First week of quarantine in Auckland

To our total, complete surprise, we are back in New Zealand. When we left in June 2017, after living in Dunedin for 10 years (and getting permanent residence), we thought it very likely we would never be back. Dave's chronic lung disease made long plane flights very difficult for him. In January 2019, he got his fourth diagnosis along with a drug that has made a big difference. Then, as you know all too well, in early 2020 the pandemic came along. With each month of the pandemic we wondered and prayed about whether we should return to New Zealand to wait for a vaccine. Here we are.

On September 8 we flew from Seattle to LA on a crowded plane which felt freaky. Equally freaky were the many fires and long plumes of smoke we could see from our left side window seats. Our Air New Zealand flight from LA to Auckland was about one quarter full, and we arrived in the early morning in Auckland. Only about 10 flights a day arrive at the international terminal these days, and we experienced long, almost empty halls as we made our way through passport control and customs. Lots of airport staff stood by to shepherd us along to a bus, which took us to one of the government quarantine hotels in central Auckland.

Before we got off the bus, a government rep came on board to tell us about the long and convoluted registration process. He explained we would be in our rooms all the time except when we went down to the courtyard to walk or if we signed up for a bus trip to a place to walk near the harbor.

We filed into the lobby of the hotel, keeping distance, then on to a couple of adjoining ballrooms where we had to talk with people at several tables. They had us choose food off a menu for that day (two choices for each meal), give various details about ourselves at different tables, often extending our passports at arms length so they could see them without touching them or getting too close to us. Here's Dave in in plane garb waiting for his turn at one of the tables.

Finally we got to go to our room. It's smaller than I'd hoped, a trapezoidal shape so it looks bigger in the first photo than it actually is. But what a gift to have two walls of windows. And the bed is super comfortable. I carefully photographed the room before opening a suitcase because I knew it would get cluttered very quickly.

See that cool bathtub? It's now full of luggage and miscellaneous items.

Soon after our arrival the nurses showed up to complete our medical screening. They mentioned that someone had heard Dave coughing. He explained he has a chronic lung disease, and he coughs a lot. They said they were sorry but he would have to stay in our room until he got a negative covid test. They asked me a lot of questions, and I mentioned I sneeze a lot because of allergies. They said I would also have to stay in the room until I got a negative covid test.

Meanwhile, meals started arriving. The food is in take out containers in a paper bag, and someone drops it at the door, knocks, rings the doorbell and says "lunch". The food tastes good as befits the high end hotel we have lucked into. I'd love more fruits and vegetables, so I placed an order with the front desk for their next supermarket trip. I'd heard it can take three days to get a supermarket order, but a couple of hours later we had apples, oranges, carrots, peanut butter and dark chocolate. The essentials!

From the first day, our view -- especially the construction cranes -- was quite entertaining. Here's our view, beginning from the window by the bathroom (facing south), moving to the right (toward west).

When we were packing in Seattle, I suggested that Dave leave his binoculars behind because of weight. He's really glad he didn't do that. He LOVES looking at details out the windows.

 

With his acute ability to observe, he managed to see the crane operator to the west climb up the 20+ stories to get to work on the morning of our second day. The man stopped at each landing to rest for a few minutes. Later that morning, he watched the crane operator to the south climb up. On the third day, a different crane operator climbed up the west crane, and at each landing he did pull-ups, push-ups and stretches. We both watched every move. This is not quite watching the grass grow, but close.

Every day we get a call from the nurses, who go through every covid symptom to see if we have it. They must be SO bored with that list of symptoms. They also come in person to take our temperature. We got the covid test the second day, and the results early afternoon on the third day.  We were ready to jump outside and get some fresh air, but we had to wait for one more visit from the nurses to be sure we were healthy. Then WOW, outside for the first time in two and a half days. The area for walking is not very big, and people were walking laps around it. There's Dave in the yellow jacket, and you can see someone walking the other way. It was actually more crowded than it looks.

Right behind where I took the above photo was a small area with benches. I was hoping to sit there and read, but there were too many people to feel safe. (They tell you that if you are within 6 feet of someone who later tests positive for covid, you will start another two week quarantine. Not interested!) But that seating area had a plant -- something green never looked so good -- and a view of Auckland's Sky Tower. 

The air was fresh and brisk, about 55 degrees. Lovely. While we were downstairs, Dave signed up for a bus trip for the next afternoon to go and walk at the harbor. The next morning, Dave went downstairs and walked again. That same morning he had diarrhea twice, probably from eating the rich hotel food. He and most of the members of his family of origin had their gall bladders taken out years ago, so he can't eat much fat. 

The nurses came to visit around noon that day, and he told them he had had diarrhea. They said, sorry, but you'll have to stay in your room until you've gone 48 hours without any upset stomach. So . . . back in the room. No trips downstairs. No bus ride. Back to watching the construction cranes do their thing. As I'm writing this, we're a few hours before the 48 hour mark, so we're hoping to get outside again later today.

One of the amusing things Dave observed through his binoculars is another quarantine hotel just west of us. He figured out it's a quarantine hotel because he could see people walking laps on patio. Take a look.

 

I have to say, I needed a vacation from many things, and a big part of me has loved not being responsible for very much for a few days. We are grieving the fires on the West Coast, and we still grieve the pandemic, but we have enjoyed sitting in front of our windows in the morning watching the light come into the sky. Two nights we've had beautiful sunsets, and I have sat in front of the window until every last bit of light has gone from the sky. Dave and I enjoyed watching the US Tennis Open on a big screen TV, and we've had some lovely conversations and prayer times. It still feels surreal to be here, but I am definitely starting to have moments when it feels like a big gift to be able to be in New Zealand and look forward to shopping, talking with friends, and generally moving about without a mask and without fear.

If you have questions about quarantine, email me and I'll try to address them in another post. If all goes well, we'll leave quarantine on the 24th, spend 5 days in Auckland car shopping and seeing friends, then drive slowly south and arrive in Dunedin on the 15th of October. We have a furnished rental arranged for our first months there. I'm hoping to create some scenery posts as we travel.