Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield had different opinions about whether Aucklanders were allowed to use another person's toilet. Ardern's view prevailed, and you can't. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield had different opinions about whether Aucklanders were allowed to use another person's toilet. Ardern's view prevailed, and you can't. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Step 1 of level 3 in Auckland began today, but those extra freedoms don't include being able to use your mate's bathroom while you're enjoying an outdoor BBQ.
You can't even go through their house to get to the backyard.
Confusion has continued over what is and isn't allowed, in part because the Government released vague rules to begin with, and then changed its mind after more details were released.
The Prime Minister's office, for example, told the Herald that an outdoor 10-person yoga session still had to abide by the two household rule, but this has now been updated so that any 10 people can take part, as long as they are physically distanced.
Then there was the bathroom rule. What if you're hanging out in someone else's backyard in your two-household group of 10 and you need to go?
Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said you could use, as long as it didn't lead to any indoor gathering - he joked that people shouldn't be going to be bathroom all at once.
But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: "If you haven't got a good bladder, don't stay for long."
So if you're going to your mate's place to socialise outdoors, go before you leave your house, and if you need to go while you're there, do it outside or head home and use your own bathroom.
The same goes for children having outdoor playtime at a mate's house.
If you need to go while you're doing yoga with your yoga friends in a public park, you can use public toilets but only one person per cubicle.
The general principle is that these new freedoms should be viewed through a prism of level 3, where there remains a medium risk of community transmission, with active but managed clusters.
Transmission is less common outdoors than it is indoors, but is still possible, so you are "strongly encouraged" to continue wearing a face covering when you leave your home and to keep physically distanced.
You cannot travel in the same vehicle as people from the other household.
You can travel throughout the Auckland region for day trips to do an expanded range of outdoor recreation activities.
Permitted activities are: Going to the beach or a playground, hunting or sailing or boating (all boating activities should be limited to people from the same household), fishing from a motorised boat or vessel, scuba diving and jetskiing.
Outdoor exercise classes are allowed up to 10 people, and the two household rule doesn't apply.
Indoor recreation facilities, including gyms, cannot open.
Overnight stays, for example at your bach or in Airbnb accommodation, cannot happen.
Camping, including hiring a campervan, is not permitted.
Businesses must still be contactless, so close-contact businesses such as hairdressers and barbers cannot operate or visit your home, including your backyard.
Commercial boating companies should not operate.
You can only travel to Waiheke Island or Great Barrier Island (Aotea Island) if you are a resident on either of the islands.
ECE centres open
Early learning centres can reopen to all children, with a maximum of 10 children in each bubble.
Some ECE centres might already be at full bubble capacity, so parents should contact their centres for more information.
Parents and caregivers must wear a face covering when picking up and dropping off their tamariki.
The Ministry of Health is asking - but not requiring - early childhood teachers to get tested before returning to teach, even if they do not have symptoms.
Ardern has talked about considering mandating vaccinations for school staff, which public health experts have been calling for.
