Life in Lockdown

It turned out to be a good thing I went up to Waitangi in early February, since traveling has been off the table during the pandemic. I feel very fortunate to be relatively safe in New Zealand - being an island nation certainly has its benefits - though I worry about those whose fates rest in the hands of less capable governments. New Zealand's approach was to go hard, go early, and it closed its borders and began quarantining all arrivals for two weeks, which helped stay on top of things, although it wasn't soon enough to prevent multiple clusters of outbreaks. It got into two rest homes, so most of the 21 deaths have been in these vulnerable populations.

It has been strange to have the rest of the world experience some of the isolation and working from home that I was already doing upon arrival to a new city. The lockdown has meant that I can't go to local libraries to work, but otherwise not much has changed except for the anxiety of everything going on around me. I have been reading the news more than usual, and watching the press briefings when they announce changes to the alert levels.

I have experienced a city with millions of people grind to a halt, and the empty roads and storefronts have been eerie. It's one thing to see it in the apocalypse movies; another entirely to have the silence of the usual hustle and bustle. More people have been experiencing their local parks and neighborhoods, though, and appreciating the natural world. Hopefully some of these bright sides continue.

Empty highway during Level 4

Some people had creative ways to brighten people's walks

Love hearing the tui birds on neighborhood walks

More cars start returning to the road at Level 3

We have seen how dependent people here are on restaurants making their food for them. Unlike in other countries, all restaurants including take-out were closed here for five weeks. There was panic-buying at grocery stores, and shelves have been clear of flour most of the time. People who didn't know how to cook and/or were reliant on Uber Eats hand-delivering their meals to them had to figure something out. I'm curious what they did. I suspect many women were relegated (even more) to traditional roles of cooking and cleaning for others. It wasn't that long ago that people didn't go out to eat all that much, and certainly didn't buy one or more coffees on a daily basis, so we don't need all of these restaurants and cafes for actual survival, but the convenience factor for those with money seems to have been too tempting. It is predicted that many restaurants will close permanently - some already have - because they can't pay staff and don't expect business to resume to previous levels. But they were already operating on very thin margins, so this isn't unexpected.

Rush on restaurants on March 25, the last day before the lockdown at Level 4 began

People are happy that restaurants reopened for take-out/delivery at Level 3 

We did get some American-style pizza after months without :)

The country moves to alert level 2 in one day, which will allow most businesses to resume but with distancing and safety measures in place. Bars are going to be the last to open since they are high-risk areas and designed to bring strangers together. I am conflicted about the 'return to normality' - in one sense, it has been nice to feel no pressure to socialize or go outside of my bubble, no pressure to work on projects because everything this year has been thrown out the window. But in another sense, continuing to be isolated and watching people suffer because they didn't plan for a crisis (and many couldn't, especially migrants in precarious labor) isn't sustainable long term. The hope is that New Zealand doesn't have to move back up the levels into full lockdown if it can stamp out the virus and quarantine any new cases in Kiwis who return home (borders are still shut). Then domestic affairs can resume more normally, and hopefully we can all continue to participate in conversations about how to rebuild the country in a more sustainable and equitable way. It's refreshing to see these are the kinds of topics in the news here; it gives a sense of hope that is lacking elsewhere.

In house news, we have been experiencing ant infestations and crickets. These worsen when it rains. The ants were almost under control, but now there are single ants wandering around places they didn't used to go, like the couch and doors. It's not clear if they are part of other clusters. As for the crickets, they are bigger and darker than what I'm used to. They also really like to chirp. They have been sitting in the wall in the living room and starting up in the evening, or under the cabinets in the kitchen. Sometimes they crawl across the floor, but they are so fast sometimes we lose them and then hope that the cat points them out to us. We had almost no insect issues in Christchurch, so this is one downside of living in a milder climate. There have been a few tiny roaches, but nothing major yet thankfully. 

one of my plants liked the fall weather and started flowering

 

black field cricket

Waitangi Festival and Treaty Grounds

We took a our first extended road trip north of Auckland to go up to Northland and the Bay of Islands and experience Waitangi on Waitangi Day. This is the annual holiday on February 6th that commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi / Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which is considered the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand. This year was the 180th anniversary, so it was extra special. There were people who had traveled from around the world to be there, as well as a new museum that was opened the day before when the politicians usually come up. (The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was granted the very special experience of going out on a waka that day, too.) Each year, there is an all-day Waitangi Festival on the Treaty Grounds and the buildings are closed, so this meant we waited to visit them until the following day.

