Trip to New Zealand Cancelled 🙁

We had booked an end March/April trip to New Zealand for a few days R&R.

Getting away from ‘the burn’ and the kerfuffle surrounding the C-virus for a few days seemed like a good idea.

Three hours across the Tasman with Air New Zealand, a night in an Auckland airport hotel and then a short puddle jumper flight the next morning to Kerikeri near the Bay of Islands.

There we were to pick up a rental and head an hour north to a small village on Doubtless Bay with really nice accommodation (well it looked nice on the web) right on the beach.

There were a few restaurants, some cafes and, most importantly a wine shop, in the vicinity. It would have been good to get stuck into a few Central Otago Pinots at local prices. The $NZ is on a par with ours, not like other places eg. USA where our $ nearly halves in value.

No road trips or serious sightseeing were planned, just a relaxing time walking the beach and sitting on the balcony in the sun.

Then the hammer dropped!
Last night the New Zealand government decided, as a measure to stop the spread of COVID-19, all international arrivals from 15th to 30th March would have to self isolate for 14 days. A decision whether to extend that two week period further is pending.
We unfortunately fell into that category. It wouldn’t have been a very relaxing trip. Better to self isolate at home.
So now it’s a matter of cancelling a whole lot of travel plans and trying to get refunds.
Very disappointing.