The pair’s blog about their enforced stay at an Auckland hotel, featuring high-class food and a mini-fridge full of treats, has caused envy worldwide

This article is more than 4 months old

This article is more than 4 months old

A couple in government-enforced quarantine at an Auckland airport hotel are documenting their experience of luxury lockdown – and causing envy worldwide with images of waffles delivered to the door, mini-fridges stocked full of cake, and escorted walks under stormy New Zealand skies.

The Instagram blog thequarantinecanteen_nz has recorded 13 days of quarantine at the four-star Novotel, a lockdown measure introduced by the Jacinda Ardern government to stop the spread of coronavirus. The majority of those in quarantine are New Zealanders, as the country closed its borders to foreign nationals in mid-March.

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Most of New Zealand’s 1,400 virus cases have links to overseas travel and arrivals, and the island country of five million people is now attempting to eliminate the virus with stringent lockdown rules that are among the toughest in the world.

While horror stories have emerged from similar compulsory quarantines in Australia, the New Zealand quarantine is creating envy among many, with glossy food-porn images of high-quality meals, and mini-fridges stocked with treats: “The government has a cake problem” the blog’s authors have said, adding that the whole process has been “really impressive”.

Breakfast on day 13 was poached eggs on a bean medley with chorizo sausage and porridge with spiced apple and almonds, while lunch on day seven was a mushroom frittata with buttered potatoes, a green salad with french dressing, a banana, a cheese scone with butter, hummingbird cake and a can of coke.

Other highlights have included a slow-cooked beef stew, a Thai red chicken curry with mango fried rice, and plenty of fresh salads including caesar, beetroot and feta, and coleslaw.

The authors of the blog, who have chosen not to be identified, said they had put on three kilograms in quarantine, despite taking walks with aviation security staff around the carpark.

“The government has a real cake problem … we asked the kitchen to stop sending up cake,” the author’s wrote. “It was starting to become an issue in our day-to-day”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A mini-fridge full of cake at Novotel Photograph: thequarantinecanteen_nz/Instagram

According to the blog those in quarantine at the Novotel were previously allowed to roam free in the carpark for exercise, but that privilege was cancelled when someone allegedly tried to “run away”.

In addition to the daily 45-minute walk, the blog’s authors said they were enjoying watching the news, home school and exercise TV, the lending library in the hotel’s foyer, and dropping in on the physically distanced knitting group run on the hotel’s front steps. They attended health checks every day, too.

“Making friends is not allowed in the hallways and room-to-room friends are also strictly forbidden,” the couple said.

“But making friends is easy to do in the front car park. It’s very cliquy, think your sixth-form high school lunch hour but most of the world has shut down and you’re living your best life in the front carpark of a hotel. It’s very ‘day of the living quarantined’”.

The couple said the atmosphere at the hotel has been “friendly and relaxed” throughout, but noted that families with children were showing more strain than singles or couples.

According to the government, more than 2,000 people are currently being held in enforced quarantine in more than a dozen hotels across Auckland.

The government has so far agreed to pick up the tab for the quarantine.