My alarm rang at 0430 so I could partake in the roughly weekly Managed Isolation & Quarantine (MIQ) room release lottery so I can return to New Zealand. I had been doing it through my travels around Europe but at times having a friend do it on my behalf.
The randomised entry into the booking was such that I was near the tail end. There were no rooms in the mid-January period which I had hoped for. The only dates available were in December or February. The latter would be a waste of time as one would only need to wait two weeks and home-isolation would then be available.
I went with an arrival date of 28 December 2021 which was a little too soon for my liking. It also meant a quick turnaround after returning to Kuching from my diving jaunt.
Having had plans to go camping at Lake Benmore in early January before I suddenly took on the trip to Europe, it appeared I could revive this plan if I delayed the camping dates by a couple of days. For that reason, I booked a flight arriving in to Christchurch rather than Auckland. All appeared sorted and I rebooked my rental car.
The next day I realised that the new-ish 7-day quarantine regime needs to be followed up with 3 days of home isolation. How or where would I do that? My friends and relatives have elderly household members and it would be wrong for me to ask.
A day after, I had this cracked. I would isolate at Brent and Moira’s while they are at Lake Benmore and then drive down to join them. Whew! I had to make a further shift to the rental car but the whole MIQ booking and resolution afterwards had meant two nights of short or poor sleep.