Dana and Luis Maldonado and their two young children [family on right] are looking forward to moving to Northland from Texas. Photo / supplied
We've heard about the hordes of New Zealanders returning from overseas due to Covid-19. Reporter Jenny Ling talks to six people who fled - or will soon leave - their overseas homes for a new life in Northland.
Dana Maldonado is done.
She's done with living in fear of the coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged the United States.
The New Zealand resident misses her parents who live in Russell, and who she usually visits once a year.
So, she and her husband Luis and their two young children are packing up their home in Texas, where there have been over 2.7 million cases of Covid-19 and 47,630 deaths.
They are moving to New Zealand in May.
Maldonado said things started to unravel when they visited her parents in February 2020, after her dad had a quadruple bypass.
When they returned to the US, their daughter wasn't allowed back into daycare because she had been abroad.
By March her son's school had also closed down, and she began to home school both children.
In between Maldonado was made redundant from her recruiting job, and though not a direct result of Covid, it is the reason she can't find another job.
It's been tough and lonely, with trips to the supermarket and the occasional visit to friends the only respite.
"We've been at home for a year," she said.
"We socialise but we're pretty strict about it.
"We're alone a lot of the time. Even if you're having coffee outside there's a nagging at the back of your head that you're doing something wrong, you're putting family and friends at risk.
"You're nervous all the time that you're going to hurt someone. I don't want to have that any more."
Luis, an associate professor of Spanish at Southern Methodist University, landed a year-long sabbatical in New Zealand, while Maldonado wants to take up teaching because she enjoyed homeschooling her kids so much.
The couple are moving mainly for their children, aged 5 and 7.
"I remember being 7, 8, 9, and how it's this beautiful time when your parents are amazing, nature is amazing and you still believe in magic," she said.
"This is what I want for my kids, they're only this age once.
"I want my kids to run around and play with other children, and I want to breathe the air that other people breathe and not be frightened.
"I can go and get a bunch of oysters, and pop open a bottle of wine and sit with my parents and look at the beauty and not feel like my kids are going to die.
"I just want to go to the supermarket without a mask."
Maldonado isn't sure what the future will hold, or how long they'll be in New Zealand.
They plan to rent a house in Russell for 18 months then re-evaluate the situation.
For now, the plane tickets are tucked safely away and she's counting down the days till she and her family can board the plane.
"I can't wait.
"We've got this opportunity, and I'm really thankful.
"It's been really lonely.
"I'm done. I am done not talking to people."
A seven-year OE came to an abrupt end for Kiwi couple Adam Lothian and Karina Cooper.
The pair were living and working in London when the city began to turn on its head due to the global pandemic.
They were meant to be abroad another 18 months, and had no intention of coming home so soon.
"London at the time was getting pretty dire," Lothian said.
"We were struggling to get food at the supermarket, you just had to get whatever you could get. There was no food in the stores at all.
"It was really sad, seeing old people walking around the shelves and they were empty."
Cooper, who was working as a carer for a young man with autism, and Lothian as a gym manager, watched the changes with growing unease.
Their deciding moment to leave the country came when they realised the borders might close.
"We saw an announcement saying the borders might close in New Zealand and in London there was talk about a lockdown, but it was really vague," Lothian said.
"We always knew we wouldn't stay there forever, and were planning on doing a big trip on the way home, obviously with Covid that was never going to happen.
"The only reason we were in London was to travel.
"Every month we'd try and go somewhere new.
"There was no reason for us to be there any more."
Once decided, they moved quickly, and were at Heathrow airport within three days.
They dropped everything on Wednesday night, called their bosses and quit their jobs, and were on a plane to New Zealand by Saturday.
They arrived home just before the level 4 lockdown last March.
"We essentially packed up seven years of our lives in three days," Lothian said.
"The trip back was pretty stressful.
"This was at the point where they were starting to cancel every flight."
Though the couple were living in Auckland before their stint overseas, they decided to move to Whangārei because of the lifestyle.
Lothian discovered Manaia Fitness at Parua Bay was up for sale and grabbed the opportunity.
He now runs the community gym while taking personal training classes, while Cooper is working as a journalist at The Northern Advocate.
"The lifestyle is so much better over here," he said.
"You get used to London, getting up in the dark and riding the tube, being at work all day and sometimes it's dark when you got home.
"A commute to work of an hour was a good commute in London. It's so much nicer being home.
"It's much less stressful and less polluted. The people are friendlier.
"We would spend weekends away travelling to European countries to see the lakes and mountains and countryside.
"But everything we were trying to travel to see was in New Zealand already."
When Emma Phillips left her high-flying career as a foot juggler in Europe, she thought it would only be for a month, tops.
The 31-year-old had spent 10 years overseas; nearly three years training in acrobatics in China and five performing professionally around Europe.
She was most recently living in Germany, about to embark on a year-long tour of Germany and Austria with the circus theatre company Roncalli when Covid struck.
The opening-night show was postponed, then audience numbers were restricted from 1500 people, then 1000 then 500.
"No one knew what was really happening, and we had a lot of Italian artists in the show. At the time that was the only place in Europe in full lockdown."
Phillips, who is from Whangārei, returned to New Zealand on March 26, a day after the country was plunged into a level 4 lockdown.
She made it back after forking out $9000 and having three of her international flights cancelled.
Her parents picked her up at the airport and, because of social distancing, had to throw her the keys to a car.
Initially, she thought it would just be for a month "and it [Covid] will all be over".
"I thought I'd go home for a few weeks, visit everyone and get straight back into work."
Though grateful to be home with family in Whangārei, she was initially in limbo.