Bay of Islands with Waitangi Treaty Grounds opposite Russell, and Kerikeri off to the left

I didn't know what to expect - the website was vague on what things would be happening. When we arrived, there were all of these waka (canoes) out on the water, with people paddling and chanting. That was really cool and unique to get to see. The biggest one was the waka taua (war canoe), which takes at least 175 men to operate and has its own special house on the Treaty Grounds. There were some waka with all-female crews, too, and quite a few youth out there. I thought it must make them so proud to be able to participate in an event like this that is positive and celebratory of their culture. All too often that is not the case in New Zealand. Eventually, all of the waka made their way over to the shore and there were more ceremonial activities - all in te reo Māori. 

Explains the white circles at the front of some of the waka

We headed over to the main Treaty Grounds where there were lots of stalls with food, drinks, art, jewelry, and other stuff to buy. We saw some cultural performances - dancing and singing - and tried to keep out of the sun since it was quite hot out. My main critique was there weren't enough bathrooms and the ones that were there were placed quite far away and were hard to find. I also thought it was a missed opportunity to have something about the Treaty and the history for people to check out (since the museum was closed for the day). I know it's contentious, but at least some posters or a pop-up thing with general information would have been nice, since there were so many people with time to learn something.  

There was a small march/protest about an ongoing land dispute in Ihumātao

Waitangi Treaty Grounds Tour

The next day, we had the guided tour of the Treaty Grounds and a short cultural performance, and then were able to go through the two museums and the marae. I wasn't sure how much I would learn since I already know a bit about the history, but I was pleasantly surprised at learning some new things, especially about some of the key figures involved. I have to say, going through the museum can make you mad at the British colonial enterprise and what they did to indigenous populations pretty much wherever they went. 

The big waka taua was made all by hand, with parts of kauri trees being joined for the hull

stump of a kauri tree, which are facing kauri dieback disease in NZ

this is the sheltered home of the waka taua

cultural performance using little balls that make noise when snapped

interesting comparison between worldviews through maps

The flag below hasn't been retired, so it is still official.
The other black, red, and white flag (so-called Māori flag) was designed in 1990 and has become popular.

Part of the issue with the Treaty is how rushed it was. Less than a day to translate!
But it was really the changing of key words that make it controversial.

 

Unsurprisingly, the Treaty was not a Māori creation.

There was a 4th article on religious tolerance but it wasn't written into the Treaty.

Flags have real significance in designating authority.

Kerikeri

After lunch, we headed to the town of Kerikeri a little north. We stopped into a couple tourist shops (delicious chocolate sample at the chocolate factory) and popped by Rainbow Falls. Quite a few people were swimming in the area.

The Stone Store - an old building still operating as a shop

Reminder of colonial life and gardens that the British brought with them

Russell

The next day we took the car ferry over to Russell. It was an easy thing to drive onto the ferry and only took a few minutes; they are very efficient at doing this throughout the day. 

Russell used to be a lawless town full of scoundrels (think Tortuga from Pirates of the Caribbean or Mos Eisley from Star Wars) and was known as the "Hell Hole of the Pacific". This was one of the reasons why local Māori wanted the British Empire to exert some control over their people and other traders in the area. Well, that backfired... Also, its original name was Kororareka, which means sweet blue penguin, which is a lot nicer than Russell. Anyway, it later turned into a holiday spot and tourist area, so it's quite a shift since the mid-1800s. It's directly across an inlet of water from Waitangi, so you can see the flagpole on the Treaty Grounds from the shore. 

