3/27/20
Woke up this morning to the news that at midnight tonight all domestic flights in NZ would end for non-essential travel (flying to the international port of Auckland in order to go home, being non-essential) and that the inter-island ferry would also be closed. This meant that if we wanted to get out of the country, we'd probably need to get to Auckland by tonight. Our flight actually flies from Christchurch to Sydney, so we don't need to go to Auckland, but we believe that Australia is also not allowing Americans to transit through. It was going to be pretty hard to get to Auckland so quick as we had a six hour drive from here to Christchurch (or an expensive flight from Queenstown to Chch); therefore, in a sense our hand was forced to stay in NZ.
Our landlords are letting us borrow their old mountain bikes, so we took a bike ride to Jack's Peninsula, and I rode the more challenging Jack's Peninsula loop trail.
3/28/20
We biked from our place to Frankton Marina and then onto Queenstown. The trail went around the lake on a nice dirt trail. It was a beautiful day! It's was about 10 miles from our place to Queenstown; however, if you could walk on water, our places is 3/4 of a mile from Queenstown. There were quite a few people on the trail, but Queenstown itself was deserted: a ghost town. Beautiful lake and mountain scenery.
Tonight we decided we would take Phillipa and Bill's offer to stay at their place for $365 NZD/week ($215 USD). Rent in NZ is typically done on a per week basis.
I guess we are becoming Kiwis!!
3/29/20
We tried to drive up to the Remarkables Ski Area base to do a hike, but the barrier was closed, so instead we hiked up the Wye Creek Trail, which starts near the lake and climbs steeply into the Remarkable Mountain Range. At one point we left the trail and did some major bushwhacking to get up on a ridge with beautiful view, way up high above the lake!
3/30/20
Elisha did some shopping, and I hiked the Queenstown Hill trail, which goes up above the tree line and gives some amazing views of the lake and the Remarkables. I finished a bit before she was done shopping, so I walked a bit through a fancy Queenstown neighborhood. At home we cleaned off all the produce in a soapy bubble bath, then let it sit outside in the UV rays.
In the evening I took Elisha up Queenstown hill for a romantic date to watch the sunset from a high vantage point over the lake with crackers, cheese, and wine. Queenstown and the lake get some unreal sunsets. Tonight wasn't one of them, but it was still nice. We walked down by the flashlight.
3/31/20
Did some business stuff and hung around our place. We took a short walk around the Kelvin peninsula. Then we had a lockdown neighborhood party. Five couples in our little sidestreet, including us brought out chairs into the street along with nibbles and wine/beer. We sat chatting about things until it got a bit chilly (~2.5 hours)
4/1/20 April Fools Day
We hiked 5000ft up from the lake to summit Ben Lomond Peak (5,735 feet). What a beautiful day!! Lake Wakatipu shimmered below, the jagged Remarkables rose straight out of the opposite side of the lake, and the friendly Keas flew right up to say high. On the other side, you could see Mt. Aspiring (NZ's second highest peak) as well as many other glaciated peaks. The weather was warm and the sun was bright, and we enjoyed lunch from the top.
We found out today that b/c of a health insurance mistake, we may owe $10,000, so that was upsetting and stressful.
4/2/20
Didn't do much today. Dealing with the stress of potential huge loss of money. I took a fast-paced walk to Jack's point
4/3/20
I talked to Lucas for a while on hangouts. Did more computer investigation. We found out today (or maybe it was yesterday) that the US Embassy had been able to clear Americans to fly domestically within NZ, but there doesn't appear to be much in the way of international flights available.
4/4/20
I did a big bike trip today--50 miles. Queenstown has a really sweet and large network of bike paths. There is probably a bit over 100 miles worth. First I took the Kelvin peninsula trail from our place, along the lake to the Kawarau bridge, which is where the Kawarau River exits Lake Wakatipu. From there I took the Twin Rivers trail, which first followed the Kawarau River for a bit until it came upon the Shotover River delta. The trail then turned upstream along the Shotover River, until it crossed the river at the historic Lower Shotover Bridge. The Shotover river is one of the rivers that the largest amount of gold has been taken out of it in the world. The trail then went down the other side of the Shotover, and again followed the beautiful glacila blue Kawarau River. The trail then intersected with the Arrow River. Along the way I picked some tasty apples off a tree.
In Arrowtown I took a steep dirt road up for a couple of miles and then took a singletrack back down. I then explored the cute little village of Arrowtown, which was more of a ghost town b/c of the lockdown. It's an old mining town, with one main street, and preserved buildings from the era (like some of the Colorado mining towns). I also visited the Old Chinese mining settlement and saw a few of the tiny houses they lived in. Next I took the Arrow Gorge singletrack trail for some fun.
I left Arrowtown by taking the Countryside Trail. It passed huge, fancy home, and a very fancy golf club. I then connected to the Lake Hayes trail, which does an 8km loop around Lake Hayes, a beautiful lake with mtn views.. I then rejoined the Countryside trail to get to the lower Shotover bridge, then it was whence I cam on the Twin Rivers trail then Kelvin Peninsula trial. A great ride!
Woke up this morning to the news that at midnight tonight all domestic flights in NZ would end for non-essential travel (flying to the international port of Auckland in order to go home, being non-essential) and that the inter-island ferry would also be closed. This meant that if we wanted to get out of the country, we'd probably need to get to Auckland by tonight. Our flight actually flies from Christchurch to Sydney, so we don't need to go to Auckland, but we believe that Australia is also not allowing Americans to transit through. It was going to be pretty hard to get to Auckland so quick as we had a six hour drive from here to Christchurch (or an expensive flight from Queenstown to Chch); therefore, in a sense our hand was forced to stay in NZ.
