13. Bush COVID

Despite being in the bush away from civilisation, I had managed to catch COVID off one our guests.  With me down, either the Lodge Manager would have to do a double shift or one of the people who have their day off would have to work my shift. We were a tight team of 12, with two on their week out and two on their day off.  That left a team of eight to perform the duties of morning cook, evening cook, host, bar, pots, dishes, laundry, and manager. 

My basic but comfortable-enough lodgings consisted of a lounge, bedroom and bathroom.  It was the first room of the staff block, so guides and lodgees all walked past to get to their rooms.  Some people look straight ahead as they walk past, purposely not looking in, but most looked in and smiled.  If I was feeling unsociable or needing some space, I could close the curtains.

I liked to have buttercup flowers on the window sill. Their waxy bright petals added a splash of yellow that brought me joy, especially on the darker wet days.  In early summer there were buttercup flowers everywhere but weeks later the flowers had mostly disappeared.

It was still summer but not what I was used to.  I was as far South and West as one could be in New Zealand, and in a rain forest. We had had a week of rain with very cool temperatures and I sat near the heater trying to warm my sickened body.  I would have loved to gone down to the Clinton river below me and sat by the water, but I had been instructed not to leave my room.

Earlier, before I tested for COVID, I was sitting alone in the wifi room and talking with my sister who was managing my garden in my absence.  She put our call on video and instantly I saw her wearing a big summer hat and sunnies.  Now that is a picture of summer!  As she scanned through the property, I couldn't believe how big some of the tropical plants had become, and yes, my begonias were still flowering red. 

I felt a sense of WHAT AM I DOING HERE WHEN I COULD BE THERE!  In contrast, outside my window was thick dark native bush and other than the sound of a bird calling and the distant hum of the generator, there was bush-silence and stillness. Just before I turned back towards the warmth of the heater, a fantail (piwakawaka) swept past the window and I felt compelled to call out to it.  It sat on a branch and looked at me before spreading her tail feathers out into a pretty white fan.  I watched as she jumped from branch to branch and sang a little tune before flying off, leaving me to my aloneness.

I would have a few days of this ildeness and contemplation ahead of me until I tested negative.  No-one wanted to get COVID because we don't get paid sick leave on this seasonal job. I had plenty of time to finish off knitting the second beanie and start on the third, read another book, sleep, recover.  I was so bored!

The Chef dropped off some lemons so I could make a hot lemon drink.  I had gone off drinking tea because I couldn't taste the tea... just the hot water thanks to COVID affecting my sense of taste! 

For the past three days it felt like my head was being held under water in a vice-grip.  If I blew my nose too hard, it would bleed profusely and then threaten to again every time I tried to breathe through my nostrils.  I should have stopped breathing by all accounts in my heavy sleeping pill-assisted slumber, but somehow it found an airhole and kept bringing oxygen into my lungs. 

Lodgees dropped off fresh water, fruit and fresh bed linen.  The Chef returned and through the closed flyscreen sliding door that separated us that COVID was rampant through the States right now that I probably caught that strain from one of the American tourists that had stayed with us and later became sick on the walk.

I noticed that I had lost a lot of weight since working. We were told at the start to expect to put on weight as Pompolona had the best Chef, but I wasn’t the only lodgee to have lost weight. I put this down to the number of stairs at Pompolona that must be navigated during the day to perform the tasks, plus the long hours and hard labour.

We were fed extremely well and nutritionally too and my body had never been in better shape thanks to the physicality of this job.  I had lost almost all the belly fat that I gained after menopause, as well as the weight that went on after I ate my entire pantry out before I left for this job.

Some sun rays appeared on the carpet near the door so I placed my chair up against the warm glass door and stretched my left leg along it.  The sun could only reach one leg but I could feel the Vitamin D being hungrily absorbed by my unusually pale body.  I settled into the warmth and I picked up my knitting needles to start the third beanie; an olive green one.  After just a few rows I looked down at my leg and the sun had all but disappeared and I could sense my right leg feeling disappointed that it missed out on the sunlight. 

I could see the black diesel exhaust fumes billowing out of one of the two pipes from the generator room, just fifteen steps away.  I watched as it began settling like fog outside of my room and thought sadly how it was polluting the pure air in the bush but it was the only way to provide electricity and keep heaters like mine going.

Just as I was about to put away my laptop, the lodge fire alarm suddenly sounded! Sirens blazed and a recorded male voice spoke clearly "Evacuate the building now!"   I grabbed a mask and walked up to the entrance of the lodge as we were trained to do. 

It was a false alarm however everyone, including the few guests who had already arrived, including the girl in the shower, had to congregate out the front.  It took some time to get everyone out.  The Lodge Manager caught up with me as I walked back and said the fault was coming from my room.  Do you vape? she asked me, seriously.  

What?  Have you ever seen me vape?  No!  We both walked to the panel in the foyer of the staff block and the flashing yellow light was against the guide/lodgee bathrooms and flat.  Okay... so not just my room.  Nevertheless, she walked into my room and checked the ceiling escape for smoke.  CLEAR!

I followed her back into the staff foyer and took a photo of the flashing panel for her to send to HQ and walked up towards the wifi room until I got signal and sent it to her in an email.  I convinced the Lodge Manager that I was fit enough to work and no longer had any symptoms. Perhaps I could do laundry so I wasn’t in contact with the rest of the team. 

The Lodge Manager did the first part of the duty (starting at 5:45am) so I only needed to work in the laundry room and drying room, alone, from 8am to 2pm.  It all went well and I finished on time, and I am very grateful to all the team who supported me during this time.

Fortunately no-one else on the team caught COVID, except for the Chef.