of Porirua.

Shawnigan nested in her berth (they don’t call them “slips” in NZ) .

S/V Shawnigan is for Sale with a broker in Whangarei, New Zealand (Sold!!!!)

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Christian made it safely up to Marsden Cove Marina, where Shawnigan has been tidied up hauled out and placed in the hand of a broker to sell (link to come soon) to some lucky person/family.

The sail up the east coast was pretty much as to be expected around these parts of New Zealand, with gusts into the 50’s off of Castle point. 2-50 in 30 seconds kind of situation. The East Cape was slightly better, but not much. He thankfully had crew, Nick from Mana to Napier, and Jamie, from Napier to Whitianga (Coromandel). Of course… he did manage to surf both in Napier and in Whitanga. A very much deserved farewell gift for him. From Whitianga, he just had an over nighter to arrive with the right tide and current into the Whangarei heads.

After catching up on some much needed sleep, Christian spent almost the whole week straight cleaning up the boat, going for a sail to take drone photos, and sorting out a bit of last minute departure details for himself. He also managed to fit in a few social events with friends we know from up there.

A special shout out to the crew (Nick and Jamie) for pulling through, swapping their lives around and helping Christian and Shawnigan get up the east coast of New Zealand safely.

As for myself and the kids, we’ve been doing a little local sightseeing during the school holidays and then they have one more week of school and I have 6 more shifts of work before we fly out to California to reunite with Christian.