Post Covid-19: Step 1

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since we last posted; not least of the events would be Covid-19. We had returned home to complete both RV and home tasks before we ran away for real; barking the gardens, installing the awnings and a gathering of friends to meet the new Dogonit etc. etc. I had received a date for surgery on my thumb and we decided that as soon as I was able to climb in the truck we would be ready to run away. The week of surgery arrived as did the intention to lockdown New Zealand so I guess I was not surprised to receive a surgical cancellation the day before we entered level 4.

We decided to stay onboard Dogonit rather than decamping to the house but this plan was stymied by the solar not reaching a full charge due to the trees, so with heavy heart we returned to the house. We completed lockdown like all compliant kiwis (well most of them anyway) and kept ourselves contained in our bubble and can attribute our compliance to staying in good health for the duration.

Watching the devastation in Brazil, USA and UK was enough to deter a deviation from compliance.We survived like most, no injuries or deaths occurred in our bubble anyway and we include Rebecca our house-sitter in the stats.

During Level 2 I received a notification for a new surgery date and this proceeded according to plan with a day stay surgery. Recovery has been straightforward and when I attended the hand rehab clinic for removal of sutures I advised them I would not be returning and they could do their follow-up via email. They agreed, gave me some strapping, physio instructions and the following day we ran away. Not without a couple of dramas negotiating the driveway following heavy rain and getting a little stuck. Luckily we have awesome friends and after a quick call to Sandra, John arrived to pull our sorry ass out of the mud. When you are 16.5 mtrs it is impossible not to drive on the lawn so for us it was a mitigated situation.

We decided to make our first stop Pukekohe, it meant it was a short step and an opportunity to have our ‘shakedown’. The trip went well although we did an unscheduled stop to check on the tyre on the RV Rod replaced the day before as it appeared to have a slow leak.

Pukekohe A & P were expecting us and so we were directed to our park on gravel and set up camp. The days have been quiet doing some maintenance, exploring our next stop and just generally accustoming ourselves again to RV living. The only flies in the ointment was an unscheduled return to home to check an intermittent fault on the security system (thank goodness we were not in the Coromandel), that’s life I guess and the truck getting stuck in the mud when we returned from an outing!! As I said previously, the staff here are awesome and the groundsman offered to get his tractor to tow us and suggested we park in an RV designated park so it doesn’t happen again!! This seems to be developing into a theme lol!!

Had an interesting morning yesterday watching the radio-controlled racing in the A & P grounds, boy can these guys drive although there were some theatrical crashes at times.

We made our decision as to our intended destination and did our homework in regards to access to refillable gas, hard ground etc, a must when you weigh as much as we do and it is winter so the ground is soft. We will surprise you in our next blog with the next destination