a rushed goodbye
Goodbye, Christchurch!
On 25 March we said goodbye to our home of 11 months. As the coronavirus situation unfolded, we had to end our time there a month sooner than expected. It was a rushed goodbye as we packed our suitcases in a couple of days to get on one of the last flights out of New Zealand. It all happened super fast. One day, we’re sitting in church, socialising like nothing has changed, to literally a week later having most airlines out of Christchurch cancel! We stayed calm and positive, thinking “it’s New Zealand…there’s worse places to be stuck”, but at the end of the day, our call back to Australia was a strong one. Knowing that our time would be ending in April anyway, we decided to try and get out sooner rather than later, which in hindsight, a decision we’re glad we made. The unknowns of the situation back then was scary, I won’t lie; every morning waking up to the news of doubling and tripling of cases around the world, countries closing their borders, and even Australia telling its citizens to “come home now” – it was hectic! We ended up booking our flights home with Qantas (Emirates carrier), then another day or two later, Emirates cancelled too (we were flying Virgin initially). We were lucky to get onto a flight via Queenstown, but it was eery; the departures board filled with a list of cancelled flights – we felt like we were on our way out, with the door shutting directly behind us.
On an empty Air New Zealand flight to Christchurch! Apparently the flight was fully booked.
Our welcome home wasn’t pleasant either. Forced down a narrow, stuffy corridor with 3 other international flights in Sydney that night, we were having our temperature checked. It was nerve-wrecking and uncomfortable. I ended up with a slight temperature (37.8) so was seated to ‘cool down’. I was stressed, anxious, and worn out from the last few days of packing and waiting to see if our flight would actually be able to leave – but I had no symptoms, so I thought it was strange. My temperature didn’t come down, and after waiting for 2 hours, I was shipped off in a cramped ambulance with 7 other potential covid cases. Lucky Emile was able to get out and collect our luggage and meet my parents with a second car, so I was on my own. I got tested at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and sent home. I feel so fortunate that I didn’t have another flight to catch to another state, because those people weren’t allowed to catch their connecting flight (fair enough) and had to find their own accommodation that night. It was crazy, uncertain and stressful. I just felt so lucky that we could stay with my parents (with the right precautions in place). The following day, I got my negative result (phew!), but still had another 2 weeks of isolation to wait out. Since I was working remotely anyway, I just signed in the next day like no time had passed. It helped make the 2 weeks go by pretty quickly. I also wasn’t complaining about having meals cooked for me every night either!
Enjoying our last few hours in New Zealand at the beautiful Queenstown Airport, where we basically fell in love with NZ almost 2 years earlier when visiting on holiday.
Anyways, we’re glad to be on home soil, although, missing New Zealand at this time of year. Winter there is our favourite – surrounded by snowy mountains and the fresh air is just magical. We were devastated that our trip to Wellington for our anniversary had to be cancelled, as well as our big road trip with my parents before we were due to leave New Zealand. A few big highlights that would have ended our time there on such a high. But if anything, it’s just made us more motivated to go back and finish the end of an epic 12 months in Christchurch, New Zealand!