View from Russell over to Waitangi Treaty Grounds

We went to the Russell Museum, a small locally-run museum whose main display is a replica of Captain James Cook's ship Endeavor. It could use a refresh and some of the info was repetition from what we'd seen the previous day, but we like to support local museums. We walked by New Zealand's oldest church, Christ Church, and the Pompallier Mission, then it was time to head back to Auckland.

Pompallier Mission

Moving from Christchurch to Auckland

I found it difficult to find moving cost estimates and information about doing a DIY move via the ferry across New Zealand, so I thought I'd make a short post about the move I did at the end of 2019.

Since we were transporting our cat and didn't want to do an extensive amount of driving each day, we took three days for the trip. This enabled us to stay overnight at two places and let him out of his cage and let us rest. Except for some traffic on the North Island, the trip went smoothly and all of our stuff made it there.

Actual costs for three-day move:
$1,548 (excluding cargo equipment)
$1,918 (with cargo equipment, which hopefully can be reused in future)

Fuel: $343

• First full tank fill-up @ $2.079/liter: $102
• Partial fill-up in Kaikoura (no receipt): $71
• Partial fill-up out of Wellington @ $2.389/liter: $62
• Second full tank fill-up in Taupo @ $2.159/liter: $108 

A full tank fill-up is about 13.5 gallons (51 liters) and the car is pretty new so it gets good mileage; however, the trailer and weight definitely reduced the usual fuel efficiency. There was about 150km left to go when we arrived in Auckland according to the car's estimate after the trailer was removed, so that needs to be accounted for when looking at the total fuel cost.


Luggage Trailer: $467

• cost is made up of 3 days at $39/day which is comparable to other companies, plus $20/day for $0 damage excess, plus one-way fee (this was supposed to be around $500 but I got them to lower it for me)  
• $100 deposit is required at time of booking

Note that rentals book up fast - many places I called didn't have anything available - so as soon as you know your moving dates, see what's available. U Save was the only place that would let me hire a luggage trailer one-way. Otherwise, the only option was one of the bigger furniture trailers, and I knew we didn't need that much space since we weren't taking furniture or big stuff. I mistakenly thought that I would be able to have some visibility out the car's rearview mirror with the smaller trailer, so on reflection, I might have gone with the single-axle furniture trailer to save the headache of trying to cram everything in such a small space. However, the luggage trailer handled pretty well when full and didn't feel overwhelming to haul for three days, and it fit almost everything I needed it to and forced me to consolidate stuff before moving.

Ferry (Picton to Wellington): $464

• included two adults, one car, and one trailer at a student flexi rate, which seems to be 5% off the usual rate, via Bluebridge

The ferry also books up fast, since there are a limited number of sailings each day, and we wanted one that left at a reasonable hour in the morning. This and the trailer hire are the most limiting of your options for the move.

Accommodation (2 nights): $274

• one night in Picton at Aldan Lodge Motel (pet-friendly, good customer service, and nice roomy place to stay; it has off-street parking, but there were only a couple spots that could take trailers, and it took us a while to back up into one of them - recommend asking in advance to secure one of these)
• one night in Turangi at Turangi Bridge Motel (pet-friendly and decent room; but the parking spots are not long enough for trailers, and one section that could have worked had a big truck and disconnected trailer already taking up the space; we ended up having to work another situation out on the lawn which you're not supposed to do but given that we had stuff roped to the top, I didn't want to leave it out in front of the motel overnight)

Cargo Equipment: $370

• 1 set of crossbars: $120 + $30 shipping, on Amazon U.S.
• 1 roof rack: $109 + $70 shipping, on TradeMe
• 2 ropes: $7.50 (with buy 1 get 1 50% off deal)
• 2 cargo nets: $18 (with buy 1 get 1 50% off deal)
• 2 2-pack of ratchet tiedown straps: $15 (with buy 1 get 1 50% off deal)