Under ‘normal’ circumstances, I’d be posting a blog Wednesdays’ and weekends. For me, it can become rather tedious to have blogs I follow appearing daily in my emails, and it often takes a while to get through them. Sometimes, if I’m perfectly honest, I’ll delete them without reading due to overload. So I understand anyone signed up here becoming a little weary of hearing about the food in Managed Isolation!

I have to admit yesterday’s post was a bit of a struggle. There seemed little to write about. Conversely, I’m aware of how interesting even a bland day could be for anyone who’s interested in this experience. I know I was leading up to our journey ‘home’ to New Zealand.

Today though, I thought I’d jazz it up a bit! There’s been a spot of unusual activity at the Sudima. It’s due to the about-turn in the weather, so make yourself a cup of tea and get comfy …

Welcome To Our 14 Day Whare

As I think I’ve said previously, mostly no-one enters your MIQ room apart from the people in your bubble. The exception for us was the NZDF young woman and Sudima staff who brought our exercise bike in on our second day. If anyone does enter, we have to wear a mask. Otherwise, our room is the only place we don’t have to wear one.

Consequently, people rarely see what it’s like in the MIQ rooms until we’ve packed up and left. Rather bravely, or possibly foolishly depending on your perspective, I thought I’d give you a look around our whare/home for two weeks. I’m not entirely sure how we’ve managed to make it so ‘homely’ nor how it’s so messy! But we do feel comfy and cared for. Here’s a kind of reality show glimpse into our MIQ life:

Spring Fencing

Last night brought a profound change in the weather in Christchurch for the first day of spring in the southern hemisphere. From a balmy 19 degrees and more a couple of days ago, we had a sharp temperature drop with gale-force winds and driving rain overnight. It’s been ‘blowing a southerly’ as they say in these parts! You can see the wind direction difference below, which makes an enormous difference in New Zealand.

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It seems the strong wind caused havoc with the fencing around the exercise area last night. Today moves were afoot to prevent further problems.

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At first glance, it looked like they were removing the fencing, which felt surreal. Then we realised what was happening. Last night the fine cream mesh that covers the external fencing, to prevent the media from intruding in MIQ guests, was removed in certain places. We suspect because of the forecast. Despite that, they’ve now added in heavier securing blocks and extra fencing to prevent damage by winds in future.

Only now there’s no gap in the cream mesh, so if anyone has visits from friends or family, they’ll see them only through that. Probably for the best. But a shame, nonetheless. We weren’t expecting to get outside today but swiftly did along with almost a dozen others, around 3.30 pm, when there was a brief interlude in the rain.

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In A Breakfast Loop

It looks like we’re in a breakfast loop after all. This morning we had ham, lettuce and cream cheese bagels again. So it’s only a matter of time before the egg sandwiches re-appear! Hats off to the chefs here; however, it must be a constant challenge to try and keep such a diverse mix of people satisfied. I know we could phone and request different options, but we’re not unhappy and have other options in the room as you’ve seen!

Happily, the lunch and dinner menu isn’t a repeat of last week. Not that there was anything wrong with it. But the daily menu surprise is another thing to anticipate each day what delights will be delivered to our door.

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Evening Calls

For me it’ll take a while to become accustomed to having calls in the evenings, which is the UK morning. I’ll have client calls, and anytime I need to call the Google Ads Helpline (frequently unfortunately!) to find solutions to their sudden rule changes. While we’re 11 hours ahead, it’s not too bad. Once it changes to 13 hours ahead it’s going to be extremely challenging and I’ll have to choose my work and call days carefully!

I’ve got a couple of work calls this evening. That’ll hopefully prevent either of us getting sucked into watching rubbish on the TV again!