Last year gave us more lockdowns, the Delta variant and, according to the Ministry of Health, the largest vaccination campaign Aotearoa has ever seen.
We are not even two months into 2022 and we are already facing an Omicron surge with a record of more than 12,000 cases reported on Friday - nearly double the previous day.
Eastern Europe is now in the midst of a terrible crisis, with Russia invading Ukraine this week.
Airstrikes have bombarded Ukrainian cities and military bases. Troops and tanks entered the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says civilian sites have also been struck. "They're killing people and turning peaceful cities into military targets. It's foul and will never be forgiven."
Civilians are fleeing for their lives. It's terrifying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ignored global condemnation and he's threatened any country trying to interfere with "consequences you have never seen".
This is a chilling threat.
It is still unclear what the end-game here is.
Putin accuses Ukraine of the genocide of its people and is calling for the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of Ukraine.
This is blatantly false. There has been no genocide in Ukraine. Zelenskyy is Jewish and was elected democratically.
Ukraine is a bountiful, productive country - perhaps Putin wants control of its exports.
Ukraine is desperate to be part of Nato - where it would have the protection of its collective military. Putin is desperate for it not to be.
This is a distressing time, particularly for ex-pats here who have family still in Ukraine.
NZME spoke to Ukraine-born Pāpāmoa woman Lyudmyla Shelton who hasn't been able to go to work or leave her bed since the invasion.
Her 21-year-old son Lyudmils was in training to be a Ukrainian border control officer. Now he will be sent to the frontlines of the conflict with Russia.
"I just heard from my son. He said he would stand with his fellow Ukrainians, protect his family and his grandparents to his last breath, to the last drop of his blood."
She does not know when or if she will hear from her son again.
I feel so sorry for this woman and all the other families who will have to go through the fear and terror of having loved ones in the line of fire.
Imagine the fear of not knowing how and when you'll see your loved ones again.
The freedom of Ukrainians is at stake and Putin, a ruthless tyrant, seems to be single-minded in his need to grab power - whatever his paranoid and misguided reasons are.
This invasion's worst-case scenario is unthinkable. I hope that the flurry of economic sanctions the West is throwing at Russia works in pressuring it to back off - but I don't think they will.
Back here, angry pro-Ukraine protesters converged on the Russian embassy in Wellington on Friday.
They were heard shouting "shame on Russia" and "Putin terrorist".
Now, this is actually something worth protesting about and all New Zealanders should be outraged.
It makes the anti-mandate protest seem like a 2-year-old's temper tantrum.
