covid-19 – The Vanninis' Manoeuvres

Summer

Yes, we are having summer this year, the skies are blue, the gentle sea breeze lulls us into a false sense of it not being too hot, the sound of children out playing games or riding their bikes until dusk fill the air as happy adults chatter away the evenings. Kayaks, buckets, spades and boogie boards make their way to the beach and it’s great to see people out enjoying life away from the trappings of modern life. Many of the older regular campers have commented on how lovely it is to see kids running about and having fun in the outdoors and fresh air, making new friends and enjoying nature at its best.

We’ve played cards with friends who are camping, they told us they weren’t really into playing cards but after teaching them how to play 5 crowns, they were hooked.

We abandoned camp for a couple of days as Antony was due back from his London sojourn. As he was arriving in the early morning we headed down to stay at his place the night before as it would then just be a 30minute drive to the airport.

We didn’t have to wait very long as he was thru in around 30minutes. He had a great time in London with Alex, Ian and Callum and it was lovely to hear all the news. We had presents to open and share, thank you to our UK family for our Christmas gifts. Now we can’t wait until we head off to visit in May.

Back to camp we went to settle in for more warm summery days. We keep busy what with sorting out campers and any issues, doing maintenance and chores – yes we still have chores to do.

Antony rang the following day to say he’d brought another present home with him….Covid-19!

Hopeful we haven’t caught it, we did look up what the incubation period is but it’s hugely variable with the range from two to fourteen days so we shall just have to wait and see and not get too close to people.

Garry came to visit for a couple of days, it was lovely to have him here with us, I cooked dinner the first night for us all. I made Bao buns, slow roasted a pork belly with a sticky glaze and made a quick pickle type of salad with julienned carrots, cucumber, radish and red onion finished with chopped peanuts and coriander. It was delicious….and yes I forgot to take any photos.

The following day Garry cooked a leg of lamb with his new rotisserie attachment for his BBQ, it was cooked long and slow over the afternoon and evening and my goodness it was delicious.

My nephew Stuart came for a visit, along with Emma and their three children. Stuart lives in Dunedin so it’s been a couple of years since we last caught up and it was a lovely afternoon spent talking, laughing and oh, a little swimming too.

Meanwhile, we try to stay cool and can firmly attest to the fact that shade under a tree is far superior to any other shade device be it gazebo, awning or umbrella. And as it is so warm we are eating later and later in the evenings when it’s cooler and when it’s more comfortable to cook altho I must say that the bbq is being very well utilised. But we are not complaining at all, summer is here at last.

PS. 10 days on and no sign of Covid.

That C word!

You know that I mentioned previously that I had a head cold, no it’s not that C word, get your mind out of the gutters….not THAT C word either, not even the Cancer word but the other C word that is predominant at the moment. Yes, Covid-19 came to pay a visit.

I was nearly over what I presumed was just a ‘cold’ when Roy wasn’t feeling the best, he decided to test himself. Roy tested positive, I had basically recovered by then so we are presuming I’ve had Covid too. All I can say is that we seem to have come out of it very lightly, a couple of days of extreme tiredness, and a runny nose, just a heavy head cold really and no long term effects, or so we think!! Roy has taken a few more days to fully recover but we put that down to him being of greater vintage years and he’s taken a little longer to come right.

Just as well we are both fully jabbed and boosted as goodness knows how we would have been affected if we weren’t. To put that into real terms, a Doctor was recently interviewed at one of London’s leading hospitals, he was giving out the latest stats which basically said that of hospital admissions, Intensive Care and deaths were made up of 90%+ un immunised. I don’t think anymore needs to be said.

So back to our experience with Covid, three or four days of feeling unwell, and by the 5th day we are back to our normal selves. We are taking it reasonably easy in the following week or so as we know rushing back into usual activities can be detrimental for long term post Covid recovery. None of the rest of the household succumbed, thankfully.

We’ve survived our brush with Covid, it’s over, done, finito!

Life

Does anyone else feel as though the last two years have just melded into one extremely long and tedious year? It’s becoming very difficult to distinguish between 2020 and 2021, and recalling what happened and when, I’m calling it the Covid effect!!! One of these days life will return to some semblance of normality, or the new normal as I am want to describe it.

