1-7 – COVID-19 Summary of the Beginning

 

Family Meyer on the beach in Titikaveka. Our home for the coming weeks - maybe months

The recent event of COVID-19 changing the world drastically and at an unprecedented intensity has prompted us to rekindle our Blog azurecoconut. We initially started it when a lifelong dream, one of those bucket list things, came true in living up north on Manihiki. Now, our other dream of living on Rarotonga is at risk and we started writing again. Mainly as a coping mechanism for ourselves but also to give friends and family overseas easy access to information about our current situation. We are still living the dream, even though it has radically changed during the last two weeks. Like for everyone else on the planet our world has been turned up side down. 

We are still working on the format of the blog so will try different things. This week I wrote in German which felt just more natural. Lucile will join with French posts. Once a week we will try to send out a summary in English. Please, enjoy this week's summary below. Happy reading and keep well.

How we got to be on Rarotonga:

We learned about the Cook Islands and Rarotonga in particular in the Summer of 2007 while researching a trip to get to university in Christchurch, New Zealand. It took one visit to lose our hearts to this small island, a second visit to receive a job offer and a third one to start a life on one of the most beautiful islands in the South Pacific. This is a good decade ago now. Our Rarotongan adventure started in 2010 in the dive industry and took us from there to Aitutaki where we made our first steps in Resort Management. The adventure continued with two kids ,an incredible experience at Nautilus Resort with Jane & Paul Pearson (forever grateful) to sitting on the deck of Villa 5 at Royale Takitumu in Titikaveka. Here, our journey has peaked 2.5 years ago when John & Rose Dunn approached us and asked us to join them on their voyage to create Motu – the first beachfront art boutique resort in the South Pacific. How can we now sum up the events of the last two weeks? During our directors meeting at the beginning of March we discussed a full bathroom refurb, a pool bar and guest laundry. Now, we are planning a chicken coop and a kumara plot on what was to be our Yoga lawn. These are truly turbulent times that we find ourselves in.

During the coming weeks and hopefully not months we will be sharing stories (500 words to keep it relevant and digestible + 2-4 photos per post) from our daily lives being stranded on this beautiful and very remote island. Sub consequently we are fortunate to be in one of the safest places on the planet when the PAUSE button was pushed.

Sunrise over Titikaveka Lagoon

1 – COVID-19 – Der Anfang (The Beginning)

This post tries to introduce Rarotonga as a destination and place it on the map. We are 11 hours south-west of Los Angeles, 6 hours east of Sydney and 4 hours away from Auckland. The international airport sees about 20 arrivals and departures weekly and even has a direct link to our neighbours in Tahiti. Air New Zealand is our biggest airline, followed by Virgin Australia, Jet Star and Air Tahiti. In addition, we have the wonderful local Air Rarotonga servicing the Pa Enua (outer islands) (Rarotonga is one of 15 islands in the Cook Islands). Over 70% of the GDP is created by the Tourism Industry and so the island and its people have been hit hard by COVID-19.

Honeymoon at Pacific Resort Aitutaki - the good days

2 – COVID-19 – Danke, Sabine! (Thanks, Sabine!)

Sabine was my travel agent and she changed my life. For good. For the better. She booked me on my first flight to visit Rarotonga. Meitaki ma’ata, Sabine! Without you, we would have never arrived here on these beautiful shores and would never have been able to live this South Pacific adventure for the last decade. The short version is: we have arrived with two backpacks, now we have two children (both born at Rarotonga Hospital) and are managing what probably is the most exciting property in Rarotonga at the moment. Well, for us anyways. What a blessing to be reporter and editor in unison😊

Getting prepared - local belssings

3 – COVID-19 Neuseeland, in 48 Stunden ist lockdown und wir gehen durch den Garten (NZ is going into lockdown in 48 hours and we are strolling through the garden)

Things are starting to get serious. We are fare welling our final guests – hopefully not for the season but just for the moment. The[A-RT1]  preparations to pack up the resort are in full swing: we are putting away outdoor furniture, covering indoor furniture, water blasting, and hoping to stain, paint and maintain everything else that during the season we simply do not find the time to do. Our mantra is: focus on the rebound! There will be a time after COVID-19 and the better our prep is today the quicker will we be able to welcome guests again in the future! Picture the Phoenix. And we are harvesting the fruits from the garden and sharing them with the staff. Usually we keep a bunch of green bananas in reception as decoration but now it is hanging from a beam and is food source for our breakfast and the preferred afternoon snack.

