Some of you will know, at this point in time we should be enjoying the second half of our long awaited holiday in New Zealand. It all came to a very messy end last Wednesday when we learned all Australians had been advised to return home while they still could. We changed our flights to the earliest we could get, which was Monday, and continued with our plans for another three days. We returned the hire car and spent our last night in luxury at the new Novotel at Christchurch Airport. We wandered across to check in at 10.45am for the 1.45pm flight and the queue was already horrendous, it didn’t move at all until 11.20am. It seems that the ban on gatherings of 100 people or more isn’t applicable at airports! Speaking of bans, why has no-one mentioned covering your mouth when you yawn. Have you seen the spray of saliva droplets when someone yawns? Have you noticed how many people at airports yawn, especially when trapped in a check-in queue? Of course, there are those who chose to wear masks. After 22 years of my career working in the operating theatre, I thought I had mastered the face mask but it seems to have evolved into an art form. There is the chin mask, the ‘now you see it, now you don’t’ mask (lowered to the neck to facilitate consumption of a burger), the random scarf or bandana and my favourite, the eye shade mask. Simply invert your complimentary airline eye shades and wear over the nose and mouth!

We finally made it to the desk after fifty minutes and that is only because a very large portion of travellers were removed from the waiting line. It seems their connecting flight from Melbourne to their final destination had been cancelled and they couldn’t enter Australia without an onward flight. Arriving in Melbourne, we made our way to the Domestic Terminal, mortified to discover all seating areas in bars and eateries were closed, only take-away was available. That meant no wine to ease the pain of a four hour wait and a dinner of crisps and a chocolate bar! It also meant those people who would ordinarily have sat eating at tables were now thrown even closer together in the transit lounges.

Finally made it to Devonport soon after 9pm, with the help of wonderful friends our car was waiting for us, the keys with the ground staff. We weren’t allowed contact with anyone and are now in isolation at home for two weeks. Our lovely housesitter, Karen, had to rearrange her plans to depart before we arrived home. She did an amazing job of stocking the freezer, fridge and pantry before departing, thank you Karen, we will want for nothing.

Disappointed as we are to have our adventure cut short, there are worse places to be quarantined.

We have good company

and a veggie patch burgeoning with produce.

There are soups and jams to be made as well as gardening to catch up on. We still have 15 cubic metres of mulch to spread

and many odd jobs to complete. I don’t think two weeks will be long enough!