Blog Post #16
Use reason, but don’t ignore that gut feeling..
So over 5 months have passed since the last blog post, so I thought it was about time I published another one. So what’s happened over the last few months? Let’s find out…
Picking up where we left off
So back in June I wrapped up the contract in the Bay of Plenty having inspected just over 300km of floodbank network across the region. Thankfully I had an e-bike to assist with the inspections, otherwise the inspections would not only have taken considerably longer, but they would also have been more physically demanding! The team up there are great fun to work with and I’m looking forward to seeing them all again (soon). It really does help when you have built strong relationships with your clients on a foundation of authenticity.
After leaving the Bay, I headed to Raglan for the first time and met up with a good friend coming from Auckland who I hadn’t seen in 2 years while he was completing a 2-year army training course in the UK. We booked a rather flash AirBnb for our reunion. It had such a great outlook, we were dining in paradise. Raglan is a great little place surrounded by water. We didn’t get in for any surf but we did hike up the local peak – Mt Karioi.
After Raglan I knew I had to return to the Kapiti coast as I had to move some items from a friends garage. So from Raglan I decided to make my way back via Taranaki. I called up one of my Taranaki-based clients and arranged to stop by for a catch up. I ended up staying a few nights with them and their Whanau. I had a great time in New Plymouth, I went mountain biking, I went along to their daughter’s football match for support, and cooked up a Mexican Feast. Looking forward to seeing those guys again!
Having left Taranaki and moved the items from the garage I stopped by a former Team Leader’s place in Kapiti to catch up. Staying here a few nights I had the chance to think about what to do next. I had no work lined up over the next couple months so my compass was pointing South, time for some more adventures in the deep south? That was until a sudden thought popped into my head – What about Australia? At this time the Trans-Tasman bubble was in full swing and had been up and running for a few weeks. YES. Let’s do it. Spontaneity kicked in and I had a look at flights and just went for it! I booked a 1-way flight to Sydney with a rough plan to make my way north and fly back from Cairns. But all was not so simple….
Aussie Roadtrip
Having booked my flight I was to leave for Sydney 4 days later. That gave me enough time to research the essentials, put my car-load of possessions in a friends garage, and tie up any loose ends. However, as the flight drew closer I monitored the Aussie news and saw around a half-dozen community cases of Covid-19 announced. I’m supposed to be flying in less than 48 hours. My gut told me to cancel my flight, but I didn’t want to cancel my trip. I had another look at flights and saw there was another one just 2 days later flying into Brisbane. At this time there were no community cases in Brisbane or even Queensland. As AirNZ offered flight vouchers I moved my flight from Sydney to Brisbane.
So with my flights changed, the day came around to fly to Brisbane. After staying with some friends in Miramar they dropped me at the airport, I checked in my luggage and sat down for a pint (that’s tradition for the Airport right?). While waiting to board I scanned over the latest updates on the Aussie news, before having a quick gander at the NZ news. Headlines read: “Infected man from Sydney brings Covid to Wellington”. HOLD UP. I continue reading the live updates and find out that the government were having an emergency meeting to discuss their course of action following the announcement that Covid may now be in Aotearoa. Now it was time for me to board my flight to Brisbane, it hadn’t been cancelled, do I stay? Do I go? I got on the plane. Between boarding that plane and accessing the on-board wifi in the air, Wellington had plunged into a snap Level 2 lockdown, and there was me up in the air heading Brisbane…
Now guess who would have been on the same flight to Sydney had I not changed my flights to Brisbane. The infected man. I was receiving emails and calls from the NSW government who thought I had been on that Sydney flight: “URGENT MESSAGE: YOU HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO THE COVID-19 VIRUS ON THE FLIGHT NZ247…YOU MAY HAVE COVID-19…YOU ARE A CLOSE CONTACT…YOU MUST SELF-ISOLATE…”.
Now looking back on this one decision to change my flights, the outcomes turned out to be very very different. Had I not followed the news and trusted my gut instinct I would have arrived in Sydney and had to self-isolate, which ultimately would have turned into no less than 6-8 weeks of self-isolation and having to Quarantine whenever I returned to NZ, and that’s only if I managed to get back – would I still be stuck over there? Instead I was on my way to Brisbane. I continued to be precautionary by wearing a mask everywhere and monitoring my symptoms (it all turned out fine).
I spent 4-5 days in Brisbane and loved it. I always get city cravings at some point during each year and Brisbane well and truly delivered there. I loved how Brisbane was built around the river, especially the intertwining of riparian recreation. It was great to see rock climbing along the river cliffs, as well as the dedication to cycleways along the river but also across the river and throughout the city. They even have a cycling rush-hour which takes precedence of car parking during certain hours.
My gut started piping up again with concerns as the Sydney outbreak started to grow exponentially, I feared there would be a rise in cases in Brisbane. I decided to cut my stay short a few days and jump on a bus north, spending a few days in the sunshine coast, before getting to Noosa. A lovely green town, Noosa was a great place to stop for a 5 days. Kayaking along the Noosa Everglades, only 1 of 2 ecosystems of its kind, was a great experience, especially for a river nerd!