We have been camp hosting here at Shakespear for 8 summers now and we have seen some interesting things over the years. This year is no different with some people pushing the boundaries to the nth degree, however, it’s dealt with promptly and effectively with a no nonsense approach taken. I must say though that 99% of people are just lovely and we focus on them and their enjoyment of their surroundings.

The weather has been amazingly hot, reaching well over 30C in the shade by mid morning, a gentle afternoon sea breeze is all we ask for to keep us a little cooler on these days. I feel for families with small children trying to keep them cool although I am envious of the wee ones who splash around in large Flexi buckets filled with water and left in the sun to warm up a little, they become their personal baths.

On the whole we have slipped in to a bit of a routine, relaxing most of the day, and if we don’t finish relaxing, we know we can always do some more the next day. It’s a hard life but someone has to do it.

Antony comes up most weekends for a break from his work routine and it’s nice to have him around even if we are boring old people. Last week we had a break from camp for a night as we both had appointments to attend so we stayed with Antony for a night and caught up with a few friends as well.

Our friends Eti & Rona have been in camp for a week, and it was really lovely having them around. We enjoyed a few very relaxing evenings with them and enjoyed watching the sunsets over the beach.

Stunning evening sunsets, the tide was fully out but still gave us lovely reflections.

Simon came to visit with granddaughter Maria, and Wade & Lindsay visited on the same day with their two grandsons. And justt to keep up with my usual form of forgetting to take any photos, I did exactly that!

Although it hasn’t all be plain sailing…this happened.

Roy went to lift a heavy item, one that he has lifted every other week, when ping…something in his arm went pop. I took him off to the Dr and they said he had probably torn his bicep muscle but to make sure no tendons were involved he had to have an ultrasound. He had to wait a few days to have the scan, which has shown that he has indeed torn the tendon from his shoulder as well as the bicep muscle. Although he assures me it’s not painful (now), we do have to get to seen to. However, we are of the understanding that nothing may be done surgically as Roy is of a certain vintage where they figure once you hit a certain number, they don’t need to bother to do anything ….ageism exists!

A specialist appointment has been made for next week when we shall find out what they intend to do about it, otherwise he may become (h)armless

In between that and having cardiology appointments, where Roy was given the all clear, we seem to have traipsed our way all around Auckland over the past week or so which will continue into next week as well.

With Omicron sneaking through the border it has made us step back even further from interacting with campers, thank goodness for our Covid protection fence around the bus! With us both now having had our booster shots as another line of defence, along with scanning everywhere we go, masking up appropriately, eating healthy and basically steering clear of crowds, we trust that we’ve done the best we can to mitigate any risk factors. Stay safe out there people!

Merry New Year

Merry salutations of the festive season to you all, we hope it has been all that you wanted. We have settled into routine of life at Shakespear but although I say routine, it is definitely not the same every day as each day brings something or someone new.

Christmas Day came and went and was very uneventful. Antony came up to stay for a couple of days and we had a very relaxed Christmas Day and dinner. It was a very hot day and even though we were under shade for the majority of the day, we all glowed somewhat by early evening. In my usual tradition I did not take a single picture the whole day.

We had the video call from Callum on Christmas evening our time, Christmas morning their time, and it was just delightful to watch Callum open our presents.

Callum showing off his spoils to his TV Grandma and Grandad

One of these days he will get a shock when he discovers that we don’t live in the television.

The advent calendar was dutifully hung ready for the countdown to Christmas.

Callum also hung his stocking ready for Santa to deliver presents, although we are told that he was not overly impressed with the whole Father Christmas idea.

Finds from our container clear out, Antony & Alexandra’s stockings made in 1988 and Ian’s completed 2021. The latter two will be hand delivered sometime in 2022 all going well 🤞

And guess who got a drum kit for Christmas? Watch to the end for his epic conclusion to his performance!!

