Life on the Road Amidst Coronavirus and Lockdown

What a week! 

Hard to believe that ten days ago, I was cruising around the South Island of New Zealand without a real care in the world. Yes, the news around the world were sad and concerning, but it wasn’t really affecting me – yet. Looking back now, I shake my head at myself for being so naïve, but ten days ago, I hadn’t even considered that domestic travel would be banned, let alone that the whole country would go into lockdown. 

A lot has changed since. I thought I’d give an update on what happened here in New Zealand and how it has impacted my vanlife. Since it ended up being quite a long post, I split it into several sections so you can quickly skip ahead to those you’re interested in.  

The events of the last ten days 

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New Zealand’s Four allert levels – Click to enlarge

Things started to get real last Saturday. I was just north of Dunedin when our Prime Minister announced our new Four Alert Levels (see image - click to enlarge) and that we are now at Level 2 – which includes the directive to limit all non-essential travel around the country. Weirdly (at least in hindsight) I did not see that one coming, and I didn’t know how to respond to it. My plan at the time was to continue south to the Catlins for a week or two. Since that would be very little travel in a small area of NZ, my initial thought was that I could just proceed with that plan. I thought we would be at Level 2 for a few weeks. 

The more I thought about it, the more I realised that it would just not be worth the risk. Even though I felt like we had the COVID-19 situation very much under control, it was becoming clear that our government would act fast and hard. And I probably wouldn’t enjoy my travels anyway if I had to worry all the time about what might happen next. So after a day of uncertainty and a sleepless night, I decided to play it safe and make my way to a commercial campground where I would have access to power, water and a dumpstation as well as a supermarket nearby.  

I chose to return to Christchurch’s South Brighton Holiday Park, where I had stayed for a night a week earlier. The campground is right by the beach and an estuary, there are lots of walks around, the owners are amazing, and I already knew one of the long-term residents here. So it seemed like a good choice. Of course, at the time I still thought I could surf and kitesurf during lockdown… 

I arrived at South Brighton Holiday Park Monday afternoon, at pretty much the same time as our Prime Minister announced that we were now at alert level 3 and that, in 48 hours, we would move to level 4 – a full lockdown! 

As of 11:59 pm Wednesday 25 March, everyone in New Zealand has to stay in their local area and stay in their home as much as possible.

We are only allowed to leave our house or base to go to the supermarket, get medicines or other essential items or go to health appointments. Even online shopping for non-essential items is banned. We’re allowed to go outside for exercise, but must stay in our local area, and anything other than walking, biking etc. is strongly discouraged for fear of accidents that then require physical contact (people helping others) and take up valuable resources in the health system. In other words, surfing and kitesurfing are off-limits for now! 

As we’re now nearing the end of week one of lockdown, most New Zealander’s seem to have settled in and are following the routine. Luckily our government has made it very easy for those who need it to access financial support – which is quite a few people given many cannot simply work from home and even those who can have often been impacted. 

An emotional rollercoaster ride 

With, at that time that the lockdown was announced, still less than 100 confirmed cases in the country, that response might seem extreme, but I’m glad our government chose a hard course. As an island nation, we have a chance to keep COVID-19 from spreading long-term through strict border controls. That means, once the virus is eradicated in the country, we have an opportunity for domestic life to go back to some kind of normal, while strict border controls remain in place until a vaccine has been developed, much better treatment options are known and until the healthcare system had time to prepare. 

That’s a luxury larger countries and those with many land borders don’t have, and I’m glad our government is taking advantage of it. 

However, being supportive does not mean that this has been easy. 

If I’m honest, I would have to admit that the past week has probably been one of the most challenging in a long time for me. 

I’m OK with the social distancing from other people. That is mostly my normal any way, especially right now when I’m far away from my friends in Auckland. I’m also someone who is very good at keeping herself busy. I right away saw this as an opportunity to work on a few projects that I’ve had in mind for a while – I’m very excited about one in particular and will share more about that with you soon. So in a sense, I’m probably much better suited to a situation like this than many other people. I’m struggling with the uncertainty of it all, as I know so many others do too. Not knowing how long we will be in lockdown for and what happens after is definitely stressful. 

The hardest thing for me over the last week was realising how exposed, and in a way ‘unimportant’, I am due to my lifestyle. 

Living in a van for me is all about freedom and independence. Over the last 2 ½ years, it’s enabled me to work less and enjoy life more while going wherever I wanted to be. Now all the sudden, I’m not only stuck in one place, but I’m also completely depended on other people. Of course, all of us are to some extent, but if you have a house, even a rented one, you are a lot more protected. One of the first things our government did is protecting renters and supporting people who might not be able to pay their mortgages during this time. No one thought much about protecting and supporting people living in motorhomes, van and similar mobile homes – there just aren’t enough of us. We’re a minority group, and it took a long time for there even to be clear communication and guidelines for what we should do. The initial announcement from the government and even the national motorhome and caravan association was “GO HOME”. Obviously, this instruction totally forgot about us – those people who live on the road and don’t have a home to return to. 

