No Place Like Home
Words: Pattie Pegler Photography: Supplied
When 2020 kicked off, Canterbury resident, Jane Morris was looking forward to guiding a small group of cruise passengers retracing Shackelton’s 1916 crossing of South Georgia.
As president of the New Zealand Mountain Guides Association, she had guided the trek before and knew what to expect.
The group would board a ship in the Argentinian port of Ushaia and tour the Antarctic Peninsula before those taking part in the three-day trek were dropped off at the start point in South Georgia. There’s not a lot of technical climbing involved in the crossing, but it’s three days of tough terrain, extreme temperatures and no support nearby if things go wrong says Jane.
Jane was travelling on the cruise ship, Greg Mortimer, which left Ushaia on 15th March. With many people already nervous about Covid-19 and the World Health Organisation having just declared a pandemic, there was some question mark over whether the ship would depart. But there were full health checks carried out on all crew, guides and passengers before leaving and Jane dismissed her apprehensions.
“To be honest, when I was in Auckland I intuitively felt that I didn’t want to leave New Zealand.
My intuition has kept me out of a few pickles in the mountain,” says Jane. “But I didn’t go with my gut this time.”
The first few days of the cruise went relatively smoothly. All those on board had their temperatures checked daily. There were morning excursions, lectures on board and evening meals in the restaurant. But on day seven the first suspected case of Covid-19 presented and the ship had to hightail it out of Antarctica. Unable to dock in Argentina and turned away from the Falkland Islands, they eventually dropped anchor in Uruguay in the Rio Plata.
By this stage the passengers were all in isolation in their cabins whilst expedition guides helped crew to carry out daily tasks such as delivering meals. All this was done in full Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).
The Uruguayan authorities were amazingly supportive says Jane, they arranged for food and medical supplies to be loaded onto the ship. And they sent out medical staff to carry out Covid-19 testing of all passengers and crew. Of the 217 on board, 128 tested positive for the virus, including Jane.
The following weeks were tough. Jane and all others that had tested positive were isolated to their cabins, a small number of passengers were removed from the ship and taken to hospital in the city of Montevideo.
But Jane took it in her stride – she developed a routine, doing some stretches and exercises, updating other kiwis on board about possible repatriation developments, dealing with emails, getting involved in the ship’s What’s App group and daily Q & A sessions over the PA system.
How did it feel to have Covid-19? “At that point I felt like I had something, but I wasn’t feeling like I couldn’t function,” she says, “When I thought back the only physical symptoms I’d had had been probably 10 days prior when I felt a bit lethargic and just a bit ‘off’. But I didn’t think it was anything.” But then she had realised, in hindsight, that she had lost her sense of taste and smell and that she’d had a brief feeling of something akin to altitude sickness.
After nearly two weeks in limbo, Jane along with the Kiwis and Aussies on board were to be repatriated. A plane had been secured to fly them to Melbourne and then, for the Kiwis, onto Auckland. They were taken to the airport in four buses travelling the empty streets of Montevideo with an escort convoy of ambulances and police. The ship stranded off the coast had captured the imagination of the Uruguayan people and they came out on their balconies cheering, waving and singing.
“That was the thing I’ll remember, the kindness and genuine response of the Uruguayan people,” says Jane. “That was very heartfelt.”
The flight to Melbourne took 16 hours and passengers were divided into areas of the aircraft – with those that had tested positive and negative kept well separated. They were asked to move around as little as possible during the flight and crew were wearing full PPE. And Jane’s family watched her plane heading home on a flight app.
On arrival in Melbourne, the group of 13 Kiwis were ushered across the tarmac to a private jet that would take them onto Auckland. On arrival in New Zealand they were whisked away to a quarantine facility.
They were assigned a nurse who would carry out daily health checks – monitoring their pulse, oxygen, temperature and answering any questions. A few days in Jane was re-tested for Covid-19 and her test came back negative. Then she was given a ‘coveted’ blue band which allowed her to go outside and walk around the car park, keeping a safe distance from others.
“I have nothing but praise for the way we were looked after,” says Jane.
After 14 days in quarantine, Jane flew to Christchurch and back to her partner, Geoff, and their home in Birdling Flats. Life is isolated and quiet, says Jane and she is getting into the garden and working on some home projects.
And ‘home’ has become even more important to her. “There is nothing like when you finally get home,” she says, “Whenever I come back I think we are so fortunate to live here in New Zealand. It would have to be something quite special to take me out of the country again.”