Getting things sorted before Code Yellow

4 – COVID-19 – Kleine Deutsche Seele (Ah, the German Soul)

I noticed that the warrants of fitness for both personal and business vehicles were to expire on 30^th March so thought this needed to be fixed. What if the island goes into lockdown and I have an expired warrant of fitness? Only a German could think that way, really. We are so conditioned to follow the strict rules that even after 10 years in paradise it is not out of my system. Maybe an excuse could be found in numbers. There are about 84 million Germans on the landmass equivalent to New Zealand’s. The country would just tumble into chaos if Germans were not abiding by the rules. Imagine what our seafood situation would look like if we had the same regulations as NZ? Both WOF are now renewed and valid until 23^rd September 2020. Breath little German soul, breath😊

Text Message from Ministry of Health

5 – COVID-19 – Code Yellow (Code Yellow)

With New Zealand entering total lockdown and level 4 on their scale the local authorities have called for us to go into Code Yellow. One of four codes: blue, yellow, red and green. It basically serves to make everyone aware of how serious the situation is. People were still being pretty relaxed about social distancing and keeping to themselves. For us at work it meant the last day with the team. Now it is only us as caretakers and we are only communicating via messenger. We had one final good laugh staging a photo to showcase our social distancing skills on the freshly water blasted beach loungers. A personal favourite of mine when German guests check in. There is nothing funnier than true stereotypes and one of the German tourists is that they get up before sunrise to place their towel on their lounger. We are marking our territory before sunrise! Then we go back to have a snooze and cause a massive scene on the beach when the American tourist is not accustomed to the German beach customs (which only apply on overcrowded beach in Spain, really) who has wrongfully claimed what was to be the German prime spot for the afternoon beach session. I always tell my fellow compatriots, at full occupancy we have 20 in house guests and there are 20 loungers on the beach, so please enjoy sleeping in. And guess what? They appreciate it! Danke schoen!

The joys of gardening

6 – COVID-19 Bird of Paradise – Einfach mal was Neues machen (Bird of Paradise – Try something new)

One of the advices we read again and again on social media is to just try something new against the anxiety and boredom and lack of social interaction. My son and I went for a nice stroll through the garden in the afternoon and started cutting some flowers. What started small turned into a real activity and at the end we ended up with two colourful bouquets of tropical flowers. Our ladies were impressed when they came to the dining table and saw it was decorated with the flowers we had arranged. It was fun not to think about what is going on in the world. Liberating to switch off the phone for a wee while and not read up on more bad news from around the globe. Bonding while spending time with my son doing something we had not done before and realising that we actually really enjoyed it. Appreciating the little things might just be the key to navigate these troubled times.

Fingers crossed it stays that way

7 – COVID-19 – Kein Corona da und kommt hoffentlich auch nicht rein (No Corona here and that hopefully remains the case)

The government communication has improved immensely during the cause of this week. The Ministry of Health is sending out text messages, the local Puna came around the houses to register everyone, their village support centres are fully operational and the Prime Minister is giving live stream updates in regular intervals. If now the support package for the workforce is actioned next week as promised everyone might get a moment to relax. It’s the uncertainty that is stressing people out at the moment. Once people feel that the government is doing its part to support the people things might be not as bad. Yes, it is stressful. Yes, it is hard. But during our busy lives we never find or take the time to ring our parents, read that book, learn this language or listen to Puccini from beginning to end. Well, this time is now given to us. Let’s make good use of it and challenge ourselves to learn something new, have daily goals, meet our targets, develop ourselves and be there for others. Social Distancing is a must, absolutely paramount but do not stop communicating. Call your friends, ask them how they are doing. Especially those ones that are here without(?) the support of their families. We are all in this together. Let’s focus on the positive, our families, our communities. Look out for each other now to have the strength to come back stronger than ever!

#weareinthistogether

#tourismstrong

#keepwell

#postponedontcancel

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 [A-RT1]You haven’t mentioned moving in the resort and packing our house