Lockdown In New Zealand - A Look At Level 4

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This has been my self isolation Lockdown so far.

Back on the 26th of March, New Zealand went into complete Lockdown for four weeks. The only reason we should be leaving our homes is: have one person go to the supermarket to get supplies, go for exercise in your neighbourhood, go to work if you are an essential worker. Thankfully my job is easy enough to be done at home, so that’s been okay for me.

This past Monday (20th April) our (incredible) Prime Minister announced what would be happening when we came to the end of our four week Level 4 Lockdown. Would we be kept at this stage, or had we done what very few other countries had done and were now able to come out of Lockdown? Well, both. Wednesday at midnight was going to be the time (so essentially Thursday) that New Zealand might come out of Level 4 Lockdown, and move to a different level, allowing us to more in our neighbourhoods more, perhaps go back to work.

We’ve done incredibly well as a nation, but the PM is adamant that we’re going to this right the first time. Due to that, Level 4 Lockdown will continue until Monday, which is a public holiday anyway – ANZAC Day. On Tuesday 29th we enter Level 3. This isn’t going to change anything for me. I’m still working at home, along with everyone else in the country who can still do so, but some things will change. So it’s another two weeks at least of Lockdown, until they re-look at the situation and decide what to do next.

Out of all this I have to just say: I have never been prouder to be a New Zealander and call this nation home.

The things I wanted to do in Lockdown

On Day 1 of Lockdown I shared on Instagram Stories some of the things I was hoping to do during this time at home. They weren’t too ambitious, but they were things that I had been wanting to do for while and thought this was a good opportunity to do so. While Lockdown has been extended, I thought here at the end of Level 4 was a good time to look back and see if I did what I wanted to do.

Walk with me.

Lockdown activities – did I check them all off?

Here’s what each activity was, what I said about it on Instagram, and if I actually did it or not.

Read at least 5 Books

You guys know I read a lot. But for the past week or so I’ve been in a bit of a slump. But with some extra time, no events to go to, no traffic to sit in…I hope to get a lot of reading in. I’m hoping for 5 books but we’ll see how we go!

I managed to finished 8 books during the last 4 weeks. I’m pretty stoked with that! Two of them were super short though, as they were graphic novels, and one was a novella, but the rest were full on novels, one of which was just under 600 pages!

Try macramè

I seem to have accumulated a lot of rope over the years. I use it for hanging backdrops, hoisting event dècor, and a range of other things. But it dawned on me I could try my hand at macramè during this lockdown. Stay tuned!

I totally did this! All that rope I had was only just enough rope to do what I ended up doing. I used about 60m of rope (ohmygosh) and created a wall hanging. It’s not great, but for my first try it was not too bad!

Sew 3 garments

Just two weeks ago I received the latest sewing book from Tilly and the Buttons. I have a lot of fabric at the moment so now’s the perfect time to try out some (if not all) the patterns in new book!

Well I made one garment. It was really interesting to watch my sewing motivation just disappear over the four weeks. I had no inclination or motivation to get out the sewing machine or try the sewing patterns from Tilly’s book that arrived just in time for Lockdown. All that fabric is still sitting there, waiting. I suspect the lack of motivation comes from the fact that whatever I make, there’s no point wearing it. I’m living in jeans and sweaters right now. The only shoes I put on are for walks. Putting ‘real’ clothes on to leave the house in isn’t happening, so why should I make new things …? That must be it.

Sort garage

Like many garages, mine doesn’t store a car. The garage at my place is split into a study and then all my art supplies and event gear. After receiving a lot of my grandparents’ things in the last year, the space is more dumping ground than a place for creativity. That’s going to change.

Yeah this did not happen, and I doubt it will. I think the main reason I’m meh about doing it is that there’s a bunch of stuff in our garage that needs to be moved to our bach, and until that’s done, there’s very little room to move and sort. Also it’s getting colder, and the garage is an ice box.

Walk every day

Just because we’re in lockdown doesn’t mean we can’t take a walk. Obviously there are strict restrictions in place and rightly so, but if I don’t get out of the house (rain or shine) at least once a day for a half hour I’ll go mad. Also I hear exercise is good for you.

I would say I’ve been out for a walk 95% of the days so far! There have been a few days where it’s been raining, or 5pm has arrived and I’m making dinner and I don’t want to go for a walk in the dark. But on the whole, I’ve been doing this!

Talk with someone outside my bubble every day

My isolation Bubble for the New Zealand 4 week lockdown consists of me, Mum and Dad, and my sister. We get along fine and so I’m not anticipating too much drama. But even the thought of not being able to see my friends makes me miss them. I shall aim to talk to at least one person outside my Bubble every day.

Again, about 95% of the days I’ve talked with someone on the phone or video chat outside my bubble. It’s been a range of things – work meetings, games nights, catch up with friends with glass of wine, having lunch with friends and workmates viz Zoom, and checking in on my friends with cute kids that I miss.

Cook at least 4 new meals

Most of the cooking during the week is done by yours truly, and while I have a pretty decent range of recipes, I do like adding more to the list. Hoping I can find some yummy recipes with few ingredients to try in the next month.

Thinking back to the last four weeks of meal-making (I’m the one who does the most cooking in my house), I think I’ve made all four! I made Vietnamese pho for the first time (an alternate variation because of lack of some ingredients), a cranberry, white chocolate and oats cookie recipes, a nutty fudge thing (hard to explain but delicious to eat), and dumplings!

So, what now?

I didn’t do everything, no, but I am quite pleased that I did a lot more than perhaps I thought I would. So what happens with this list now? Officially Level 4 is over on Tuesday, but because Level 3 for me is pretty much the same as Level 4, the list will continue. Maybe I’ll actually sort the garage … ha. Maybe not.

How has Lockdown been for you? How is your country going?