On one of my last few days in Noosa, I was just getting to the end of a popular coastal walk and I started to overhear conversations. The tone was quite nervous, frustrated, and some people seemed a bit panicked. By the time I got back to the main town people were rushing everywhere. I pulled out my phone and checked for the inevitable. “High risk zones in Queensland heading into 3-day lockdown”. Noosa marginally fell into the northern tip of a high risk zone in Queensland. That’s it. I couldn’t run from Covid anymore and just embraced the 3-day lockdown. It didn’t turn out to be that bad, after all I was in a backpacker hostel was some great people who I got to know quite well, and fortunately it was only a 3-day lockdown. On the 4th day I packed up my bags and met up with a guy who had a 4×4 and after finding 3 others, we began our roadtrip to Cairns!
The East Coast of Aussie is a beautiful place, with lovely national parks, remote camping spots, and plenty of towns and cities to indulge in. I even managed to convince the group to go look at the Awoonga High Dam! I can’t say I’ve come across many rockfill dams in my time, so it was nice to see one in the flesh! I can’t say the rest of the group were as enthused as I was. Alas, onwards we went.
One of the highlights of the whole trip was searching for a freedom camping spot and as we drove past all these large lifestyle blocks we decided we’d try our luck by knocking on a few doors to see if they would mind us parking up on their land for the night, after all we were mostly self-contained. Driving down the road we noticed a girl walking her dog so decided to head down the driveway. She said initially she was quite scared when a car she didn’t recognise headed down her driveway but soon enough we explained why we were there. So she said she would have to call her mum and ask as she was actually walking her neighbours dogs. The mum’s response? ‘SEND THEM ROUND’. We had hit the jackpot on our first go. The mum used to house backpackers all the time that would work on their organic farm so said we were more than welcome to stay the night. So we pitched up our camp in front of the house. All 5 of us were even welcomed into the house that night for dinner. And guess what…we ended up staying 4 nights! It was also one of our fellow campers’ 30th birthday on the Friday so the mum said she would make a cake and we would have a big party. And that we did – a night to remember for sure.
I managed to get 3 weeks of roadtripping and camping with the group until the NZ government announced that borders would be closing. At this point I was in Townsville so my travel buddies dropped me off at the bus station and waved me farewell. I made my way straight to Cairns. As much as I could have easily stayed in Australia for a couple more months, my gut told me to come back. I quickly booked the first available flight, booked my pre-departure Covid test, and enjoyed my last 2 days in Aus by relaxing in Cairns and watching the Olympics on the waterfront. I look forward to the time I can return to Queensland, so much more left to see!
You can find more pics and drone footage at the end of this post..
I count myself very lucky to have managed to get over to Aussie for 5 weeks, and return to NZ with no complications. Within a few days of being back I had run a half marathon event in Taupo and spent 3 days snowboarding on the Ruapehu maunga. Then returning again to my friends in Kapiti to plan my next move, until…LOCKDOWN.
That’s right we’ve all just gone through another lockdown in NZ together, some of the 5million are still going through it. How did you go in your lockdown? Was business or life significantly disrupted? Did you treasure more time with your Whanau? For me it turned out to be very productive. I was lucky too, I was staying in a great place, with great people (and a great chef!), and some great pets – meet Lochie
Being forced into less activity, I decided it was finally time to sit down and confront my to-do list. Some items on there have featured for well over 2 years. So it was great to actually make some progress, and you know how it is, all you have to do is make a start and things begin to flow. Completing some of these items has given me a surge of motivation, so I’m riding this wave as long as I can.
I also managed to attend a national workshop, which had I been gallivanting around the East Coast of Australia, there’s a good chance I would have missed it. The workshop was really useful and it allowed me to connect with people from all over the country working in flood risk asset management. It even helped me gain some new clients..
So despite being in a lockdown and restricted with what could be done, I managed to tackle a stubborn to-do list, network with colleagues, and build my relationship with Lochie. The exciting outcome for me from this lockdown, was in the space of a few weeks I managed to double my clients. I now have 8 clients to work with which is very exciting. My calendar is now mostly booked until February 2022, with some really exciting things to work on later this year. Now with 4 more contracts lined up what does that mean? Yes – another tiki-tour…and this one includes the South Island!
Today I depart the Kapiti coast and make my way up to the Bay of Plenty (again =] ) where I’ll spend a month with the same team. Then I’ll be heading straight down to Christchurch for up to a month, which I’m very excited about as I’ve been wanting to spend some extended time in this city. Then I’ll be heading straight up to Northland for a few weeks, via Napier for a triathlon. The contracts are quite varied too, from working data and information systems, to inspecting assets, to developing training. More on these contracts in the next post..
Kia kaha..
