5 months after the initial lockdown from Covid, New Zealand’s borders remained closed to the rest of the world and all of it’s beauty open and accessible to all of those who remained within those borders. There’s not really much more to say about that. We worked, we schooled, and we continued to travel as much as possible in the camper van aka “Sharkie” or “Taniwha”. I often would take the kids on shorter trips over the weekends: camping, going on little treks, looking for more Kiwi Guardian posts and finding animals to pet, while Christian and Nina stayed back and worked. Nina was working pretty much all weekends at Get Fixed Café in the coffee/café portion while Christian remained in the bicycle mechanic section.
Ashley Park was one of our favorite spots to go that wasn’t too far from Wellington. They had great camping spots, it was quiet, and tons of animals to see.
Foxton Beach:
Random things I felt worthy of posting.
Taj and his mates at school. The old hospital entrance left up as decoration. Kiwi day camp bbq!Ellamae at Crossfit WOFMali going for a swing. Taj’s friend from school, Mali, came for a visit to the boat. Taj’s art from Andre’s class at Te Ra WaldorfTaj at one of his favorite palces, the library. Christian in his early foil days.Taj and Morgan on Morgan’s boat “ROCK”Me trying to stay “ship shape”.Visiting Nina at work.
Nina off to her first Formal (New Zealand’s version of Prom)
Zoe and NinaMy Coworker Bronnie’s farm house with her dog and puppies. Mama MIa and her puppies
Yes that’s correct, above you will see us falling in love with a puppy and soon to be ours in October, 2020.
Trudy and ElliMillie and Taj at the book release held at Get Fixed Cafe.
We made it into the local book of tales from “The Lockdown”, so we went to the book release and signing party at Get Fixed Cafe. The photo below was even featured on the local news broadcast.
That’s it for this post. Next up will be of the Abel Tasman hike that I, Josie, and Ellamae did with Ellamae’s friends. What an epic journey that was.
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 IslandLove the Kapiti Coast. Dear Darling Deb from SV Coastal DrifterDebra and PhilApple picking at the local orchard right before everything was shut down. Ration Creek OrchardIsla and Chloe Practicing the donning and doffing of PPE for Covid patients. Fran and Annie show all how its done.
Then COVID came and it was all about Keeping everybody entertained….
word search schooling kid huddle on the bow of the boata little jounral time at the beachcounting moneyGiving Sharkie a makeover
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. Coffee at Getfixed with LeahSteve and family’s 4×4 adventure in “Paw Patrol”.Nina Ellamae and Elli. Kapiti IslandElli and Taj playing with the fresh water eels.Christian and Bruce out on a MTB ride.
Dedication to the Rainbow Warrior greenpeace boat.The Rainbow Warrior was deliberately sunk out where the marked rock points to. See story here.Karin and her lovely girls Brisa and Ilha.Ah, nothing like a book with an ocean view. Ellamae napping. Ellamae, Ilha, Brisa and TajCamping with our friends from Octenders. Brisa, Isla, Ilha, Ellamae, Taj and Lola“On the Move for PWS” mobileIsla looking out from inside their home. Taj, Brisa, Ellamae, Ilha, Emma(?). Russell brought the OCtenders camping for some surf and foil board towing!Third Wheel Coffee Co. in Paihia. Waitangi MTB park with Ellamae while the boys did their own route. EllamaeChristian getting some airtime.
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. Taj’s school handwork creation. Taj and his Te Ra Waldorf School classmates Another beautiful Aotearoa rainbow.
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.
All dolled up for the occasion. Mom and Trudy
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.
Otaki BeachFoxton FlaxmillLife size connect four.Demonstration of the mill workings. Licorice from the Foxton Mill. Pump Track driving break to get the blood pumping @ Holbern ReserveEllamae on the pump track.
Stopping along the Taranaki coast.
OpunakeRoom with a view.fascinated by the bathroom sign at the cafe in Opunake. Another Kiwi Guardian medal claimed at North Egmont on Mt. Taranaki.
Silver Fern along the Pohuehue Scenic Reserve – Warkworth.Another Kiwi Guardian post. Christian finally joined us after finishing some work days. Christian and I bought each other 10 year anniversary Pounamu from the Waitomo area. We had them both blessed by our friend and local Maori.
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.
Fossilized shell exploration.
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.
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”?!
