A rather hectic 36 hours left us with little alternative but to find a spot to hangout on the South Island whilst we sat out lockdown. All flights from Christchurch were fully booked, as was the ferry to the North Island so we couldn’t get a flight out of Auckland. We spent the final night before lockdown in a rather strange campsite in a town of 150 people seriously debating whether we should stay there in the van for the whole period……after a rather scary night where i was convinced the van was going to blow over, and we were in some kind of post apocalyptic nightmare we quickly decided to airbnb it! With a heavy heart we traded in the campervan for a Bach in the woodlands in the beautiful wine lands of Mapua.
We couldn’t have asked for a better spot, surrounded by the most colourful scenery, fab weather and super kind people who lent us some bikes, Lego and paints for the kids. We hunkered down, watched movies, homeschooled, cooked some questionable cake creations, argued a fair bit and learnt how to just be! One of the things I was looking for when we started this was to really switch off and spend proper time together as a family….certainly achieved that one!
Lockdown quickly became the new normal and a move to a new Bach for Stage 3 gave us the opportunity to widen our bubble a little bit. How amazing being able to walk on the beach, grab a coffee and just get outside..it felt like the best present ever……
We had a full weekend of lockdown celebrations in May and thought what a brilliant chance to fully embrace the creativity of new online experiences. For E’s 8th Birthday we had a ridiculously fun virtual penguin experience with the amazing Jon from AfriOceans Conservation Alliance (who was of course dressed like a penguin!) where we learnt all about the endangered African Penguin and got a bit of competitive family drawing in (I soooooooo won!). Deborah’s birthday gave us the chance to try out group yoga with her beautiful friends plus a variety of uninvited cats, dogs and babies! And how could you not love a bit of chanting and meditation with a Japanese Buddhist Monk….some serious attacks of the giggles made it slightly uncomfortable but my stomach muscles had a huge workout!. Another great surprise was a second Mother’s Day as it’s celebrated on a different day in NZ so I got a double treat – chocolate meditation with Ana from Mexico….Am seriously loving these online lockdown experiences!!
But enough of lockdown….wanderlust is starting to call and we’re repacking the bags!
Worldwide Wanderers 
These are invaluable family memories.
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