Time is flying. Our time in New Zealand is rapidly coming to an end. We might have been able to get another visa extension, but we have committed to house sitting in Europe, so we are making plans to exit this country. World travel is a lot more complicated now, such an understatement.
Flights are scarce, and expensive. Think about it, fewer planes, and less seats on those planes because of the social distancing. Each country posts entry requirements (that change rapidly). Each airline interprets those rules a little differently. Some countries will not accept travelers from some other countries. Almost nowhere in the world are Americans able to travel right now unless they are essential. The rule says “USA citizens” (us), but we think they mean people who have been in USA (not us). We expect some difficulty with our US passports at every turn. It is not always clear if a country’s rules apply for layover travelers. General thinking is that we have a limited amount of layover time where they are not needed. If we have a delayed or canceled leg, we may have problems. We will need masks, and they are pretty scarce in New Zealand still. I have ordered some online coming from overseas.
Some countries, and some airlines, require recent negative covid tests. Within 72 hours. Our flight from New Zealand to Portugal is 40 hours. That gives us 32 hours to get the covid test before we fly, and that does not give any slack in case a flight is late. This poses another hiccup: we will not get the results of said covid test before the flight leaves (takes 48 hours to get results). Last issue, New Zealand is not giving tests to people without symptoms. To get a test for travel purposes, they refer you to your GP. Well, we do not have a GP, and cannot get one because we are not covered on NZ’s health system. As I mentioned, these requirements change weekly, so who knows what the situation will be next month when we are scheduled to go. We will let you know how this all works out. Maybe we are going to Portugal, maybe we are not.
New Zealand’s covid count is just over 100 now. Auckland is still locked down very tight with road blocks. All 100 cases have been researched to death and are all related somehow. Genomic research is done on every case and somehow from that they know these cases came from the USA. The government has also announced lately that the outbreak here in February was a different strain than the current one, but it too came from the US, not China as everyone assumed. It is amazing how quickly and easily this virus travels. They have documented one transmission to a button on an elevator (to the exact button!). Since almost all international travel goes through Auckland, this is another travel wrinkle for us if this lockdown continues (it won’t).
In the meantime, Mark and I have been thoroughly enjoying our remaining weeks in New Zealand. We spent some time traveling through the Catlins. This is a very remote portion of the South Island east coast. Mostly lighthouses and seals. And sheep, who are starting to lamb. Baby lambs everywhere! More lambs than cars. The most cars we saw at a time was 6.
Now we have moved to the south of the South Island to be based within a drive of the fjords (they don’t use the “i” here, and kiwis actually call the huge bodies of water Sounds, incorrectly). You can see from my pictures the rounded bowls between mountains that these were formed from glaciers, not water erosion, which makes them Fjords. The most traveled fjord is Milford Sound. We took a cruise there during our packaged tour; it was so stunning. But, at that time, covered with tourist boats and a mob at the dock. Not so now. We came back to see it in the winter with snow covering the peaks. It was stunning again. But now, the thousand waterfalls were dry! No rain for a few days, and the snow still frozen I guess.
The road to Milford sound is as much a treat to your eyes as the sound. 120 km and at least 20 places you really need to stop and snap a picture. Two or three lakes, streams, mountain views, a long tunnel that dumps you out of the other side about ⅔ from the bottom of the mountain so you immediately descend through some switchbacks that swing your eyes around the mountains, rain forest, and views of the sound. Unfortunately because of avalanche danger, they made the cars keep moving through some of the stops.
We also trekked to Doubtful Sound. Captain Cook named it that because it was doubtful to make a viable harbor. It is larger than Milford and more difficult to get to, so sees less tourists. We were on the only boat. This trip required a boat to cross a Lake Manapouri, boarded a bus to drive a pass and another boat inside the fjord. We saw some penguins enjoying the quiet. Peaceful, beautiful, remote.
Tomorrow we are off to Queenstown. We should see some people there. Queenstown is the biggest tourist town in NZ and where all the adrenaline sports are based, plus skiing, mountain biking, and trekking. Right now the International Winter Games are going on. We will be there a good long time.
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