The up side of life when Covid cancels your plans
We had just celebrated my 50th birthday with a large party at our property in Northland on March 21.
It was a fabulous day and night of friends, family and neighbours catching up, sharing a meal and dancing into the wee small hours.
Some friends from Waikato had planned to use the trip north to see the country. The plans for my party had been in motion for nine months.
Then boom. By Monday, we were all scrambling to get back to our jobs, farms and lives before we wouldn’t be able to.
Lockdown didn’t change much for us to begin with. There was only Geoff, myself and my youngest daughter, Siobhan, in our bubble. We had the cows to milk and generally it was normal life except we couldn’t go anywhere or see anyone.
Once life got back to level 1 for the second time, the question was whether we would be able to use our flights booked for November to Ireland that had been a surprise birthday present to me from Geoff.
It became apparent we wouldn’t make that trip when the airline cancelled the flights and refunded our money in late October.
So, where do you go when Europe is quite possibly a pipe dream, again?
We headed to Queenstown for six nights but with no real plan on what we would do or where we would stay. Geoff’s daughter, Brooke, Siobhan and the newest addition to our family, our grandson Axl, who is six months old, came with us.
What a huge trip it turned into. Right from the time we started to taxi for take-off in Auckland, young Axl gave us all a run for our money by throwing himself around like a large soft toy whose batteries had short circuited. He was making such a noise that the rows of passengers around us reconsidered their choice to fly and thought maybe they should have caught the bus to Queenstown.
We have never been the sort of family to do touristy things but the girls were all talk about doing bungy jumps, skydiving and anything else that they could dream up to make me react with: ‘‘Aww, no, you’re not!’’
We lost them around the shops of Queenstown long enough to slip into a booking agent and book a couple of jumps with the Shotover Canyon Swing. The girls did a tandem swing then Geoff did it on his own and before you ask, no, no I did not! Axl needed a sleep and I needed the excuse, besides, I get dizzy on the third rung of a ladder so I’m painfully aware I could have become a liability for everyone just as a spectator.
The Cardrona Hotel is gorgeous, just be aware of the mineshaft with the glass over it, I thought I was stepping to my early demise while too busy taking in the atmosphere of the place.
We spent a lot of time exploring Central Otago. Clyde is gorgeous to walk around after morning tea at the Dunstan cafe and Arrowtown has a very idyllic feel about it.
Then it was on to the Hayes
Engineering Works and Homestead. Whether or not you know what the wire strainer is or looks like, this place is well worth a visit and gives a well informed look into a tool that we farmers all possibly own, that has never been altered in any way since the day of its inception.
The absolute highlight of the trip for me was going to the Waipiata Pub for dinner and no, not just for the wines or even their amazing pie menu that are seriously worth the drive.
As we sat making the first cut into our dinner, I looked up to see more people walking into the pub. . . but not just any people. Friends who I hadn’t seen for more than 25 years. I couldn’t believe my eyes and Geoff said he thought there was trouble behind him when I jumped up out of my chair, started waving my arms and yelling.
The next day we headed out to St Bathans without too much hope, but oh how wrong we were. As soon as we walked into the iconic Vulcan Hotel and were greeted by the manager, Wanda, we knew we were in for a treat, so much so I’m considering a girls’ trip down there.
So, if like us, your trip off the farm to far-off places you have only ever dreamed about was derailed, trust me when I say, an unplanned adventure to some of the more remote corners of our own beautiful country could be just as fabulous in more ways than one.