Coffee time at Christian’s work. Taj’s school field trips (every Wednesday).NZ is big on high visibility/safety. All the kids and adults had to wear them on the field trips. Nina in swim team.Ellamae in swim team. Nina checking out her school before starting. Nina’s first day of NZ college (highschool).Ellamae leaving for her walk to her first day of NZ school. Ellamae inn front of her class room with a new school buddy. Remnants of the original Hospital.At work “tea time” was a real big deal. There was a number of “plungers” (NZ’s word for a French press) and a huge container of ground Havana Coffee for the staff! My first bike ride to work in Wellington went without a hitch. Our boat neighbor welcomed us to the community by adding our family gnomes to the gnome garden at Mana Marina.Josie’s happy place. We quickly learned how to gather the local Pāua (Abalone) and Christian even speared a huge Kingfish (yellowtail) !
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.Camping at Blue Lake near Rotorua…. Some cold mornings here! Hair dressing time by the campsite. Taj making friends with the local ducks. Easter came while camping. Instead of chocolate bunnies for Easter we found chocolate Kiwis !NinaEllamaeTajCamping resort in Tauranga.We found shelter from the rain at Rainbow Lodge hostel in Taupō. The girls in the community kitchen. Hot Water Beach…yes it’s really a hot spring on the beach! Flat Hills Cafe: a popular rest stop on the North Island.
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. The Bach area around the corner from the marina along the Camborne Walkway Great bird watching along the Pauatahanui inlet. This is a Spoonbill .Kererū (Fat Pigeon).The stairs up to Colonial Knob.The view from Colonial Knob.View towards our marina from the train station.
One week into being liveaboards at Mana Marina we were Bbq’ing and camping with our new fellow liveaboards.
Mana Marina liveaboard crew. Eleanor, Sara Dawn Johnson, Tara . Ellamae and Ava. The waterfront dive platform in Wellington. Larger than life wax sculptures at the Gallipoli exhibition. On top of Mt. Victoria looking over Wellington. Wellington is a bit low San Francisco. Many similar attributes. One fancy Burger King.Girls night out to see Rocketman.The iconic statue along the waterfront of Wellington in which I rode by everyday to work. Ellamae and her new friends. We ended up spending many days here: Lyall Bay near the airport, for surfing fun. There was always something to explore in Wellington: the waterfront diving platform, Te Papa Museum, Mt. Victoria, good coffeehouses, cool architecture, hip streets, and Lyall Bay Beach to name a few. Swing bridges!We camped at Kaitoke “Rivendale”! (Lord of the Rings)
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.Captain Ron from San Francisco area. Josie’s neighbors growing up. Steve and Carol!Evangeline and Don from Bishop, CA also came to visit and we sure enjoyed playing tourist with them. The Cable Car experience!We love old Cemeteries. From the Cable Car museum, the walk takes you down through the botanical gardens, the old cemetery and the Rose Garden. Nina pretending to be dead over a grave.
Christian went up to Paihia to grab our new dinghy , the OCTender that we’ve been dreaming about since we started cruising!
Wellington Zoo! Lots of amazing birds here in NZ! Top of Colonial Knob.Smurf corner… part of the MTB trail.Taking photos of the local wildlife.Whittakers Chocolate = YUM.One of Taj’s favorite places was the Library. Heading up Makara.Makara Peak.Mt. Tamalpais (our home port mountain) … a mere 10,850 km away! Sometimes I would grab a coffee here on my way to work… #littleblackcoffeetruck and my little bro prom bike. Local New Zealand grown avocados for a mere $4.50! (what the what?! ) The warning image of an extremely premature baby on the back of cigarette cartons.“Hell Pizza” probably the only decent pizza we found in NZ.
Some more scenes around Mana Marina.
Taj hanging with the Marina Manager , Neil.Many dreary days of n these parts. But that also means many rainbows. Homemade tortillas. And more galley goodies.FaceTime with friends afar. Music class.Skating to music class.The local skatepark.Local Māori art.
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. Northwest Auckland area. Arataki Visitors centre. More beautiful rainbows. Whangarei Falls.Nina and Christian hopping on the pump track at Waitangi MTB park. Russell and one of his daughter.Third Wheel Coffee in Paihia, NZ .Karin in her office at OCtenders headquarters. Paihia art.Waipoua Kāuri forest.Turangi thermal pools.Opononi
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) .