March 12 – A trip on the Inter-islander ferry for our return to the North Island. It was reported as ‘moderate’ swell for crossing the strait. The MetService stated that the seas were 2.5 metres in the Cook Strait. It was certainly rougher than our first trip, but nothing terrible. The ships have huge stabilizers which keep things really smooth, plus the hold had about 40 rail cars in it. We watched them loading numerous fluid intermodal containers at Picton while enjoying our morning coffee. They push the cars on the ship with a remote controlled locomotive and a long string of flat cars to keep the loco out of the hold and on solid ground. The ship rocks aggressively as the rail cars go on. No passengers are on board until KiwiRail finishes.
The weather was very nice in Queen Charlotte Sound, and Bron spent a lot of time on the outside decks. She didn’t see any dolphins racing along the bow of the ship, but we did see a few whale spouts in the distance. Arriving in Wellington slightly ahead of schedule we set off for Whanganui. (pronounces Fan-gan-oo-ee – the Maōri pronunciation of WH is like the letter F.) It is about a two hour drive along the western coast of North Island to Whanganui.
Internet access is free onboard the Interislander. During the crossing Brent was getting news alerts on his phone – The USA had announced that people coming from the EU would be banned from entering. Just the evening before we were happily chatting about our upcoming plans; Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Greece. This news alert really hit home and we wondered if it was the beginning of the end. Spoiler alert: It was.
Whanganui seemed pleasant. We took a little walk around town and got some groceries for dinner.
March 13 – A slow morning enjoying coffee and obsessively reading the news. Some flight and cancellation policy research in case things fell apart…. hoping they somehow wouldn’t…. high emotions! We also went for a gorgeous walk along the river bank.
March 14 – Not a great day…. Bron’s left ‘eye area’ was swollen for some reason, this grew from the previous couple days to become fairly uncomfortable. We also awoke to news that the Canadian government had updated the travel advice site to ‘avoid all non-essential travel’ globally. We had always agreed to follow the government travel site advice (normally very few places are ‘avoid travel’). We also agreed that we would do a full assessment of changing conditions before leaving New Zealand. Bron was planned to go to Indonesia, and Brent to Western Australia. Plans were to reconvene in Singapore. Clearly going separate was a big enough deal, let alone doing it in a climate where one, or both of us, could be trapped, or get sick, alone.
After much discussion, news reading, emotions, and bargaining we booked one-way tickets back to Canada. This was followed by more discussion, news reading, emotions, and bargaining as we wondered if we’d made a big mistake or preemptive choice. Spoiler alert: We had not, and very fortunately got reasonably priced homeward fares (they would be 10X higher for that particular flight in 24 hours).
We managed to have a little fun (with Bron wearing big sunglasses to hide her hideous eye) and checked out the farmer’s market and another section of river pathway. There were other things we were interested in doing/seeing around the Whanganui area, but feeling a little low spirited we didn’t venture far.
March 15 – So much news EVERY day. We can’t help reading but it is an unhappy job. After more wild, bad news reading we drove to our next stay New Plymouth. Our accommodation was gorgeous and we would be very happy to have a forever home just like it. Outdoor bath as well!
In a pro-mental-health move we got out and went for a great walk (there are many many walkways in the New Plymouth area).
March 16 – Originally Bron wanted to climb Taranaki volcano one of the days here, but between the eye, travel changes, and weather it wasn’t to be (it’s a difficult-ish long hike, and many people have died in bad weather or out of their experience depth). Instead we went for a very nice walk around the flanks. Our spirits were much improved by the gorgeous trees, great trails, fun water pools, waterfalls, and volcano views.
There are signs all over the country warning tourists that ‘New Zealand roads are different – leave extra time’. We’d have to agree. This road is a two way road with a speed limit of 100km/h. Ha!
Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit! – Happy St. Paddy’s Day!
March 17 – The world keeps getting more troubling. In 63 days in New Zealand Bron has achieved >10,000 steps every single day except the one we went kayaking at Cable Bay (fitbit and seawater don’t mix – but the steps did still happen, just not tracked). Today it didn’t happen. There was lots of news reading, moping, and some Netflix. No chilling.
March 18 – We are on the last leg – back to Auckland today. Between coffee stops, construction zones, and lunch, the drive took us most of the day. We had a nice stroll in the dog park at the Botanical Gardens in the evening, and got 10k steps.
March 19 – Two days remaining in New Zealand. We are stressed about flights getting cancelled, getting a cough and being denied boarding, all the people in tragic circumstances currently. Staying in and obsessively reading news makes it much worse. We head downtown for a look around and to try an ice cream shop Bron’s Mum recommended – GIAPO. The ice cream is delicious. They aren’t letting people inside for social distancing, but we are happy with our distance outdoor service. The downtown remains busy – surprising given all the news – and is made worse by a tunnelling job into Britomart train station. Many of the streets are ripped up.
March 20 – The penultimate day. We don’t do much. There were tentative plans to take a ferry to Rangitoto Island for the day, but the social-distancing, cost, and weather put us off. We work on getting refunds for some our cancelled travel. We are feeling devastated for the tourism small business owners, particularly in the poorer countries. Check-in is done with Air Canada, although they must inspect US before giving out boarding documents. Sick people will not be allowed to leave New Zealand – or more correctly depart for Canada. Fair enough.
A final walk in the Botanical gardens. This truly is a magical country. The nature is phenomenal. We will miss it, but now that it’s got to happen we just want to be home already. The limbo is hard. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly with travelling tomorrow and we will be back in Canada for some fun self-isolating!
As of right now, our inbound aircraft is running ahead of schedule. We have tickets to connect though to Pearson from Vancouver, but no one can tell us how that meshes with self-isolation. As of now we are just going with the (socially responsible) flow.
Brent And Bron Abroad 
New Zealand is such a bucket list destination to explore but I’m glad you are safe and sound back on your home soil. There’s nothing more stressful than being stuck in foreign country, especially with uncertain future. Are you now in a full on lockdown or can still move around and go on little trips to enjoy nature? Thanks for sharing and stay safe 😊 Aiva
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We are not home yet…
We fly tomorrow from AKL to YVR, and hopefully YYZ but then, who knows. We have requested more information, but in fairness to the customer representative with the airline – I don’t think they can tell us. I mean, the rules are still being formulated. Will we get to Toronto Pearson, and nearer to Moms, Dads and siblings – or will we be in Vancouver?
We will sell-isolate, we just do not know where. It can’t be with family, so we still have a few hurdles. Maybe some answers will be available at the airport tomorrow.
Canada is a enormous nation with much more for us to see. Certainly some domestic travel is in our future, as this situation settles down and the world resumes normal operation. (Whatever that will be?)
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