Venturing Out

We’re allowed out. Saint Jacinda has reduced restrictions further, and we’ve taken advantage to support local businesses and actually visit some places which were closed to us previously.

On Saturday, I went to Zealandia, this time in an official capacity. Wellington City Council has made the sanctuary free for general admission until the end of June, but word hadn’t seemed to have spread much, and the weather forecast was for dampness, if not actual rain, in the afternoon. The valley wasn’t too crowded, but we did have a bonus ruru roosting in the trees so I was able to point that out to people, as well as the more usual sightings of korimako, kererū, takehē, and kākā.

On  Monday, I went to the dentist, to have my crown implant fitted. Yes, going to the dentist is considered an exciting venture these days! I guess they have quite a backlog to deal with, but I’m also guessing that they’re prioritising high-value appointments so that they can get some much-needed cashflow. Anyway, I’m not complaining, as the hole in my mouth has been filled.

On Wednesday, we took ourselves over the hills and far away, via the Remutaka Hill Pass, to Martinborough, to visit some vineyards and try some wines. As it was midweek, not many were open – but this is normal for what is now coming into winter season, where many vineyards are only open to the public at weekends. We thought we’d beat the rush. First call was at the i-site in the library, to establish which vineyards actually were open; the vineyard map, usually reprinted at the beginning of each season, didn’t reflect current events. There were five open, and we had a lunch reservation at one of them. We first went to Luna Estate, and had a tasting there. We then hit our lunch spot, Poppies, where the eponymous Poppy was clearly away working behind the scenes (we’re at the end of vintage, and the process of making wine doesn’t stop just because there’s a pandemic). We had lunch of a shared platter there. They weren’t doing tastings but I picked up a couple of bottles of pinot noir anyway to add to my vertical tasting. I now have 2013 – 2018 in my cellar. Final call was in at Margrain, which I last visited two years ago when Andrew and Zoe were here. They gave us a tasting, but said “no spittoons because the covids”, which hadn’t seemed to trouble them at Luna. They were also the only place that had a QR-code tracking system in place – everywhere else (including the library) were still on paper and pen systems.

On Friday we did Eat The Film – At Home. The Roxy Cinema, our local cinema in Miramar, organises regular “Eat The Film” events whereby they put on a classic movie, and provide drinks and eats related to the film. On one such occasion we were given food and drink at intervals throughout the screening, but that can get a bit cumbersome so these days they tend to just give you one package and a drink before it starts. Now, under Level 2 restrictions, this isn’t going to work, so they’ve organised a take-away service instead: a reheatable meal, and cocktail, for you to accompany a themed film at home. This week’s theme is No Time To Dine, so we had The Pie Who Loved Me, CIA Salad, Goldenrye, and the cocktail Dye Another Day. Full details here:

On Saturday, Nicola was back at orchestra – they were rehearsing in separate sections to meet the maximum 10 people rule. I was back at Zealandia again in the afternoon, so I pulled into the Birdwood car park where I normally park…full. Up the road…cars parked in every available space. This is due to Wellington Council making the sanctuary free for general admission until the end of June; word has now got out, and as it was a sunny day, many Wellingtonians decided to take advantage of this offer! Unfortunately this meant I had nowhere to park. In desperation I went into the Zealandia carpark itself and observed cars coming out. As I’d hoped, these were people who’d been there in the morning and were now departing, leaving some free spaces. Staff aren’t supposed to park there – the logic being that they could prevent paying visitors from parking and spending. But as they’re not paying anyway, I used Cummings’ logic to avail myself of a space. As expected, the valley was full of visitors, so I had plenty of work talking to people, giving directions and pointing out wildlife. I was the only volunteer on in the afternoon, so I gave both mini-talks. We’re supposed to be limiting the talks to maximum eight people, but if twenty-plus people turn up to listen, what can you do? So long as they’re maintaining social distancing that’s OK, but the point of the kākā talk is…the kākā! So, people crowd around to try and see them on the feeding station. Oh well, there hasn’t been a new case of covid in Wellington for a month, and the last person with it got better last week.

I was back on Sunday morning, and even for the early shift the car parks were full. I managed to find a space on Raroa Crescent, and there weren’t many cars parked there by the time I’d finished my shift, so this will probably be my go-to place from now on. Once again the valley was busy, but even so there was plenty of wildlife for people to see. Next weekend the forecast is for rain, so it will be interesting to see how many people show up.

Monday was a rain day, providing 50mm of much-needed rainfall in Wellington, and hopefully similar amounts to the drought-stricken North, but on Tuesday we managed a visit down to Scorch-O-Rama for afternoon tea and cake. We’ve not actually been there for a week! During Level 3 we were there nearly every afternoon.

Restrictions on pub openings have been relaxed, so we were anticipating our first pub quiz in two months. I’d booked the table in The Old Bailey. On the day, they called me (and presumably everyone else amongst their regulars) to let them know that quiz was going ahead. I explained I’d already booked a table, and we were looking forward to it. Later in the day, however, another phone call: only one other team had booked, so it was cancelled. Boo! Were people really so disorganised that they hadn’t anticipated that the quiz would be back? Maybe they had FOGO? Hopefully we’ll be back to pub quiz next week. As it was, we hastily re-organised our Houseparty quiz night, and ordered online from Gorilla Burger again.

Today we went out to The Larder for lunch. We’ve been supporting them with their take-away click-and-collect offerings, but felt it was time to get indoors with them. This is the last week of their country-themed offerings (they’ve done Greece, Vietnam, France, and now Italy) so we both had items from the Italy menu. It’s nice to be back, and it’s nice to be greeted by the regular staff as well.

Level 2 is likely to around for at least another two weeks, but once again there is agitation from various quarters to relax the rules further as quickly as possible. With no new cases for five days, and only 21 people still classified as active, it does appear to be eliminated; but the government is staying ultra-cautious as they don’t want a resurgence, and possible increased restrictions again. The logic here is that we can withstand one lockdown, but two would be really bad. Watch this space…