New Years rolled around very quickly, Antony came up for the weekend and in our usual manner, we were all in bed before midnight letting others see the New Year in. Although it was not an entirely uneventful evening, late afternoon I saw a woman hurriedly running across the camp toward us. She explained that her husband had gone to sit in a chair, the chair collapsed catching one of his fingers in the framework chopping through his finger and bone resulting with it basically amputated only hanging on by a strip of skin!!! She wanted to know where the nearest A&E was, we made the quick decision that it was better to call for yan ambulance. Antony took on the role of lead coordinator ringing the ambulance as I, along with two off duty Rangers, went to see if we could do anything practical. They already had him in the car with his hand tightly wrapped in a towel, with his hand raised above his head, ready to head off to an emergency clinic. He was in pretty good spirits, telling me he felt no pain, hmmm shock had obviously set in, meanwhile Antony was coordinating with the ambulance a meet up point to get the patient to emergency services as quickly as possible and making sure that he was ok. The Rangers headed off to unlock the gate and Antony went off with the patient and his wife Sue in the car as he was now the main point of contact, being instructed what to do and where to meet. They apparently met the ambulance at the Manly Fire Station, where he was duly seen to, given pain medication (pain was starting to kick in by now) and he was taken off by ambulance. Of course in these Covid times, no one could go with him in the ambulance nor go to A&E so before long Antony was returned to the park. Antony got a message from Sue the following day to say thank you for all his help and to say that he had been taken to North Shore Hospital then transferred to Greenlane Hospital for surgery to insert a pin and stitch together his finger. Ouch!! We understand that he now recovering at home, relaxing in front of the TV watching cricket. I

Funnily enough we had just been talking about the fact that our First Aid certificates needed updating as our refresher courses had been delayed due to Covid, however Antony had just renewed his First Aid and was telling us of the extra things he gets training for with the Police (sucking chest wounds, gun shot wounds etc), hence his calm head in this situation. All in all an eventful end to the year.

Here’s to a happy and prosperous 2022, best wishes to you all.

Tauranga to Ray’s Rest to Auckland

We left Tauranga in the pouring rain which fortunately did not last for too long and it had stopped by the time we got to Waihi. After a brief stop for LPG in Paeroa we continued on our way to our destination Ray’s Rest (nest Kaiaua).

We are seriously thinking of renaming New Zealand to Aotearoa, Land of the long line of orange cones!!

It wasn’t too far for the days drive, a couple of hours in total if I remember correctly. It would have been a lot quicker due to the endless line of cones and slow moving traffic through the work zones, but hey, we weren’t in a hurry.

This would have to be the quietest we have seen it at Rays Rest, with just one other van in when we arrived and only a further two joining us later in the day. The weather wasn’t the greatest, dull, overcast, with heavy rain at times and strong winds but we hunkered down for a couple of nights to wait for the Auckland border to open.

After two restful and peaceful nights we were soon on our way again, heading to Ardmore NZMCA park for a night so we could catch up with Antony for a day and to make a start on sorting out the last of our stuff we had from our storage container we emptied earlier in the year. What a mission, we managed to go through all the art works, but what we will do with it all is a problem for another day.

Time to hit the motorway and head to Shakespear Park ready for our summer sojourn.

After a very warm welcome from Rangers, the formalities completed by signing all the forms now necessary due to Covid, we settled in our temporary parking spot until the weekend when our usual spot would become free.

Things are a little different this year, we now have a double row of fencing up in front of our bay with a metre between each row of tape to ensure campers keep the requisite 1m away. We won’t go into the Councils decision to require all staff & volunteers to be double vaxxed, and with passports required for entry into all council facilities ….except for campgrounds!!…..needless to say, we are not impressed. Our interaction with campers is greatly reduced, masks are to be worn (by us) during any interactions, which does not make it feel terribly friendly. However, we shall see how it all goes.

Parked in our usual spot, behind the double row of orange tape

My garden is back in its place beautifully planted up (thanx Emma) ready for summer, we have a new tent up (thanx John) for our guests to stay in when they visit, and a new double shower tent (thanx Pat & Sue) to take advantage of solar heated water.

Shower tent to the right and garden to the left. This was before we conjured up the energy to put up the tent.

Settled into our usual spot and Decked out with Christmas lights

Merry seasonal salutations to you all.

