Christchurch Press, Stuff, 14 April, 2020
New Zealand mountaineer Jane Morris was employed to lead a cruise-ship expedition retracing Shackleton's crossing of South Georgia. Instead, she ended up delivering meals and cups of tea to passengers stuck on board a coronavirus-stricken vessel.
Morris, 45, who lives in Birdlings Flat, south of Banks Peninsula, is currently in Auckland at a "posh prison" quarantine facility after she was rescued with 12 other Kiwis off the Greg Mortimer cruise ship that spent two weeks anchored off the coast of Montevideo, Uruguay.
The NZ Mountain Guides' Association president said the rescue mission had been "surreal" as four busloads of infected passengers were transported off the vessel like "hazardous goods cargo" to a chartered medical flight to Melbourne.
JANE MORRIS
Jane Morris, left, at Doumier Peak with Guy Wittig, Kevin Nicolas. and John Clifford, was leading a cruise-ship expedition retracing Shackleton's crossing of South Georgia when coronavirus struck.
"The most remarkable thing was the reception we got from the locals. We had massive entourage of royal proportions, including police, and we had the most amazing send off," Morris said.
Cousin Jane and Kahu are in lock down in Auckland. Kahu has seven days to go, Jane has a few more. Hard yards. But a first world problem. The devastation for people in poverty will be immense. They are already excluded and will sink further. In a global interconnected economy, this has implications for us too. We are insulated for the time being by wealth but the waves will reach us sooner or later.
In the meantime, in Cashmere, I'm insulated. My issue right now is motivation working at home. I can't connect to the school system in spite of help from IT and I've got to organise lessons and motivate kids, as well as monitor engagement from a distance. I'll do what I can. I'm sure parents are bewildered by this turn of events.
I have a bike ride then connect with Kahu and give him advice, "Leave your room." He's still looking down. Gotta be a learning curve but I'm his mother and I feel for him. The Covid news is promising here in New Zealand, 15 new cases today and Jacinda and Ashley discuss a reversion to alert level 3. It's like watching the clock in a double period with Year 10's and seeing there's only 15 minutes to go. Relief and real hope of getting life moving again. The world total has gone beyond 2,000,000. Our strategy means we can watch and consider options. Is it a pipe dream to suppose we will eradicate? Going back to social contact poses questions and will reveal insecurities and uncertainties. Easy does it.
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