I completely understand that at a time like this, the government needs to be focused on the majority of people first. But that doesn’t change the fact that I was a bit scary to realise I’m in a minority group that no one seems to consider much in all their plans and responses. 

Campgrounds were closing everywhere, DOC closed all our regional park campsites, councils were closing freedom camping spots, even the national motorhome and caravan association of which I’m a member and who is supposed to represent our interest at a national level decided to close all their parks. And all the while there was no clear direction of what we should do and where we should go. 

All the sudden, it went from having thousands of options of where to go, to not knowing if there would be a safe place for us during this time. I’m someone who has a lot of faith in her ability to look after herself, but even I was anxious for a few days. Luckily South Brighton Holiday Park is considered an essential service due to their permanent residents and the need to provide safe places to stay for tourists and people like me, so they were allowed to remain open. I am so very grateful to the owners that they decided to do so instead of kicking us all out! 

So all in all, the last ten days have been an emotional rollercoaster for me. But I’m settled in now at South Brighton and feeling pretty relaxed and comfortable. 

I don’t regret my choices, and I’m sure I will continue vanlife when this is all over. But it won’t be quite as carefree anymore. 

But I’m probably not the only one who suddenly had to realise that her life is not as secure and ‘bulletproof’ as I thought it was. People all over the world are struggling with the loss of income, loss of freedom and some even loss of loved ones – for a reason that hardly anyone could have predicted even just three months ago. 

Vanlife in lockdown

The most significant difference for me right now is that I spend a lot more time in my van – Time that I would usually spend exploring the different areas I’m in and enjoying all my outdoor hobbies. At a time like this, I’m glad that my van is fully self-contained and big enough for me to stand in and at least move a little bit. There are others here at the campground in tiny vans, and that must be tough, especially on rainy days. 

Campground life is different from what it’s usually like.

It’s quite busy here because many international tourists chose to come here because they are hoping to get flights out. Christchurch is the only international airport on the South Island and some countries, like Germany, have told their nationals to get as close as possible to an airport as they are trying to organise charter flights out. My best guess is that there are about 200 – 300 people here right now. But everyone is mostly keeping to themselves. The shared facilities (kitchen and bathroom) can only be used by those who are not self-contained, and even then there are restrictions around how many people can be inside at the same time. The lounge is closed entirely, so there is no shared space for people to hang out together. 

I’m doing my part to stay safe and, more importantly, keep others safe. I only have to use the dumpstation every now and then, and it’s relatively easy to clean and disinfest that before and after use. I wash my hands every time I leave the van, and when I come back (my hands have never been so soft) and of course, I stay away from other people as much as possible. The only person I spend a little bit of (outside) time with right now is my friend who is a long-term resident here at the campground. She has a dog, and I join the two for a walk on most days. It’s nice to have that daily contact and have someone to discuss the latest news and developments with. 

Making the most of the time in lockdown

One thing I’m grateful for at a time like this is my ability to see opportunities and my motivation to make the most of it. After all the stress of the past week, I needed a few days to settle in and arrive in my new (hopefully temporary) reality. However, yesterday, I spent a bit of time thinking about what I want to achieve in the next 4+ weeks and how I can make sure I come out of this with something positive. You might remember that I set some goals for myself when I embarked on my South Island road trip. I realised I needed to adjust those.  

Eating well and doing at least 10,000 steps a day remain as daily goals. I’ve added a new daily gratitude goal (which I will share on Facebook and Instagram every day) as well as a goal to get in touch with people ­– especially those who might need a bit of extra support during this time. I also made a rule to not watch Netflix and the likes before 6 pm to make sure I spend daytime on more productive things. I then also added some big goals like launching a new project I’m working on, finishing specific parts of my next book and other little projects around the van. Like last time, I made a tracking poster and put it up in the van, so I can tick things off as I go along and always know where I’m at. 

However, I also think that at a time like this, it’s important to be kind to ourselves. Therefore, exceptions are allowed – as long as they are exceptions.  

If you’re someone who is struggling to stay motivated during times like these or you’re worried you will end up spending all your time in front of the TV instead of doing something productive, I highly recommend doing the same for you. Come up with some goals and track your progress – ideally in a highly visual place (I find tracking apps don’t work as well as it’s so easily forgotten).  

If you want some help setting and defining goals, feel free to reach out to me. I’m happy to set up a video call to help you through the process. 

So overall, after a challenging week, I’m in a pretty good mood right now and pretty confident I can get through these four weeks and get something positive out of it. I just hope it all doesn’t drag on much longer because a winter down here would definitely be tough. Besides, my best friends just had their first baby, and I can’t wait to meet and cuddle her :)

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