Tauranga Part One

How nice it is to be back at Rona Murdoch’s property in Pyes Pa (just out of Tauranga), it’s been 8 years since we were last here and although the PoP looks much the same, the surrounding area has grown exponentially with housing developments, new suburbs, and big shopping centres popping up since we were last here.

We have lots of people to catch up with over the next week so it’s going to be a very busy and social time … and you can also guarantee that I will forget to take pictures even though I think I won’t!!

We had visits from niece Jenna on her way to work, she didn’t come in the police car nor in her uniform to get the tongues wagging! We went to niece Rebekka & Paul’s for dinner with niece Amy and their dad Keith, oh and great niece cutie Amelia (14 months) who kept us all entertained. And another delicious dinner prepared by Amy; lamb rumps with date and feta crumb, warm roast kumara and green salad followed by a pavlova. We are being very spoilt.

Roy & I met up with our friend Judy for lunch at the Lakes one day at a café called Maud, and even though I commented that I must take a photo we got so involved in conversation that we all forgot. But it was fabulous to catch up with her and hear all her lovely family news. Then we met up with another friend Estelle for lunch for yet another catch up, this time at a café just along from where we are staying called Café Four14 and yes, you guessed it, another day of forgetting to take a picture.

We also met up with John & Jude for lunch at Tauriko on their way through town. And funnily enough, as we walked into the cafe spying Jude at a table, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a familiar face.

It was Garry. We knew he was coming to stay with us for the weekend as he had flown from Whangarei to Rotorua to see his daughters and grandkids so took the opportunity of borrowing his daughters campervan to come visit for a couple of nights, but we didn’t expect to see him at the cafe! We all had lunch together and shared lots of laughs and tall tales (and no pictures)!

The crack fishing team reunited Keith, Garry and Roy hiding, snacking on one of Garry’s epic platters.

A few other get togethers were enjoyed over the weekend. Isn’t it great that with good friends you can just pick up from where you left off? Plans and schemes were formulated, but more on that at a later date. Meanwhile Roy and I also caught up with Rebekka and her wee daughter Amelia, Amy was sleeping off a night shift however she did join us later in the day.

It hasn’t all been visiting and socialising, we managed to have a bit of a clear out of lockers and storage areas, and even managed to ditch some items.

Yes, the last of the old wines we’ve been dragging around have finally been ditched, all from the late 1960’s early 1970’s. I did take a picture of Roy having a taste of a couple of the reds but I was laughing so much they came out all blurry!!

Monday rolled around and we were expectantly waiting on the government to announce any changes in Levels but we were not expecting anything really after the cases found in the Waikato yesterday. We are in a bit of limbo waiting for the opportunity to get through Auckland so we can head north, but at least we are in a great location with lots of friends and family to keep us on our toes. And of course we were right in our assumption that Auckland is still closed off, instead of heading out on Tuesday as originally planned we are staying another week…..or two or three.

Real time update : this was written a couple of weeks ago, nothing much has changed, Auckland as well as parts of the Waikato and all of Northland are now locked down.

Lockdown in Feilding

Continued on from Wellington – Waikanae post…

We left Waikanae on our journey northwards with a brief stop in Foxton to fill up with LPG at the excellent Mobil garage which has brilliant access for large vehicles as well as auto LPG filling facilities, before continuing on to Feilding, our stopover for a couple of days.

We were soon parked overlooking the sports grounds at Timona Park where we will stay for a couple of days as the weather turned nasty again so we hunkered down to wait it out.

The trip to date from Koromiko to Feilding

Of course those plans were scuppered as we were surprised by a case of the Delta variant of Covid in the community. Well, not really surprised, as it had to happen at some stage, but we certainly weren’t expecting it to happen now. As was expected, a quick change of levels to full lockdown effective from 2359hrs Tuesday 17 August. Auckland and Coromandel regions were in for a 7 day lockdown with the rest of the country 3 days, however, we realised straight away that this would change as things developed.

We contemplated for a moment whether we should make a run for somewhere else as we had 48hrs in which to get “home” but we quickly made the decision to remain where we are as being in small town NZ away from masses of people is probably the best and safest place to be. So here we are, parked in a designated camping area in front of 12 football fields and 4 rugby fields.

