

Last Monday, my partner and I flew to Queenstown, excited to finally get married in our dream mountaintop wedding. The COVID-19 alert level was at level 2, and I posted a Instagram photo of Diony, two seats away from me, with the caption: “There’s at least one seat between each passenger. Good on ya @airnz!”
The moment we landed and our phones could be switched on, we saw the news that COVID-19 alert level 3 + the imminent level 4 lockdown had been announced. Our wedding was cancelled as the company could no longer operate, and everything in Queenstown was closed.
The next two days flew by quickly, in a blur of anxious phone calls and messages as we tried to get a flight home before lockdown. Luckily, on Tuesday, it was announced that the deadline to get home via domestic flights was extended to Friday. Yas!
With that, we breathed a sigh of relief and made the most of our next three days in a Queenstown hotel. With stunning views of Lake Wakatipu from our two balconies, we spent this time eating nothing but room service food (we ate twice at the hotel restaurant before it closed), watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and playing board game Fog of Love, while Diony played games and I read books I’d luckily brought with me. We also went for a walk along the lake on our one trip to the local supermarket. Did I mention it was absolutely freezing in Queenstown? I’m so relieved to be back in Auckland!
Our wedding wasn’t the only thing that was cancelled / postponed. Our honeymoon to Japan has also had to be put on hold, and with that, our NZ mini moon at a beautiful sanctuary we booked to replace Japan when overseas travel was banned. Am I devastated? Yes and no. Becoming Mr & Mrs would’ve been wonderful after planning for over a year, but looking at the bigger picture, it’s more than okay to wait. Plus, we now have $12,000 in Topdeck Travel credit and $3000 in STA Travel credit to use when the crisis subsides!
It is SO good to be home. I decided to keep my leave for another week to sort things out and settle into life for the next 4 weeks, and it’s already paying off. Here’s how I’ve spent my time at home so far, and what I’ll be doing for the rest of April ❤