Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Lockdown 2.0 - three perspectives from small town New Zealand

It's 13 months since anyone outside Auckland has experienced lockdown. Covid-19 never left the news but, for many New Zealanders, it was something happening to other people in another place. What was it like waking up to lockdown 2.0? Three generations of women in Greymouth, Gore and Whakatane share their experience.

Sam Friend, 17, Greymouth
Year 13 student, part-time waitress and retail worker

"It was kind of a shock that it was such a quick move. I was kind of annoyed because I found out about it halfway through work. Mum had to go and buy me a phone top-up.

"I was serving a table of teenage girls and all of their phones had gone off. I heard them mention Covid and they were like 'we're going back into lockdown at 11.59 tonight' and I was like 'oh, ok . . . I'll go get your dessert menus!' I didn't really expect to find out like that. I had to help wipe everything in the kitchen down, package fresh food to put in the freezers. You would be really surprised at how many people came in for the TAB. So many people came in for it!

"It doesn't feel very real to me at the moment. We had the first lockdown but, especially here, nobody has been super cautious about it. At work I would only see a handful of people scanning in to the restaurant and that was all the old people, you know? Everybody just kind of ignored it, I guess.

"I only had to wear a mask when I went to the doctors last week because of this virus [RSV] that's going around affecting kids. That's the only time I've ever had to wear a mask. And now, because I'm not leaving the house and it's Mum that's going to do the groceries, it doesn't feel like we're in a pandemic lockdown. It just feels like I'm grounded.

Greymouth teenager Sam Friend was halfway through a waitressing shift when she heard she was going into her second lockdown. Photo/Supplied

"This whole Covid thing, nobody expected it, nobody wants this and as much as we all say 'yay, we don't have to go to school', going to school is a massive part of our lives, especially to socialise. On Wednesday, in just about every single one of my classes, we were going to go over exam preparation and we couldn't, because it was so quick, none of the teachers had time to set up google classrooms or working from home.

"First time round, we were going into the school holidays. After that two weeks, when we had to start doing online school and learning from home, after a long time, it was kind of like 'ok, let's go back. I'm ready to get out of the house'.

Bernadette Hunt, 44, Gore
Beef, sheep and arable farmer, mother of two, Southland Federated Farmers vice president
"Apart from the kids being home from school, nothing much changes. The first time round, we were in the middle of crop harvesting. Oats, barley and wheat. We'd cart them back with a tractor and a really big trailer and it was great, because there was no other traffic on the road - we just had to dodge cyclists.

"I think we feel pretty far removed from it. Having said that, on Wednesday, I had to pop into town to get some groceries and town is dead. Absolutely dead. So that's good, people are taking it seriously.

"We feel pretty lucky - we talked to the kids about this as well - they're not confined to a small section. I'm just looking at my daughter outside playing with a pet lamb and, you know, life just kind of goes on. It's kind of like school holidays for them.

"We've got the daily routine of feeding stock on crops and we've got lambing under way but we're very small scale with breeding animals. Other than it's mostly maintenance time, and waiting for the weather to come right so we can get into tractor work.

Southland farmer Bernadette Hunt (pictured with dogs Chaffy and June) says her children feel lucky they're not cooped up on a small urban section. Photo/Supplied

"It would be a very different experience talking to a dairy farmer in Southland because they're in peak calving right now. The weather has been horrendous, it's the wettest calving we've had for a while and some of the dairy farmers have gone 'yeeha, I've got my high school kids home to help, I've got an extra set of hands' and the ones that have got little kids are going 'oh my God'. Often Mum is an integral part of rearing calves and now they've got to do it with the kids around. They might have usually had Gran or Grandad or a babysitter, but they can't access that while they're in lockdown.

"It felt pretty inevitable really. We all watched the announcement and it was 'here we go again'. It wasn't that feeling of shock or unknown or anything. It was just kind of 'get on with it'.

"When it's just three days and you think we might be out of it next week it doesn't feel like a big deal. When we hear of more cases, it does start to make you think ... oh gosh, are we going to be dealing with homeschooling again and all that kind of stuff?"

Jayne Thomas, 68, Whakatāne
Hair stylist who works in Whakatāne and Auckland

"I was thinking Auckland would go into lockdown because that's what has happened previously, so I was a bit shocked, just at first, thinking 'oh - all of us?' And then it was okay, we've only got three days. Poor Auckland - again.

"I don't have huge overheads, so I can take a couple of days off, have some respite. For me, and where I sit, it is what it is. We just have to get on with it. I feel so blessed that I live where I live and my walks are beautiful, and I didn't feel panicked or anything around my business because I don't have staff. I really feel for every other business person who does. There are hardships, businesswise. I think you're facing the same concerns and worries, if you're in a big town or a small town. You've still got to ring all your clients. The logistics are the same.

Whakatāne hair stylist Jayne Thomas says the long gap between lockdowns makes it easier to deal with a second one. Photo/supplied

"I didn't want to go into lockdown, but I see that probably we have to, so what's the point in struggling with it? I have lots of friends and clients in Auckland, so I knew the second time was hard in Auckland, but I think we've had a long break. I don't feel too bad and I think that's because we've had so much freedom. I'm not anxious about it, and now we're just doing our bit.

"I can hear the birds here even when there is a traffic hum, but today it's just silent - still, still, still. I haven't been into town yet, but it's probably no different to Auckland - just on a smaller scale.

"Some good things came out of that first lockdown. I had clients and you're wanting them to change. In my experience, there were a lot of positives. It gave people an opportunity to change."