As an aside, I wondered why Feilding is spelt with the e before i variant rather than following the i before e ‘rule’. It is because the town is named after Colonel William Feilding who settled the area in the 1870s. The town is a service centre for the surrounding farming district and with its wide main streets and Edwardian buildings it is a rather attractive town.

Back in our bubble of two, the Police constantly patrol through the park reminding lots of people who drive here for whatever reason about the rules. It is very reassuring to see the Police so visible in the community and people seem to happily comply. We just have to wait and see how long this lockdown will last as we are not expecting it to be a quick fix. This then changed to a two week full on lockdown for us with reviews each week.

We just have to look across the Tasman to Australia and to our Pacific neighbours in Fiji to see what a devastating effect the lack of lockdowns can have on the population.

We are staying at home as much as possible although I did venture out to the supermarket to restock the fresh fruit and veg, and there was also a trip to the laundromat, all undertaken with mask, sanitiser and contact tracing with Bluetooth turned on.

The weather has been a good mix of typical spring-like days, rain and wind then a few days of glorious sunshine, followed by a few days of gloomy, grey cloudy days, however the sunsets have been spectacular

There is a dump station and water available here at the park just around the exit road. When trying to load up with water one day, an entitled, rude local came and yelled at me for being “out during Covid”…this is whilst they had driven to the park to walk their fluffy handbag dogs and parked directly blocking access to anyone getting in to the dump station and right next to the no parking sign.

There is no reasoning with some people, and it’s difficult to argue with ignorance so it’s best to just walk away and leave them to argue with themselves.

In speaking with lots of friends around the country we have all come to the conclusion that this lockdown has been very different and at times difficult for most people. We are not sure why, perhaps because we have been without constant lockdowns we are not used to life this way? Have we become complacent? Tolerance levels seems to be very short, people seem to be less likely to call out a cheery “hi” as they walk past, people appear to be less “kind”. There have been a couple, of other motorhomes parked in the park area here, and although we’ve tried to engage with people by calling out a cheery hello, how are you?, most people have disengaged. We are not alone in thinking this, one neighbour, a woman travelling on her own, has also said she has found this lockdown particularly difficult as people have not wanted to engage…even from a safe distance and masked….she said she had found it very lonely this time. In fact she said we were the only ones to talk to her apart from one person who said hello to her as they walked past the other day. How sad is that?

Update: We drop to Level 2+ Wednesday 8 September and we can get underway again as we have things to do and people to see.

Be safe out there folks.

Lockdown

Can we go now? How about now? What about now? Yep, it’s Covid hump day. I really, really, want to get moving again, get underway, have a change of scenery….anything! Let me outta here!

I know that I shouldn’t complain as we are really fortunate to have been so long without constant lockdowns, and I know I will just have to have a serious word or two with myself, take a concrete pill and just get on with things. Humphfff.

So we manage to fill our days doing odd jobs, fixes and maintenance as well as the usual cooking, baking of bread (yes, I have plenty of flour thanks), and the odd bit of knitting is also done. This lockdown is very very different to our other experiences of level 4 lockdown which was at the start of the pandemic in NZ in March 2020. The major change from last time is the change in attitude to those over 70, as most if not all would be fully vaccinated this time round therefore the call for over 70’s to stay at home is lacking. The other lockdowns have been short sharp and over with quickly however I fear this delta variant will extend our inability to be mobile.

We just have to look across the Tasman to Australia and to our Pacific neighbours in Fiji to see what a devastating effect the lack of lockdowns can have on the population.

Level 4 lockdown is extended until Tuesday August 31st at midnight then we will move to level 3 apart from Auckland and Northland who will remain in level 4.

What does that mean for us? Well, nothing really, we are still unable to move out of the region but we may be able to visit the drive through takeaways…whoopdedooo, not something that is high on our list of things to do.

We’ve just been told that we will be at alert level 3 for a further week (until September 7), and Auckland for a further 2 weeks. What that means for us is that we should be able to move in a weeks time, however, we will not be able to move through the Auckland region so plan C will be worked on over the next few days to see where we end up.

