New Zealand’s third week in lockdown was it's most deadly, but as new case numbers continue to fall, NZ remains optimistic that Level 4 restrictions may be lifted on schedule.
A Te Puke woman is looking forward to baking blueberry cupcakes with her two young daughters after catching a mercy flight home from Peru.
The flight touched down in Auckland on Wednesday carrying about 60 people.
It came after ongoing pleas from Kiwis who suddenly found themselves stuck in South America after the country went into lockdown at short notice last month.
Huamash Bejarano had been in Peru since January visiting her mother and extended family.
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She had gone to visit after a tragic explosion claimed the lives of three of her nieces and nephews, and was helping to cook and clean for her brother's family.
She is now in quarantine, after which she will be able to return to her Bay of Plenty home and see her family again.
"It's wonderful . . . I'm locked in quarantine for two weeks but I'm here, you know? I'm happy, in two weeks I'm going to see my girls and [my husband] Lawrence," she said.
Emma Huamash Bejarano (left) has made it back from South America and is waiting to be reunited with her husband Lawrence Charles and daughters, Isabella, 9, and Sofia, 6. Photo / Supplied
The flight cost Huamash Bejarano more than $5000, but was "worth it".
She was looking forward to hugging and kissing her family again and restarting "normal life", however that looked at the moment.
Her daughters had told her they needed some of her homemade blueberry cupcakes, so she expected to be doing plenty of baking when she got home.
Her time in Peru was spent indoors simply watching TV, sitting on the couch and sleeping. Soldiers and police would stop people in the streets to check where they were going, she said.
She was "panicking" as she desperately tried to find a way home.
Huamash Bejarano described it as "a very difficult time" as she wondered when she would see her husband and children again.
"I'm just happy to be home, really."
The whole time she spent stuck in Peru she "wasn't sleeping at all", but finally after returning to New Zealand she was able to get some sleep.
