March 10th 2020 and coronovirus 19 rocks the world both effecting the health and financial welfare of every country on planet earth. Reports come in daily of new infections and deaths but so far in new Zealand we have only had 5 cases but the signs are that this will soon explode to all areas of the country. Although the government remains optimistic they rely on people to self isolate as the number one defense of the spread of the virus. The government announces that they have sufficient masks for the population of the country but so far have issued none as they think it more prudent to give them to the infected than the healthy. Then their are the crazy ones like the man who in Japan after finding out he was infected with coronovirus went to a bar to spread the infection and then took a taxi home. Things are beginning to unravel and being a considered high risk person with underlying health issues I must say I\u2019m slightly relieved that we have begun our journey to the south island. However the excitement is tempered with a little apprehension as I have an mri scan to do in Auckland on the way through to Wellington and around 10 or so stops before we make it across the cook strait to Picton. So far the only cases are in the North Island with its 4 million population and none in the south with only a million souls. We\u2019re parked at our friend Gloria\u2019s place and we start ticking off our list of things that need to be done before we depart. In a way I feel like we will be embarking on an epic journey like that of an ocean voyage with equal excitement and fear. Our sailboat consists of a 1986 hino ranger House truck with dimensions of 9.5 meters long and 2.5 meters wide. After being in a 52 foot yacht on one occasion I can see the similarities. I think someone used to living in a boat would find this very familiar. My breakfast this morning consists of Bacon and eggs. Not what the doctor ordered with a severe stenosis of the left carotid artery but it\u2019s before me now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sitting at a park bench wondering what now? Serena joins me in praying for direction and being able to leave what\u2019s past in the past and look forward to seeing a brighter future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
11 March 2020
\nIts 4am and I\u2019m looking up insurance agents for the truck as we haven\u2019t had any for this one. We estimate the cost of living on the road and buying the truck and other loans we\u2019ve had over the last year or so is about 40k. We think we may get 130 left from the house sale in Whagarei. That\u2019s our budget for buying land down south. It\u2019s hard being open at this point to other possible options as I feel like I need to only think about the welfare of my family so I\u2019m really only able to see their needs as the most important thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Were parked in kaiwaka. A chance to say good bye to my family before we begin heading south. 4am and what are you crowing about you stupid rooster? It\u2019s still dark out. A car appears from off the highway and slowly does a drive buy the carpark before leaving. Tha plan is to get to hatfields beach today just before orewa. The kids ar looking forward to the prospect of having a day or two at the beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
12 March. Oh what fun beaches are if your a child and how messy they can be. The camper is inundated by sand and wet towels because every swim requires a new one of corse. Decided to move on to tui Glen and let the kids find fun on the playground. Much less sand and no water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So tomorrow is the day that we get the money from our house sale or at least what\u2019s left after the bills are payed. I\u2019ve never had 100k before. Oh the things I could buy if I let the little boy in me out and the world\u2019s would be my candy shop. But no. He must stay in his bedroom while the adult makes the decisions. Poor pouting child. Well MRI done its off to Hamilton for the beginning of the journey south. I\u2019m a little excited to be going back down south but at the same time worried about finding cheap land down there but with God\u2019s help you never know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well it looks like we still never had 100 k as by the time we pay our bills we will have 40.000 and still have tax to pay on top of that so now we have $20.000<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today our dog almost died from being attacked by an American pit bull.
\nI also bumped into a guy mat and his wife esmay who I used to work with painting. He went to the tool concert, at which they say many were infected. I shook hands so I\u2019m holding my breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
17 March
\nWe left tekuiti around 10 am after taking Charlie back to the vet. He has an insatiable thirst and pees alot and sometimes just everywhere he happens to be. The drive here took almost 4 hours due to road conditions and we arrived exhausted. The coronovirus panic is starting to effect more and more on a daily basis not just in the public but also government seems to be getting more and more aggressive in their approach. Anyone not self isolating will now be in custody. The fear is that soon all travel between North and south island will also be stopped and only commercial traffic allowed through. I changed our booking from the 24th to the 20th but a friend in the south island is concerned it will be locked down before we get across. Might have to rebook for an earlia time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thursday 19th
\n1am and I\u2019m awake early. The alarm is set for 5.30. Why aren\u2019t I sleeping? I bought a new lens today so hope to take some nice photos of the day on the ferry. This may be the last time I come back up.
