Week 4 of the lock down.

April 12, 2020

Hello Friends!

We hope that you/your families are staying healthy and managing the stress of this strange new world. Fingers crossed that we may be in the home stretch of the current level 4 restrictions here in NZ. Thankfully, the number of cases here remain low with fewer than 1500 and 4 deaths. The Prime Minister of this country has done a fine job with managing this crisis and we are certainly impressed with the Minister of Health. The big question of course, is how do you restart society AND will we be subject to open/closed/open/closed scenarios depending on the number of virus cases that emerge.

We have been planning our "get away" to the north island of New Zealand should travel inside of the country once again be allowed. Our intention is to find a place on the coast east of Auckland where the winter temperatures will be a bit warmer. If travel is permitted, we'll have plenty of coast line to explore but also be ready to hunker down again if required. Right now, it appears that international travel won't resume until 2021 so more than likely we will stay here in NZ. Flights back to the US are outrageously priced at the moment. Frankly, we're not sure where we would want to stay other than FL (a COVID hot spot) if we were to return. So like everyone else, we're living one day at a time and trying to keep ourselves occupied. Thank goodness for long city hikes and You Tube yoga/ exercise videos!

Enjoyed our Easter Sunday outdoors

Summer daisies grow super big here. This one was peeking over a 5 foot fence

Weeping willows line the river banks

We aren't big TV watchers which is a good thing as our apartment has very limited channels. We have managed to see Minions, Despicable Me and the original Kung Fu Panda movies which gives you some sense as to just how limited TV is here! You Tube to the rescue for mid day comedy breaks and happy hour concerts.

We continue to uncover fascinating tidbits as we roam the streets of Christchurch. I look forward to visiting more of the local historic sites on the inside!

Christ's College of Canterbury, established in 1856

NZ women won the right to vote in 1893 (27 years before the US)

Tower built for the 60th Jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign in 1897

This week, we were missing the sight, smell and sound of the ocean so we decided to follow the river path all the way to the ocean. It was wonderful to feel the great energy of the water again and absolutely worth the 15 mile round trip hike.