Well-known Northlanders look back at their lives a year after the country was placed into strict level 4 lockdown. Photo / file
When the country was in the thick of a strict level 4 lockdown, The Northern Advocate asked seven well-known Northlanders how they were coping. One year on, reporter Jenny Ling asks how the year panned out and how life has changed.
Then: Bradford was locked down in Taipa with husband Bill Bradford and trying to continue her work for Kotare Research and Education for Social Change online and via zoom, despite having poor broadband. Bradford also spent time walking and reading.
Now: I have kept the same job, but one big impact Covid has had is that we have had to continually cancel or postpone residential education workshops that we run.
It's hard dealing with the constant stress of whenever the levels go up, we have to change or cancel what we're doing. It's beginning to feel neverending.
I feel lucky it's a community group, but our work continues to be heavily impacted by the insecurities of Covid.
When the alert levels go up, I try and keep work going and other aspects of life through zoom, but at times it's a frustrating means of relating to each other as humans.
It's important to interact with each other person to person and form human relationships. People like to be able to greet each other in the normal ways.
I'm usually quite politically engaged in the community and take part in hui or speak at meetings in Northland and around the country to bring about social political change.
The opportunities to do that have been reduced quite a lot because of things shutting down with the different levels. It's been quieter than usual and I'm doing a lot less of that.
During the latest lockdown, with cutting off the border and the restrictions, I felt a bit of that isolation and I wasn't achieving as much as normal.
On a positive note, it's made me rethink some things in my life. Being shaken up a bit is useful for your daily routine. It's good to look at the world with fresh eyes.
Then: Goodhue was locked down in Christchurch with wife Sophia, playing board games and PlayStation, cooking, reading and walking. Goodhue made sure he got plenty of exercise including running, weights and getting on the exercycle in the garage.
Now: I spent eight weeks in Australia for the rugby champs [in October/November] where we played Argentina and Aussie then did two weeks quarantine back in New Zealand.
I had an awesome New Zealand summer with Sophia, we spent a lot of time in Northland and Mangawhai and I did a bit of wakeboarding and surfing. We also drove to Ohope and hired a bach.
Work has changed; Super Rugby is now a New Zealand competition, which has made things a bit different.
It's been good not having to travel as much and I can spend more time at home.
I recently went on TV2's Celebrity Brain Busters programme [where Kiwis compete in a series of tricky challenges involving maths, memory, spelling].
It was a good opportunity for charity and to support the Bald Angels again. Filming was for one day a few weeks ago in Christchurch.
It was out of my comfort zone, but it was for a good cause. It's always good to get out of your comfort zone and try something new.
[Regarding Covid] New Zealand is doing awesome to keep squashing it when it comes back.
We've been out enjoying different parts of New Zealand. Sophia and I knew New Zealand was beautiful but we keep finding more gems.
We've been enjoying exploring further parts of the countryside, like the west coast and further up in the Northland region. Northland is so vast, and there are so many different beaches.
Then: Prime was locked down in Pakaraka with husband Dion, daughters Heeni and Hihana, mum Adrieanne Downs aka Nandy and sister Season-Mary Downs. Prime worked from home, providing support for residents with issues and challenges around Covid-19. She also helped with the cooking.
Now: A highlight of the year was winning the election and becoming MP for Northland.
The whole lockdown experience taught us, as a whānau, how resilient we were and how flexible we had to be and to focus on what you can control.
We had to make adjustments like everyone else. A lot of positives came out of that time.
The lockdown garden has been providing for us all year. The elephant garlic we harvested around Christmas was amazing.
And the chickens mum bought before lockdown, they've since had nine chickens so that was a good purchase.
I have carried on cooking which I had to do during lockdown – it's never been a strong point – but I'm proud I've carried on cooking and baking. I make the best pancakes in the household now.
The other thing is, I've become a whip within the Labour party, which definitely has its challenges.
You have to know the rules, standing orders, what's going on in the house, be aware what we're trying to achieve and how we're doing that.
You have to be actively listening and quick on your feet. It's a really dynamic, high pressure environment.
Everywhere I go people stop me and remind me how lucky we are in New Zealand.
For those who can see what's happening around the world we can appreciate the freedoms that we have. We've enjoyed a wonderful summer.
People who have relatives overseas are aware how much harder it is for people in other countries.
I'm really proud of the team and our communities. It's so beautiful seeing communities supporting each other through this as well.
Then: King was locked down in Okaihau with his wife Sara, and their three adult children Jake, Robbie and Jasmine, and parents Joe and Jenny who live nearby.
King spent time helping constituents by phone and email, worked on his 285ha beef farm and spent time with family. He was also part of a crew of volunteers who went shopping for the elderly and those who couldn't get to the supermarket.
Now: It was a good year and a bad year, it was bittersweet.
I lost my job [as Northland MP at last year's general election] and am now fulltime on the farm, and we're in the process of building a house.
I've been getting the farm going and looking after lots of those tasks that I just never got time to do as an MP.
