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07.04.2020 Big decisions. We are in week two of New Zealand's national lockdown. It is not much different from the first one, except that Paul has started to take us for short walks through the neighbourhood. We can go outside as long as we stay away from other people, do not stray too far from home and do not put our safety at risk. The walks are really interesting because as an architect, a true native of Christchurch and a witness of the earthquakes 10 years ago, Paul knows a thing or two about the city. We are trying to keep up with the news, the numbers, the situation at home in Germany. It is interesting to see how the NZ government has swiftly and consistently put the entire country, i.e. four million citizens and thousands of visitors, under complete lockdown, while in Germany all federal states want to have a say in this and there is no uniform stay-at-home order or travel ban in effect. However, how Germany deals with the crisis may soon become really relevant to us. Meanwhile we have come to realise that this global state of emergency and its aftereffects will probably last longer than just a few weeks, both in Europe and here. Our original plan, travelling on to North America at the end of April, is going out the window. Even if it was allowed, it would feel wrong to start cycle-touring New Zealand again right after lockdown, and it will definitely be cold out there. We are okay here, but could make even more of our free time if we spent it at our own place. And we might not get home easily if we do not go now. So four days ago, we signed up for the newly resumed German repatriation programme. It is not easy to leave New Zealand and abandon our travel plans just like that, but these are exceptional times, we are really not in a position to complain, and we truly stay positive. #scoutbound #nz #newzealand #christchurch #lockdown #stayhome #covid_19 #uniteagainstcovid19 #corona #repatriation

A post shared by scoutbound (@scoutbound.de) on Apr 8, 2020 at 4:26am PDT