Auckland newlyweds pick Napier for lockdown stroll

Auckland couple Shannon and Michael Young on their morning walk in Napier on day one of the new Covid-19 level 4 lockdown. Photo / Paul Taylor

The popular Napier lockdown default recreation of walking the streets and pathways was taking time to grow legs as streets and the beachfront pathways were quiet on the first day of the new alert.

It was just the ticket for Auckland newlyweds Shannon and Michael Young as they strode out on the last day of the meet-the-grandma trip to Hawke's Bay before heading home in time to return to work on Friday.

It was a 40-minute hike around "Grandma's normal walk route" said Shannon, who estimated that during the exercise they'd seen only about 20 other people.

The couple had planned a "pre-wedding" trip for Michael Young to meet "grandma" in August last year, but it was put-off because of a Covid-19 level 3 alert.

Both in the "under-25" bracket they are regular walkers and try to fit in a stroll every day.

They had no trepidation about returning to Auckland, where they're expected back in their office jobs on Friday, albeit most likely working remotely, from home, which Shannon Young said both could do if they had "extended the holiday" and stay in Hawke's Bay.

But it's especially important for her to get back to Auckland, for in level 3 she becomes an in-office worker, in IT and a vital cog in the cycle of keeping systems going and making sure they don't crash, so that others can continue working from home.

Napier was providing something of an Auckland climate, from warm sunshine to overcast, to brief rain, to chilly late afternoon, when as 20-minute tour of the CBD and Marine Parade after 4pm found about 50 people out-and-about.

They included a dozen exercising dogs, six skateboarders (one motorised speeding through a city intersection with traffic lights and another aged about 50 exhibiting a sense of youthful freedom and gliding along the wrong side of the road on Marine Parade, three people just-sitting at a barbecue table, one cyclist, one runner and one static taking a selfie.