Rasna Purfhottam from Underground City Hair & Beauty had many customers as hairdressers and barbers opened for the first time in seven weeks. Photo / Bevan Conley
Rasna Purfhottam from Underground City Hair & Beauty had many customers as hairdressers and barbers opened for the first time in seven weeks. Photo / Bevan Conley
There were queues outside barbers and boats lining up to get out on the water as Whanganui woke on Thursday to life under level 2.
Cafes and retailers opened and friends and family were reunited as people left their lockdown bubbles for a first taste of relative freedom after sevenweeks in Covid-19 lockdown.
Boaties flock to sea It was busy on the ocean, with Whanganui Coastguard saying more than 80 boats had gone out in the morning, with boating allowed again.
A spokesperson said a lot of the boats had travelled over from Feilding and other parts of Manawatu.
A coffee and a catch up Tim Watson, Mud Ducks cafe manager, said they had been helping customers get used to the new rules.
"It's been a bit of a process just trying to see how everything is going to fit in and trying to get customers doing what they're supposed to be doing as well. You really have to direct people quite a lot," he said.
Whanganui's CBD has once again filled with cafe goers on day 1 of level 2. Photo / Bevan Conley
Mud Ducks has been open since day one of level three and Watson said they were seeing a similar flow of customers yesterday as in the past two weeks.
"It's about the same so far but now people have come in and sat down and had breakfast as opposed to having a scone type thing."
Mint Cafe owner Lez Kiriona said everything had been running smoothly.
He said they'd had a few customers in yesterday morning.
Queues to get that haircut Barber Town owner Matt Gilmore said he had a queue of about 20 people when he arrived at work to open up the shop.
By midday not much had changed and he still had queues.
Three generations of the Crothers family from Mangamahu have headed out fishing off the Whanganui coast. Photo / Bevan Conley
Gilmore said they were operating on a one goes in, one goes out, system with walk-ins only.
He was asking people to be patience in the next few days and respect others who were waiting.
"We will probably be busy for the next few days at least," he said.
Ian Filo from Underground City Hair & Beauty said it had been a full-on day in the shop.
He is working separate hours from his other staff to maintain social distancing.
"I guess through Covid everyone seems to know the deal so all our clients seem a bit more patient, so with appointments they won't mind waiting because they know how full it is," he said.
