Day 17: Release (last post)

Breakfast arrived early and by 7:30 am we'd had our final health check. We then proceeded to the exit area and were provided letters stating we'd completed our 14 day isolation period and had also received a negative Covid test on day 11.

We were then free to leave! A taxi van took us out of the hotel grounds, and we keenly took in everything we saw with absolute joy and amazement. This included driving past another isolation hotel where residents were walking around a caged area in the carpark and again we felt grateful for the hotel we'd been in with all its greenery.

Upon arrival at the airport we were let out and genuinely felt free. We stumbled into the departures area and sat down in a spot that had a good view of what was going on. For at least 10 minutes all we did was watch people and remark at how amazing it was. People largely without masks, people hugging, no obvious social distancing. It was like another world.

Happy to be free and out in a very strange world ...

People were hugging. How odd!

Our flight was not till later in the day so we wandered around the airport, had coffee, ate food and generally basked in our new found freedom.

The flight down to Kapiti required face masks from the point of boarding which suddenly felt like a step backwards, but it was over soon enough.

Then we were with family and friends for our stay in New Zealand. It had sure been quite a journey getting there, but ultimately worth the effort.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 7: Covid test results + hotel security

Image
Late in the day we got our Covid test results back and, as expected, we all tested negative. So that was some good news. The next test will be on Day 12 of our managed isolation experience and if we are still negative then we're allowed out on Day 14. Some more info came out about the case that tested positive in our hotel on Monday. A  press release  from the Ministry of Health advised it was someone who had come from the USA via Sydney and had tested positive at around day 3 of isolation. We still wonder how close we came. Did we walk past the infected person  Security Something that has intrigued us from the moment we arrived here was the level of security in place. It was very clear that we were being monitored and confined. This may be a luxury prison (by normal prison standards) but a jail of sorts it certainly is. And it is surely just human nature to think about how to be free whenever one is confined ... The exterior of the hotel is surrounded by a double layer o...
Read more

Day 13: The distortion of time and space in isolation

Image
We had our Day 11 of isolation Covid tests in the morning. If these come back negative then we'll be officially allowed to leave in a few days. The comfort factor during the test was definitely lower than our Day 3 tests, so we lucked in with the first nurse who had the very steadiest of hands. We also got quizzed about our onward travel plans by one of the military folk -- I imagine they want to know where everyone is going so they can trace all movements in case there is an outbreak. We also spotted some people on their way out which made us jealous, but also excited about hopefully leaving soon ... The distortion of time and space in isolation We've really noticed the effect of living in one room for the last 11 days and the lack of variety from day to day. The only certainties are the double knocks to advise there are food bags outside our door. Most days we also go walking and then there are semi-regular temperature and Covid checks. Other than that the only variety is wha...
Read more

Day 11: Covid results, keeping entertained and animals

Image
Thankfully my one-off Covid test results came back negative which was good news. Clearly I'd just had a cold but what terrible timing for it to happen during isolation. Our rooms aren't serviced and so we've been doing all the cleaning, dishes, changing towels and linen etc. ourselves. For some reason vacuum cleaners aren't available and so our well trodden carpet has been getting grottier by the day. Today I was down on my hands and knees picking up what I could to try and slightly decrease the grot factor. Every night this week we've been hearing the sound of fireworks being set off. We haven't seen a single firework in the sky however. It is likely that all the action is happening in the parkland and residential area to the north of where we are (but we are facing south), and the sound is being bounced off the huge concrete warehouse wall that we can see from our room. Passing the time We've been enjoying taking turns to choose movies to watch, which has ...
Read more