She couldn't get a job that she trained for because "the industry doesn't really exist in New Zealand".
Thinking she would go home in a few weeks, she didn't buy a car or rent a flat, and instead borrowed cars and slept in a tent at her sister's place until it got too cold.
"It's difficult, I never want to feel like I'm complaining because I'm aware people are in far worse situations.
"It's hard being in New Zealand when all my friends are overseas, and they've been in lockdown for a year.
"Compared to that we're very free, but I lost my life, this is not my life.
"Everyone is so happy we've gone back to normal but it's not my normal, because I've left everything behind. I worked so hard to create this life overseas."
Phillips said she will probably return to Europe, if Covid is brought under control.
She doesn't want to be stranded over there if there is another lockdown.
"I'm not saying I'll stay in New Zealand, but it does change your perspective a bit now."
Phillips has taken up work as a costume designer and is doing some community volunteer work.
She misses performing at a high level, but was thrilled to perform at the World Buskers Festival in Christchurch this year.
"The main thing I've struggled with is having moments when I think have I failed? Have I done the wrong thing?
"You don't have a grounding or a group of friends.
"You're suddenly dropped here and you don't fit.
"But I've come to understand I'm not home because I've failed or run out of money, I'm home because the whole world stopped."
Sara Smeath and Christopher Saunders were well established with successful careers in China for eight years before Covid hit.
It was January 2020, and Smeath was working as a fashion forecaster and Christopher as a website developer.
But as the pandemic took hold in China, the couple, who have three young daughters, quickly took stock.
"When things were not getting better in China, we knew we had to get home," Smeath said.
"We were already in a lockdown and sanitising and wearing masks; you could walk around but no shops were open, just a couple of supermarkets.
"It was kind of scary, there was no news, Jacinda wasn't talking at 1pm every day like she was here.
"We only had WeChat where some news was real and some was fake."
The turning point came when the couple heard that if children had symptoms of Covid, they would be put in isolation.
"At the time there was no test for Covid," Smeath said.
"Our oldest has asthma so if she showed signs of struggling to breathe and fevers, which is what she got when she had an asthma episode, we wouldn't be able to visit her."
They flew to Thailand for a month, thinking they would return to China.
But as the gravity of the pandemic became apparent, they carried on to New Zealand.
The arrived on February 22 and tried to self-isolate, though things were still pretty relaxed.
"At the time New Zealand was not taking the virus very seriously. No one really understood.
"We were the only ones on the plane and at Auckland Airport wearing masks. There were no real precautions."
Once home, the pair brought forward their plans to start a digital tourism company called Te Kaupapa, and Saunders picked up his career building websites.
Now living in Russell, they have mixed feelings about being back.
"It's nice to be home but we weren't prepared at that stage to be moving home.
"It was really stressful to realise all the plans we had in China, now had to be stopped. We didn't know how long we had to stay here."
It's been a juggle getting the kids settled into their schools, and they are still waiting to get their possessions back, which are locked away in storage on the other side of the world.
Though she misses life in Asia, she is grateful to be here.
"When we talk to friends overseas, they remind us that New Zealand is in such a good position.
"People here don't realise, others are still in lockdown, their kids still haven't gone back to school, so many people are in chaos.
"We have things really good here, we are very lucky."
An opportunity to reconnect with whānau in the Far North was too good to pass up for Myjanne Jensen and her husband, Jade Leatherby-Tipene.
The couple, who have four daughters, recently moved from Brisbane, touching down at Auckland Airport on March 24.
Even though they are still in quarantine in Auckland, they couldn't be more excited.
"We've been talking about coming back for years," Jensen said.
"We were chatting to some of my whānau on video chat, and they said 'why don't you come home and we were like 'yeah why not'?
"Our lease was coming up and we thought, let's just go for it, the kids are still small. If we're going to do it, now is the time.
"The girls are so excited to be here, they think it's a big adventure."
Born and raised in Brisbane, Jensen is of Ngāpuhi descent and has visited New Zealand numerous times with her husband, who is from the Far North.
Her mum is from Hihi, and her nana is from Otangaroa.
The family are going to live in Hihi, to be near Jensen's in-laws.
She said the move across the ditch is important so the girls, aged 8, 5, and two-year-old twins, can learn about their culture and see more of their whānau.
"I grew up in Brisbane pretty disconnected from my Māori culture.
"I know how much of a struggle it's been for me to try and reconnect with that.
"My girls are excited to learn kapa haka and te reo. I'd love to learn te reo and Māoritanga to understand where I come from."
Jensen worked as a freelance journalist in Australia, while Leatherby-Tipene worked in logistics and transport and was a stay-at-home dad.
He is also a musician who played with Australia-based reggae band Paua.
While there are only a few daily cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation in Queensland, the pandemic put things in perspective for the couple.
"There were changes with work; I was working full time, then my hours dropped due to Covid," Jensen said.
"When Covid hit things were pretty shaky."
In New Zealand, Jensen plans to continue her freelance journalism work and study film, while Leatherby-Tipene will pursue his music career.
Although she will miss her mum and three sisters in Australia, there is the ability to video chat every day.
"I've always been a pretty adventurous person, I love travelling and learning new things, and pushing myself out of my comfort zone.
"And because it's quite a meaningful reason for leaving, I feel really excited about it.
"It's like a homecoming in a way."
Jensen realises the Far North will be "a bit of a culture shock" at first, but she is looking forward to the change.
"We're really over the city life and want to get back to basics, we're craving that simplistic lifestyle.
"Having the ocean right there, and to be able to walk in nature, and go swimming and fishing, that really excites us."
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