A man flew from Sydney to Wellington on Friday evening, local time. He went to his hotel, enjoyed breakfast at a cafe in town, lunch at another one, visited exhibitions, went shopping, enjoyed a drink in a bar. After returning to Sydney on Monday morning, he went for a Covid-19 test which returned positive (he had had his first dose of vaccine).
As a result, our city has moved into Covid alert Level 2, and people who may have been at the long list of places the man visited are advised to stay home, get tested…you all know the routine. After so many days and weeks at Level 1, it is difficult to take in. Daily life continues, though gatherings of over a hundred are no longer allowed (opera lovers will miss this weekend’s New Zealand Opera’s production of The Marriage of Figaro), social distancing returns, and all the other ‘stuff’ that comes with Level 2. From 6pm tonight (23 June) to midnight on Sunday, we will sit at Level 2 and wait to see what happens next.
It is important to stay positive, and look at the wonderful things happening around us. The shortest day has passed us by, bulbs are growing, the magnolia is covered with buds and the camellias are blooming. We have each other, our friends and family, a pile of books, endless Netflix and tomorrow morning I will sit at the table and get on with my work. It could be a lot worse.
And apologies for Monday’s post which I had to re-blog due to WordPress issues that a couple of us have been having recently with our posts not appearing in Reader.
The featured image at the top of the post was taken at The Patriot Pub in Devonport where we had lunch on Sunday.
You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram@thistleandkiwis. As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com
Thistles and Kiwis 
Take care.God bless.🌹🙏
LikeLiked by 1 person
South Africa is in the throes of experiencing its ‘third wave’ and so rumours abound that we will probably revert to Level 4 (we are in a modified Level 3 at present) before long. It is disappointing, as I cannot help feeling if everyone behaved appropriately we might beat this beast sooner rather than later. I enjoyed your introduction – and take heart from your positive attitude. I hope you will both remain well and ready to embrace the freedoms that lie ahead 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry to hear about the situation at your end. Fingers crossed you don’t have to revert to Level 4, but if it helps to contain things then guess that has to happen. I do agree with you about peoples’ behaviour.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes the cases in Sydney have risen rapidly, so very bad luck this person only came to New Zealand for a weekend! I hope he hasn’t spread it too far, and that you will not have to put up with too many restrictions. It is a timely reminder of how we all need to be vaccinated in order to really move freely and enjoy travel.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think/hope it might make some people think twice about travelling without being completely vaccinated, even though we can technically do so in the Trans Tasman bubble. The roll out of vaccine here has been terribly slow.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, the roll out is slow here, and also people need to wait and use their comman sense!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So very sorry! Hope it will be nipped in the bud and that you will soon be at level 1 again. A good reminder that the second vaccination is absolutely necessary before it is safe to travel. On a happier note…that top picture is a beauty.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Glad you like the top picture – it looked just like that in real life too. I know I wouldn’t go to Australia or the Cook Islands (the only two places we can go without returning to managed isolation) just now, not until we are vaccinated, which now looks like the end of July – sigh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry to hear this. I hope it is over quickly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thinking of you. I’m feeling grateful now that a cousin in Sydney didn’t come home last week for a family funeral!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes I am sure you are! Thanks for your thoughts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I caught that info on phone google news. Stay well my friend you & your fam. I love the little plant tops popping up out of the soil, stain glass windows are just beautiful the way the light plays with the colour. Great photos.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
we were kind of shocked when we heard that on the news update, here’s hoping it doesn’t spread throughout the country.
LikeLiked by 1 person
In the UK we’re still waiting to come out of restrictions. Possibly next month. It’s been a long road and it’s not over yet, especially when looking globally. I can’t begin to see how we can all start to travel again. Stay safe and enjoy those small pleasures you describe so well x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Sandra! No I can’t see us being able to travel for a while yet either – outside New Zealand that is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
WOW! Life goes on and we’ll all get through by working together and doing our part. In the small rural community I live in, only about half of us wore masks when shopping locally although we did practice social distancing. If I shopped in another town I always wore a mask. The mask mandate has lifted, but some still wear them, especially older folks (ummm… older than me). I know a lot of people that have been vaccinated, but I also knew several people who died from COVID. I have not been vaccinated because I am kind of weird that way. I have friends that have been and friends that haven’t been. I think it is a good idea to be tested and/or vaccinated if you think it is necessary. Some people are especially vulnerable and were scared to get out until they had their vaccine, so it was certainly a relief for them. I have hardly been sick a day in my life. I eat well (usually), take natural supplements, hardly go anywhere outside of town (or off of my 40 acres) and I feel my immune system is pretty good. My GF got her vaccination and had a fit I didn’t have one yet… GEEZ!!! Anyway, I hope you get back to level 1 soon, level 0 will be even better. I will keep you and the rest of the world in my prayers. Thanks for sharing. Take care and be safe!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh thank you for stopping by and commenting! I will take the vaccine when offered – I am still working and mixing with people so think it wise to have, but the country is running out of supplies, so not sure when that will happen. We will hear on Sunday if levels go up or down.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My Wellington friend landed in Sydney on Tuesday – just before the bubble was paused. Thankfully they were heading straight out of the city so aren’t involved in the lockdown, but it does mean they can’t get home next week as planned. They were also due to come up here (flying into Brisbane) in the last week of July. Given that Queensland is closed to anyone who has been in NSW in the last 14 days, that’s now in danger too. These border related breaches are so frustrating but until they get the vaccines rolled out, it will continue to happen, I fear. They’ve just changed the health advice here for under 60s with the A-Z vaccine, but there’s not enough Pfizer now to give us, so who knows?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is quite frustrating – we aren’t even considering coming over to Australia at the moment, though would love to. Vaccine roll out here also really slow. Enough of the Pfizer vaccine has been ordered, but supplies are low and the next batch won’t arrive until July. Hope your friends get home.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been meaning to ask – have there any cases from him? Because that’ll be interesting to see in terms of the first dose of vaccination. The dude that started the havoc here was completely unvaccinated and 65 – which meant he was eligible a long time ago! That makes me angry. Interestingly, there’s been a cluster at a party and 6 people from that party have so far tested negative for Covid and they are all health workers who are fully vaccinated. Aussies got too complacent and there are so many anti-vaxxers from the eligible group, it’s not funny. Whereas I have friends who’ve been wanting to get vaccinated but aren’t eligible.
LikeLike
As of yesterday, there were still no community cases. The man’s partner tested positive though after a few days. Things are still being monitored here, but we were able to move down to Level 1 from midnight today (ie Wednesday). It will be interesting to see if one dose makes you at least less infectious I agree. The vaccine role out here isn’t going well either, with regional variations and now it looks like that the country will run out of vaccine before the next lot arrives. I think NZ and Australia are so far behind with vaccinations.
LikeLike