Our landlords are letting us borrow their old mountain bikes, so we took a bike ride to Jack's Peninsula, and I rode the more challenging Jack's Peninsula loop trail.
3/28/20
We biked from our place to Frankton Marina and then onto Queenstown. The trail went around the lake on a nice dirt trail. It was a beautiful day! It's was about 10 miles from our place to Queenstown; however, if you could walk on water, our places is 3/4 of a mile from Queenstown. There were quite a few people on the trail, but Queenstown itself was deserted: a ghost town. Beautiful lake and mountain scenery.
Tonight we decided we would take Phillipa and Bill's offer to stay at their place for $365 NZD/week ($215 USD). Rent in NZ is typically done on a per week basis.
I guess we are becoming Kiwis!!
3/29/20
We tried to drive up to the Remarkables Ski Area base to do a hike, but the barrier was closed, so instead we hiked up the Wye Creek Trail, which starts near the lake and climbs steeply into the Remarkable Mountain Range. At one point we left the trail and did some major bushwhacking to get up on a ridge with beautiful view, way up high above the lake!
3/30/20
Elisha did some shopping, and I hiked the Queenstown Hill trail, which goes up above the tree line and gives some amazing views of the lake and the Remarkables. I finished a bit before she was done shopping, so I walked a bit through a fancy Queenstown neighborhood. At home we cleaned off all the produce in a soapy bubble bath, then let it sit outside in the UV rays.
In the evening I took Elisha up Queenstown hill for a romantic date to watch the sunset from a high vantage point over the lake with crackers, cheese, and wine. Queenstown and the lake get some unreal sunsets. Tonight wasn't one of them, but it was still nice. We walked down by the flashlight.
3/31/20
Did some business stuff and hung around our place. We took a short walk around the Kelvin peninsula. Then we had a lockdown neighborhood party. Five couples in our little sidestreet, including us brought out chairs into the street along with nibbles and wine/beer. We sat chatting about things until it got a bit chilly (~2.5 hours)
4/1/20 April Fools Day
We hiked 5000ft up from the lake to summit Ben Lomond Peak (5,735 feet). What a beautiful day!! Lake Wakatipu shimmered below, the jagged Remarkables rose straight out of the opposite side of the lake, and the friendly Keas flew right up to say high. On the other side, you could see Mt. Aspiring (NZ's second highest peak) as well as many other glaciated peaks. The weather was warm and the sun was bright, and we enjoyed lunch from the top.
We found out today that b/c of a health insurance mistake, we may owe $10,000, so that was upsetting and stressful.
4/2/20
Didn't do much today. Dealing with the stress of potential huge loss of money. I took a fast-paced walk to Jack's point
4/3/20
I talked to Lucas for a while on hangouts. Did more computer investigation. We found out today (or maybe it was yesterday) that the US Embassy had been able to clear Americans to fly domestically within NZ, but there doesn't appear to be much in the way of international flights available.
4/4/20
I did a big bike trip today--50 miles. Queenstown has a really sweet and large network of bike paths. There is probably a bit over 100 miles worth. First I took the Kelvin peninsula trail from our place, along the lake to the Kawarau bridge, which is where the Kawarau River exits Lake Wakatipu. From there I took the Twin Rivers trail, which first followed the Kawarau River for a bit until it came upon the Shotover River delta. The trail then turned upstream along the Shotover River, until it crossed the river at the historic Lower Shotover Bridge. The Shotover river is one of the rivers that the largest amount of gold has been taken out of it in the world. The trail then went down the other side of the Shotover, and again followed the beautiful glacila blue Kawarau River. The trail then intersected with the Arrow River. Along the way I picked some tasty apples off a tree.
In Arrowtown I took a steep dirt road up for a couple of miles and then took a singletrack back down. I then explored the cute little village of Arrowtown, which was more of a ghost town b/c of the lockdown. It's an old mining town, with one main street, and preserved buildings from the era (like some of the Colorado mining towns). I also visited the Old Chinese mining settlement and saw a few of the tiny houses they lived in. Next I took the Arrow Gorge singletrack trail for some fun.
I left Arrowtown by taking the Countryside Trail. It passed huge, fancy home, and a very fancy golf club. I then connected to the Lake Hayes trail, which does an 8km loop around Lake Hayes, a beautiful lake with mtn views.. I then rejoined the Countryside trail to get to the lower Shotover bridge, then it was whence I cam on the Twin Rivers trail then Kelvin Peninsula trial. A great ride!
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| Bears in the window for kids to do scavenger hunts during the lockdown |
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| We had no teddy bears, so a penguin had to work |
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| Arriving to Auckland |
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| Jacinda Ardern giving a press conference that NZ would be going into level 4 lockdown |
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| Josh Ritter doing a weekly lockdown live streaming concert |
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| Playgrounds roped off |
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| Ferg Burger usually has lines hundreds of yards long |
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| Things to get you through the lockdown |
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| only a small few things are out of stock in NZ. Mostly hand sanitizer |
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| Killing virus on our fruit with UV rays |
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| Our new neighborhood social distancing party |
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| Text from our friends while getting on our vanuatu flight |
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