3/19/20
We arrived to Auckland with a bit over an hour to spare before New Zealand closed its borders. When we landed, all the Vanuatu guys put on facemasks, and may put on gloves. They were worried to be in NZ! The airport was pretty quiet, and a strange, sterile voice kept repeating guidelines about Covid-19. All travelers (kiwis and foreigners) were required to self-isolate for 14 days, except...those who came from Category 2 South Pacific Islands, of which Vanuatu was one. However, we still had plans to try to get somewhere to self isolate as best as possible. We stayed that night at a nice hotel by the airport.
3/20/20
We tried to mostly hide out and just stayed in the hotel, but we did go out to get some kebabs fro lunch. It was weird but I had little bit of weird chest tightness in the morning Then we looked at Airbnb and VRBO websites to find a place to stay for our extended 2 weeks. We then caught our flight to Christchurch. At the airport in Christchurch, we booked a nice and very discounted airbnb in Queenstown and then haggled with the rental car companies as the airport until we got a really good deal on a rental car ($15/day).
We also booked 2 nights at what appeared to be an awesome Inn. It looked like a private bathroom and room at an amazing price. When we ubered there, it was the kind of place we would normally absolutely love! The gentleman that was running the place let us inside. It turns out it was a nice house where we each had a room, but shared bathroom, kitchen, dining table, fridge, and pantry. The man running it said to help ourself to any fruit on the table and any food in the pantry and fridge. He said that because of the crisis, they had stocked the fridge and pantry and that we should help ourselves. The co-owner was sleeping because he had stayed up all night the previous night helping a scared French couple. The sleeping gentleman was in his 70's and the other in his 60's. We immediately felt nervous. We had been traveling and Elisha (and even I) felt a bit of sickness. And here was a shared space with other travelers and two older gentlemen, who of course would be at high risk with covid-19. We decided we should leave. We told the man, and he said we shouldn't worry; he had no problem if we stayed. But we told him we just felt we couldn't stay with a good conscience and that we would look elsewhere. He tried to get us to stay for some food (kiwis are so nice!), but we simply got an uber and left. We ended up booking a tiny room at the BreakFree downtown. We had thai curry and dumplings downtown at the Little High. Again during dinner my chest started feeling worse, which was strange b/c throughout the day I had felt nothing. Back at our hotel, we watched the Kiwi bachelorette, and I felt better.
3/21/20
I felt better in the morning. We stayed mostly in the room, reading up on Covid-19 and talking to family. We went to an Indian restaurant for a lunch special and took a walk in the afternoon. We had a dinner of take away pizza.
3/22/20
We picked up the car at the airport in the morning. I had some chest tightness again. We then picked up our all our gear from Leonie (the airbnbn we had stayed at before Vanuatu and mum of one of my collaborators). We then set off on the 6 hour drive to Queenstown. We stopped for a rest and photos at 2 aqua colored lakes with snowy background peaks in the distance: Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo. Throughout the drive and in Queenstown, we could not find hand sanitizer or disinfectant wipes at the stores. Elisha had a strong headache most of the day, but I felt good. We cooked Thai soup and chicken satay for dinner
We arrived to Auckland with a bit over an hour to spare before New Zealand closed its borders. When we landed, all the Vanuatu guys put on facemasks, and may put on gloves. They were worried to be in NZ! The airport was pretty quiet, and a strange, sterile voice kept repeating guidelines about Covid-19. All travelers (kiwis and foreigners) were required to self-isolate for 14 days, except...those who came from Category 2 South Pacific Islands, of which Vanuatu was one. However, we still had plans to try to get somewhere to self isolate as best as possible. We stayed that night at a nice hotel by the airport.
3/20/20
We tried to mostly hide out and just stayed in the hotel, but we did go out to get some kebabs fro lunch. It was weird but I had little bit of weird chest tightness in the morning Then we looked at Airbnb and VRBO websites to find a place to stay for our extended 2 weeks. We then caught our flight to Christchurch. At the airport in Christchurch, we booked a nice and very discounted airbnb in Queenstown and then haggled with the rental car companies as the airport until we got a really good deal on a rental car ($15/day).
We also booked 2 nights at what appeared to be an awesome Inn. It looked like a private bathroom and room at an amazing price. When we ubered there, it was the kind of place we would normally absolutely love! The gentleman that was running the place let us inside. It turns out it was a nice house where we each had a room, but shared bathroom, kitchen, dining table, fridge, and pantry. The man running it said to help ourself to any fruit on the table and any food in the pantry and fridge. He said that because of the crisis, they had stocked the fridge and pantry and that we should help ourselves. The co-owner was sleeping because he had stayed up all night the previous night helping a scared French couple. The sleeping gentleman was in his 70's and the other in his 60's. We immediately felt nervous. We had been traveling and Elisha (and even I) felt a bit of sickness. And here was a shared space with other travelers and two older gentlemen, who of course would be at high risk with covid-19. We decided we should leave. We told the man, and he said we shouldn't worry; he had no problem if we stayed. But we told him we just felt we couldn't stay with a good conscience and that we would look elsewhere. He tried to get us to stay for some food (kiwis are so nice!), but we simply got an uber and left. We ended up booking a tiny room at the BreakFree downtown. We had thai curry and dumplings downtown at the Little High. Again during dinner my chest started feeling worse, which was strange b/c throughout the day I had felt nothing. Back at our hotel, we watched the Kiwi bachelorette, and I felt better.
3/21/20
I felt better in the morning. We stayed mostly in the room, reading up on Covid-19 and talking to family. We went to an Indian restaurant for a lunch special and took a walk in the afternoon. We had a dinner of take away pizza.
3/22/20
We picked up the car at the airport in the morning. I had some chest tightness again. We then picked up our all our gear from Leonie (the airbnbn we had stayed at before Vanuatu and mum of one of my collaborators). We then set off on the 6 hour drive to Queenstown. We stopped for a rest and photos at 2 aqua colored lakes with snowy background peaks in the distance: Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo. Throughout the drive and in Queenstown, we could not find hand sanitizer or disinfectant wipes at the stores. Elisha had a strong headache most of the day, but I felt good. We cooked Thai soup and chicken satay for dinner
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