LEAVING LAS VEGAS
Acclaimed photographers Maryanne Bilham and Robert Knight left Las Vegas last month to self-isolate in New Zealand. This is the story of their lockdown, as recorded by NZ-born Maryanne in her diary.
March 17, 2020
It’s been a strange few days trying to decide what essentials to take in two suitcases on a journey with an unknown return date. There’s an overriding sense of doom for the future and safety of our life in Las Vegas. Businesses have started closing, most of the casinos are shut. High level of anxiety as I worry about the borders closing, already moved our flight up one night.
Hardly any traffic on the 405 to LAX — we drop the car at Hertz to find we are the only ones on the shuttle bus to Tom Bradley terminal. We are struck by how empty everything is — feeling like we are living in an episode of the Twilight Zone. We board our flight around 9.15 sitting in two exit row seats together. The flight is three-quarters full, so space for passengers to separate. The crew are gracious and keep the amenities well serviced.
March 19, 2020
Arrived at 5.45 at Auckland airport. We are greeted by airport staff handing out screening cards which every person must fill out listing country of originating flight and level of contact with Covid-19. Transfer to the Cordis hotel in Auckland CBD, all the staff are wearing rubber gloves which is a welcome sight. The concierge had an isolation wing in place. We have a view of the atrium roof and Symonds St bus stop. Still busy with university students and others on the street. This will be our view for the next three days. Relieved to be back in New Zealand where the public messaging and government response seems steps beyond what we have just experienced in the US.
March 20, 2020
I can’t believe it’s a month since my 60th birthday and our whole world has turned upside down.
Our day now consists of room service, CNN updates and recuperating from our flights.
Starting to consider our financial situation in US. Stock market plummeting. We are concerned for our friends back in the US. Feeling a bit psychosomatic with any throat tickles and headaches that we might be infected.
Our main purpose is to care for and support my 81-year-old mother, who has a weakened respiratory system with other underlying issues, during this pandemic.
March 22, 2020
Today we move to our Airbnb on the North Shore in Takapuna, close to Narrow Neck, Devonport and a whole lot of early memories . . . as this is my old hood and where I lived until my late teenage years. We do a remote checkout at the hotel. Our taxi driver seems a little nervous but we wear masks and sit in the back seat.
Cross the harbour bridge, which has light traffic. It’s a Sunday and before the nationwide lockdown that has now been enforced.
Arriving at our accommodation for the next 11 days the view is spectacular, a full 180 degrees from Lake Pupuke to the city centre. We are grateful to call this home for the next duration; at least we will have plenty of photo opportunities from here.
My family has kindly done a shop so we are all stocked for a few days. It is striking how organised we now need to be in this new bubble to keep everything together.
We will be joining my mother at her home as she has a very compromised immune system. My mother was one of the main reasons we decided to return to New Zealand so quickly. There is an an uneasy feeling that Las Vegas may not be the right city to tough out the pandemic.
The US is already exhibiting a very confusing and slow response.
Keeping in touch with our friends all over the world. We find everyone in a similar situation as they prepare for restricted movement, many stocking up on wine.
March 23, 2020
Wake up to stormy skies. Still both feeling well, which is a relief as one can’t help but feel a touch psychosomatic at the moment.
We knew travelling back was probably the biggest risk of possible contamination so will be glad when we are on the other side of 14 days.
Have started watching the midday government briefings to keep update on the situation here.
It seems like most of our day to day revolves around grocery shopping online. And keeping pace with what’s happening back in Vegas.
I have started an online exercise subscription which is easy to do at home with no
need for props. Also updated an app called Breathe that helps with sleep meditation, stress and sleepless nights.
It seems important to build your physical and spiritual immunity and strength right now as we proceed down an unknown planetary path.
Robert has been reaching out to Slash from Guns and Roses and a few other musician friends. They’re all devastated as tours have been cancelled with no foreseeable comeback.
March 24, 2020
Midday briefing announces the alert 4 lockdown to go into place at midnight Wednesday. We are relieved the Government is going hard on lockdown early — it seems to be the only way countries have a chance of containing the spread. We feel optimistic that because New Zealand is small and isolated it has a real chance of minimising the death toll and stamping out the virus.
March 25, 2020
Since we arrived here traffic has diminished and this morning we notice the difference with schools closing. Everyone is staring to hunker down.
Spoke to another friend via messenger who is the executive chef for a cruise ship that’s currently stuck off Fremantle, Australia.
Robert and I worry for our friend as we know many countries are no longer allowing cruise ships to dock even if they are virus free. At least he is on a ship with few people on board.
We have been watching the two cruise ships visible in the Hauraki Gulf that appeared to be anchored unable to dock in the port of Auckland.
March 27, 2020
Up early most mornings, we watch the sunrise. Grateful to be in this beautiful country.
We are unable to shop so our Airbnb host offers to have her son do a trip to the supermarket for us. Weird how commonplace things we took for granted have now become a daily challenge during this pandemic.