Meanwhile, I did make the new lockdown food trend of Ham, Cheese, Chilli and cream cheese scrolls…

Update: This is the second day at level 3 please note that we did NOT race out to frequent takeaway venues as seems to be the want of many, instead we did our usual thing. The sun is shining, there’s not a cloud in the sky, it’s a tad windy but it’s the official start of spring so plenty to be positive about. Only another week to go.

Oh, and I need a haircut too!

2 sheets to the wind & Covid update

It had to happen eventually, after nigh on 25 years of use, it’s RIP in more than one sense of the word to a couple of bed sheets!

I had put one of the sheets on our bed (this is the top sheet as we are part of the generation that still uses a top sheet! ), we hopped into bed that night and pulled up the sheet, with a loud riiiiiiip it parted company in the middle. Hmmm, change the sheet and put its matching one on the bed but hello, the same happened, riiiiiiip. Oh dear, they will finally have to be consigned to the rag pile.

This linen had had 10 years of constant use at the Lodge being part of our supply of linen, washed after one use and then carefully ironed by Margaret, they were rotated around the Lodge beds and the linen cupboard. A few years before we sold, I took them out of Lodge use and used them on our own bed, then when it came to packing up the Lodge, these particular sheets were consigned for use in the RV and the rest of my “good” linen packed into storage.

So after 10 years of use in the van, the sheets finally came to grief with a large tear through the middle.

Just as well we have recently emptied the storage container where amongst all the boxes were a couple containing my ‘good’ linen, still looking very fresh. I will have a reorganisation of our linen cupboard in the van once we get to Auckland and add to my supplies. And yes, we do have a linen cupboard, it’s been mentioned before here.

Isn’t it kind of strange that we keep some things for “good”? a concept that is a little lost on the generations coming through behind us. Long gone are the days of China cabinets full of items that are never used or only to be used when you had visitors along with shelves full of dust collectors. We have decided that now is pretty damn “good” so everything is being used i.e. the silver cutlery given as a wedding present is and has been used every day since we have been in the van and is now joined by some china, other silverware, a dinner set, crystal glasses and of course the linen.

Oh, in case you were wondering, the sheets were donated to the SPCA.

We’ve been in lockdown for a week now, with an extension for another 4 days for the rest of the country and a further week for Auckland, however we are getting into a semblance of routine. Although to break things up a little, I decided I might just start a spring clean inside the van. It started so well. I started in the back of the bus (the bedroom) with the intention of moving towards the front. But what’s this? I’ve run out of sugar soap, bugger, that will have to go on the shopping list to get later in the week. As a result the bedroom is spick and span with walls and ceilings washed, cupboard doors polished and floors vacuumed, all to within an inch of their lives.

Sadly, I have to report that I had to dust the fishing rod and reel (it’s attached to the wall in the bedroom area), it should be covered in salt spray, sand and fish scales, instead, it’s been gathering dust. Oh well, let’s hope we can move soon and put that to rights!

Day trips

We’ve had a few more day trips in and around with another trip to Dunedin to deliver a large number of boxes of books to a buyer. We headed off with Helen & Don for the day. With the books delivered safely, we all had a few things we wanted to get done before heading out for lunch.

A delicious lunch was had at Vogel Street Kitchen.

After lunch a few more chores were completed before we decided the weather was turning rather horrid so we headed back to Oamaru.

The Sunday of Queens birthday weekend and we were again on a day out to Geraldine to catch up with Bill & Linda where I was tasked with making a curry for lunch. We had a few games of cards to wile away the afternoon whilst Bill had decided to play with his new charcoal BBQ which resulted in the most deliciously tender pork belly complete with amazing crackling.

We had a call from Sandra & Barry who were down in the South Island visiting family so we arranged to meet up with them for lunch. This time it was a short drive to Hook, to a cafe not far from where they used to live, it’s just on the main road to the turnoff to Waimate. It was fantastic to catch up with them, however, in my usual fashion I forgot to take any photos.

Then there was the quick trip to Dunedin for Roy to get his first Covid-19 jab, that really was a quick trip there and back as the weather really wasn’t up to spending any time wandering around.

Our day tripping time was up, the container is finally cleared and our worldly goods sent off in all directions. Time to move on.