The journey has ended for now, the time of isolation begins
While I had settled in nicely to my hotel life in Auckland, I was hit with the news that I would be able to relocate on Monday, only a week after my arrival. I was both happy and sad at this prospect, happy because I could continue my journey but sad because I was enjoying my time staying at the hotel and the routine I had managed to build up. The remaining question, where to go?
Well that decision ended up being relatively easy, albeit with an answer that you wouldn’t really expect, yet makes perfect sense when you think about it. Who had the better internet, Mum in Nelson or Dad in Blenheim? Mum unfortunately lives out in the sticks and only has ADSL speeds while Dad was living closer to town and had recently been upgraded to broadband. So, off to Blenheim we go to ride out level 4 and most likely level 3 as well.
AirNZ had chartered us a flight to Blenheim which had 15 people on it, much more that I had expected with most of us having not quite served out our 2 weeks in Auckland so we would be able to finish that at home. On arrival I was treated with a familiar sight, vineyards for days, yup, welcome to wine country! It was nice being able to get to another place in NZ and good to see my Dad. It didn’t take long to settle into his house and start settling in to a new daily routine while I wait in limbo. The journey is over but the end result is very different to what was originally planned.
Life in Blenheim is pretty good. Waking up just before midday, spending a few hours doing social media stuff, video editing, music research, networking and some games. Then taking my daily Poke-walk around 4pm for an hour or so around my local area and even up into the city center. Back usually in time for dinner and to watch the news. Then settling in to either game, stream, watch anime or a combination of all as well as any other socials or networking stuff I can still do. Dad is usually in bed by 10pm while I am usually up till 2am.
I use to spend some time here back when I was a kid, Dad was working in the local radio station and that was a fun place to hang out, I picked up a lot as well while hanging out in the radio station and seeing how things worked. Also going along to local events run by the radio was fun too. Good times! The town itself I mostly remember but details are a little sketchy. Still, it is a familiar place. The question is, how long will I be here till I can move on.
At the moment my life is very much on hold, I have no job, I have no home (staying with my parents doesn’t count in this regard) and there isn’t much I can directly do about it until we come out of lock-down and get into at least level 2 where I can start to move around the country and try and get a job. This will of course be very difficult given the hit the economy has taken and the depression we are about to head into.
Marcus Powell has been living and working in South Korea since 2010. He is now on the road before returning back to NZ. Aside from writing his own blog, he is also a popular Club DJ, Gamer, Community manager, esports fan and anime enthusiast.
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