Settling in to Solitude

April 2nd 2020, day 8 of lockdown begins….a very different day ahead than the one envisaged four weeks ago! Which was…Packing, car shuffling, saying goodbyes and winging it to Houston, Texas…and George carrying on back to his work life in the UK . Now, It will be more of local walking, jobs around cottage, book reading (for Sue) and remote working (for George) and Food!

Oh and talking to my new pet….limping Larry the lame duck, he kind of just hangs out at bach 10 around the grey “beer pong” table…just like all the young ones do over summer…I can pretend we still have social activity (even if it is only a duck with a crippled leg)

Yesterday’s exercise involved a reverse circuit of the Waiwera-Wenderholm hill, and more of a bush walk…which at midday was a wise decision – temperatures still hitting mid 20s in the sun!

Then the up began..

So far so good…,still half a bottle of water left…

Not a fan of steps and coupled with a constant uphill gradient, water bottle getting low… decided I would find some great view/Bush pictures to share….really just an excuse to have a small rest (my legs are a lot shorter and older than George’s) – here goes.

Wenderholm from 3/4 of the way up – the sea was bluer and the detail hard to capture on an iPhone image!

George framed by a canopy of palm trees, a pleasant flat walk before the decent.

This Bush critter, stretched out on the native flora…I need a name – he’s actually a log but at first glance I expected him to run away..,

The downward tramping track..looking back up or looking down? Either way it’s a good knee workout!

And back to the house..energy expended. To isolation , lockdown, quarantine, social distancing, staying in the bubble….sanitising…..just a whole new way of doing things. Taking your own beer for a social drink , now means taking your own beer, chair and ensuring you are 3 meters (any body part) from your pal…no hugs or looking at each other’s phones or sharing of anything…a human must be totally self sufficient. We are doing this, hang in there Kiwis!