March 28, 2020
Life in the birdcage. Starting to feel like we are living in some alternate reality.
Spend most of the morning looking for our New World delivery, such is life now.
Get a nice email from Paul Hartigan, neon and multimedia artist. We spent quite a bit of time with him in February.
His famous installation in Auckland is Colony, the spectacular neon artwork at the Auckland University engineering department. I was fortunate to take a portrait of it in February. He has been battling cancer for the last couple of months. It’s an added stress in the current situation maintaining the treatment schedule. My mother’s neighbour is going through the same thing and it amazes me how positive they both remain. It’s very inspiring to see a deeper level to our human condition and overcoming the odds.
March 29, 2020
In the US many of the larger corporations are downsizing. Looking to our future here but not too sure what our options will be as most traditional photographic work will dry up for a while.
We are both working on book projects. Get an unsettling call in the early afternoon from a government health worker to inform us we
were potentially exposed to Covid 19 in a two-seat radius on our flight down to New Zealand.
We both feel fine with no symptoms but as we are returning to my mother who has an impacted respiratory system this has increased our risk significantly.
Two days before we go to her bubble, I arrange a Covid test for us both. We are in a high-risk group so we made an appointment for the next day at the testing station on the North Shore.
We have found selfisolation reassuring because we are not a risk to the community and we aren’t exposed to the virus. But we are mindful of my mother’s health and keeping her safe.
April 1, 2020
It’s April 1. A month ago we never would have seen this coming, the whole of the planet is pretty much in lockdown now.
Organising with my sister Karen, who lives close by, to drop us one of their cars so we can get tested later this afternoon. We phoned our Airbnb host that we will be taking the test for Covid but it could take up to five days for the results. We need to move from here by April 2. We can’t return to my mother till we know we are clear.
We drive out to the testing facility and there are few cars on the road. If only Auckland traffic always looked like this! Arrive at the testing station to find we are one of two cars. No queues which is surprising as that’s all we have been seeing on the news. We are directed to the drive-through tents where we wait. A nurse gives us the swab — she explains it’s not comfortable but neither of us find it that unpleasant.
We return home to a good
New Zealand Pinot Noir.
April 2, 2020
It’s an increasing realisation of our planet being on the precipice of a new era. While the environment heals, humanity faces a new challenge with an unknown outcome.
After we had a phone call advising us of our flight contact we told our Airbnb host and are preparing to leave under the strict cleaning protocol the NZ health workers have given us.
April 3, 2020
Call in early to the Shorecare facility to confirm Robert’s results and to get mine — both are negative. We breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate as we can now head back to my Mum’s bubble tomorrow morning.
Enjoying the fresh air and the skies seem crystal clear.
Friday morning we return to my mother, Anne. She is overjoyed we have finally made it back to join her and her dog Chloe.
We have spent the last two years trying to build a new base in Auckland travelling backwards and forwards to our home in Las Vegas.
Now the bridge has been removed we see ourselves residing here for the future. We couldn’t be more grateful to be back home.
It’s over three weeks now since we landed back in Aotearoa. The one constant has been the frequent calls by the NZ healthline checking up on us. We were told our file has been closed as we remain in good health and tested negative for Covid. But we’ve just been made aware the main cluster link to the Bluff wedding was a contact from our flight. Not just the Air NZ crew but three other passengers aboard the plane.
The initial call letting us know we were exposed on the flight and all the very regular calls since now make sense because we were part of a contact tracing group.
We are beyond relieved we made it through without getting sick .
We opted out of a domestic flight from Vegas to LAX by driving as we thought the risk of exposure was getting too high in the US and wanted to limit our contact. The irony is we ended up on the NZ 5 flight that arrived on March 19, which has turned out to be one of the main clusters.
April 4 to present
Week three of our isolation we have joined my mother’s bubble.
In late February we stayed with mum when the mercy flight was sent to Wuhan to collect the Kiwis that were stranded there. The decision was made to put them in quarantine at the old Army Bay military facility which was near my mother’s house.
I remember at the time feeling some angst that they would be housed so close to us and there was a high possibility they would be Covid positive.
The idea of being out of the US and in a safe haven began to disappear. The irony being that our return flights to Las Vegas in mid-March and rapid return had put us in more danger of possible infection than any other situation.
We have admired the daily addresses by Jacinda Ardern and the director general of health Ashley Bloomfield. We have found Bloomfield to be a constant source of reassurance, a voice we can trust in the cacophony of the world, as he articulates the country’s status in the fight against the pandemic.
While we are across the current American situation we find it increasingly upsetting, frustrating and confusing trying to learn the real truth, and the absurdity that Trump is considering reopening many aspects of the workforce by May 21.
American friends are sending stories with tag lines like “Kiwis Rule” — the
story on April 9 about how we are squashing the curve not flattening it. What we are learning from our LA friends was the mad rush before lockdown on gun stores — alarming as now many are worried bullets are running out. Total madness.