\nMarch 20th
\nPicton at last.. Not so many photos as basically felt like sleeping through it all and just getting here. Drove into blenham for a shop for clothes but not much warm stuff there so came back to the parking place in koromiko. The original owner les had died so that\u2019s a bit sad however Christine and Denis are still running things so will catch up with them tomorow.
\nCharlie is on the mend as is beginning to seem a little bit more like himself but another vet said he had diabetes inciptus. Brought on by shock so not much cure for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was looking at boats again this morning as still not hankering for land or anything really. Seems more people are infected now but no deaths as yet in nz so that\u2019s a good thing.
22nd March.
Well things are hotting up now. With community transmition occouring. Around 50 infected now. We arrived in hamner springs as we were originally going to go hang out with friends but we felt no peace about the decision so detourd with the thought that we should head back to Picton.
Hard to say for sure as just following the guide of peace as to which direction to take. Its hard to hear God sometimes and the panic that seems to be infecting nz along with the virus is not great. I have an expectation though that the situation might mean we Could either get a really nice boat or land that we wouldn\u2019t have otherwise been able to get with the outlook of a big depression comming. The nzmca has turned its back on members and not letting them stay on their properties for any extended periods and confusingly asking members not to travel and yet limiting time on sites requires them to do so.
23 March 2020
The government announced that everyone has 58 hours to get to some place to isolate themselves from others and police will be able to Inforce this. This is a crazy situation we have found ourselves in. There are no masks and few gloves as supermarkets have been hard hit by panic buyers. To top it off councils and organizational have closed all camps nzmca sites, scs freedom camping sites and all doc camps. All the places that could have been used have been shut down and have literally stranded 1000s of people who live or travel full time around New zealand.
The west coast of the south island wants to rsstrict all public transport on its roads basically sealing themselves in. They say that of the ventilation machines which have been beneficial in saving lives as they only have 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
25th marchThe slow trip up from Christchurch when we left our friends to self isolate in Oxford was surreal. Some people panic buying but mostly just congested roads and thousands of tourists and campers made their way up and down the country to be at the place where they will self isolate for 4 weeks or longer depending on how successful it proves in stopping corona virus. Gun sales have increased. How did we get to this so fast? I worry about the homeless and others like myself who live in campers full time and cannot go home to isolate themselves. The Lord put it on my heart to return to Picton to the park over property here and I know not why but here we are instead of with our friends in Oxford. They have children so it would have been better there in my opinion for the kids to play together but here we are and I guess I will see the wisdom of it later perhaps. Its cold here this morning and I have the diesel heater going. Would have been a lot colder in Oxford. All I have to do now is figure out how to entertain 3 kids for 4 weeks when all the government is letting people do is go for walks.26 march 2020 First day of the quarantine and already it feels like being locked up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
fells horrible having your freedoms taken away like this but we have to remember it\u2019s for a good cause. To hopefully save lives. The first thing i noticed that we were doing wrong this morning was letting out dog wonder over for a pat buy the other people staying with us as then we would pat the dog in turn do the dog became the potential risk factor. so for now we have to keep him tied up or give him a wet wipe down. Some campers are leaving today to get their ferry crossing to the north island and could mean some more would turn up here who had traveled on the ferry. hopefully this doesn\u2019t become a problem as we never know what areas people have come from. We also have a new rule to follow where only one person per household can leave and get groceries and other supplies whilst everyone else has to stay home. So from now on only Serena can go shopping and emptying the truck tanks and we have to stay here and wait till she gets back.The temperature dropped a little last night so lit the fire and the truck was toasty in 30 minutes. One thing people had been saying about the virus is it doesn\u2019t like heat so we may have many hot nights to endure when i stoke the fire. I need to walk around the camp site later and try to find a spot where the internet works better than where we are. Its our only link with the outside world now.I stopped writing this after a time. Its now the 10th of June and we have found ourselves in mosgeal. The virus came and died as did 22 people. And now we have gone to alert level 1 and have our freedoms again except for the borders which have restrictions. Knowing how week our porder protections are I\u2019m not confident covid will be kept out of nz. We put an offer in our first property today but not surprisingly didn\u2019t get it. The truck had a blowout and I needed to replace two tires and the car needs a transmission fluid change. The truck is also booked in for some work on Wednesday. Dunedin streets are frightening. They are so steep in town that I\u2019m sure if someone going down hit a patch of ice that they would not stop before the intersections on the way down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"