I'm as busy as I've ever been.
With Covid, the way it's been handled, has directly resulted in me losing my job. People are fearful and people are losing their ability to critically think about things.
My life was tipped on its head because of Covid, if we didn't have a Covid election I would still be an MP.
It was forced upon me but it's not an unwelcome change - for a while anyway.
You've got to be philosophical about things that happen beyond your control.
On the positive side, it's given me more time to spend with my family, which has been a really good thing.
It's given me a mental break from politics, it never lets up, you're 24/7 basically.
I really enjoy being out on the land, it's my happy place.
Then: Love was locked down in Auckland with his moko Mana. He spent time filming and posting videos on social media and writing about the Smiley Campaign to keep people's spirits up. He also started cycling again.
Now: We're in a better position in terms of Covid, largely because I think we've learned a lot given our situation last year.
That being said, the closest I got to being a politician was last year, I wasn't very impressed.
We were promoting elimination; I believed there was no such thing, it should be mitigation as it's going to be with us for a long time.
I struggled with my mental health as my wife was in Kaikohe and we couldn't meet, we weren't allowed.
That added to my mental health pressure.
I'm a lot better going into 2021 facing Covid than I was in 2020. Now I'm facing Covid with a lot more resolve.
We didn't know what we were up against.
The difference this year, it's all about charity, we have kindness and patience, and that sense of being optimistic.
I did a lot of filming last year, and recently reposted the videos on my Facebook page and I've got 11,000 views already.
I was so happy that I got out there and did something.
They've become historical foot prints of what happened in 2020.
I'm really happy I was able to contribute to the wellbeing of Covid-positive mental health.
Covid has silver linings. For The Smiley it's charity. That's the way we can face this.
Then: Nissen was locked down in the Hokianga with husband Paul Little and dad Cedric Nissen. Life was pretty normal for the trio, who lead fairly isolated lives anyway. Nissen did lots of gardening and made cordials, chutneys and jams from the orchard of apples, pears and quinces.
Now: We really loved lockdown, we got really good at zoom.
Before lockdown we had some work but that all went when we lost our jobs at Bauer.
We were working as freelancers, and it was quite a nice balance, then it all went.
So now I'm editing fulltime for a monthly magazine [called Thrive] and we've just put out the fifth issue.
Paul wrote a book [The Covid Chronicles: Lessons from New Zealand] and is now the books editor for new North & South.
He wrote two other books; one about the Casketeers with Francis and Kaiora Tipene, and he's working on another book looking at why there's no cure for motor neuron disease.
We've both been super busy.
I've got another book coming out which I wrote in lockdown, about my mum.
My Mother and Other Secrets is about looking after someone with dementia and about her life.
I'm also now a board member for Consumer New Zealand.
A couple of wild turkeys moved in with the hens, they're now part of that flock.
Regarding Covid, I have a lot more understanding about how Aucklanders are feeling.
We had friends from Auckland stay over the weekend, and when we found out about the latest lockdown [February 28 to March 7] it was quite amazing to see how upset they were and how much it affected their daily lives.
We're quite protected up here, and I'm aware for Aucklanders that they've had enough and it must be awful.
I feel the whole thing has taken a toll on mothers and women, many who have to home school their kids.
We're lucky we live up here and it hasn't affected us as much in the north.
Then: Visser was locked down in Tutukaka with sister Monique, her dog Falco and parents Frits and Chrissy. She put in long hours working on protocols for how to deal with marine mammal emergencies and animal welfare concerns in the light of Covid-19. This was on top of her normal research publications.
Now: For me it was a productive lockdown.
We got a whole lot of projects under way, have published scientific papers, and I've got three book chapters coming out in a book on the conversation of marine mammals.
The Contribution to the Global Management and Conservation of Marine Mammals is coming out later this month, published in Brazil.
I've been grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with international scientists who are usually out in the field. They've been in lockdown.
Because of the way New Zealand has been diligent and sticking to the rules meant for most of us, outside of lockdown periods in level 1 and 2, we can still go out.
A lot of scientists overseas have expressed how well New Zealand has come through this.
Our normal is not everyone's normal.
Because we are so isolated and it's been managed so well, there is very little reality check for us.
The Czech Republic has 10.6m people and they have had around 23,000 deaths. I look out the window here and I'm almost speechless when I think what our world is compared to theirs.
I usually travel internationally up to six months of the year working with NGOs and governments overseas.
Now I can't do this, but there have been work arounds.
There was an inquiry I was supposed to attend for the New South Wales government a few days before the first lockdown, which was postponed.
The inquiry was held on video conference, and the contributions we made were helpful – the government passed on February 26 that the breeding of dolphins and whales in captivity in New South Wales is now banned. It's a huge jump forward.
I have embraced new technology such as video conferencing and zoom meetings.
Now it's quite the norm.
It's been very good for the global environment to have people travelling less.
Some folk are getting a little bit tetchy, writes Kevin Page