FROM THE EDITOR

Kia kaha katoa

Well, that turned to sh.t pretty quick, didn’t it? Flick over the page and regular contributor Richard Soult talks us through his own COVID-19/Coronavirus timeline. And what he says certainly puts the events of the past two months into a stark and – I don’t mind admitting – scary perspective.

The nature of the publishing game, of course, means that print magazine content is reflective – meaning that what you can read about this month, happened in what history I think is going to define as our ‘ pre-lockdown world.’

Because I tend to plan two to three months ahead I’ve already got some cracking stories for you to read and – hopefully – enjoy – in the June and July issue, though when I did my monthly ‘long lead time’ inventory yesterday the August and September folders were looking a little lighter than I would prefer.

Once you’ve worked your way through this issue for the first time, then picked it up again for a longer look in a day/week/ fortnight’s time you will probably also notice that what was a full page of is no more, with most of the events previously listed either cancelled outright, or postponed.

With travel by any type of vehicle limited strictly to essential trips only during the Level 4 lockdown, and not much different under the pending Level 3, ‘recreational use’ of our 4WDs would appear to be far down the list of acceptable uses…meaning that ‘the truck’ is going to get ‘bugger-all’ use in the foreseeable future.

With many of us already facing severe financial loss thanks to jobs in tourism in particular literally disappearing overnight perhaps this is actually a good thing. I know, my weekly outgoings have plunged since I have been stuck at home in my ‘bubble.’

No $ 80-$120 putting petrol in the family Outlander and – to my wife Delia’s surprise (nah, delight) no virtually weekly $ 60/$ 80 purchases listed beside the name Supercheap Auto on our joint Visa card statements.

So, ‘things’ are very different at the moment and in our little neck of the woods the way we disport ourselves in three, six and 12 months’ time will no doubt be very different to the way we did three, six and 12 months ago.

As I keep telling my kids though, if history teaches us one thing it is the absolutely indomitable (defined as ‘impossible to subdue or defeat’) nature of the human spirit.

Times are indeed tough. Tougher, in fact, than any others in my adult memory. But it is important to look forward, to when we have got this virus beat. To when we are back behind the wheel of our ‘truck,’ bouncing along a track in the middle of nowhere, or strapped into a race seat waiting to start a race stage.

And out of nowhere your face is split with a big, shit-kicking grin, and right there, right then, you know that all is right in your world.

Until then, kia kaha my friends.

Kia kaha katoa.