Covid-19, Day 5 , Monday 30 March 2020

You may ask, what is Pare-dise, where is Pare-dise? The locals around here will tell you the same thing, it’s here, in Pare.  Paremoremo, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand!

Pare-dise is paradise

The locals affectionately call Paremoremo, ‘Pare’.  And it only seems natural to add the -dise to the end of it, because that’s how it feels being here, it’s just like living in paradise!  It’s a term many of us frequently use.  Savannah Carter-Green, who was responsible for creating the Kai Rakau Project has aptly named her Art Studio – Pare-Dise Studios.

There is also a local environmental project that was started under the umbrella of the Sustainable Paremoremo Group called, The Pare-dise Project.   A project to help enhance the health, safety and connectedness of the natural bush areas in Paremoremo.

Paremoremo

For a starter, most people don’t know how to spell Paremoremo, let alone say it! Breaking it into chunks helps with the spelling, while to say it correctly using Te Reo Maori, it’s Pa-re-mo-re-mo (rolling the r’s).  New Zealanders typically associate the name with the prison, and think, who would want to live there’, while in actual fact, it’s definitely one of the safest  places, (if not THE safest), in New Zealand!   

There’s so many beautiful places, nature is right at our doorstep, the waters of the Upper Harbour surround the area, and you can feel quite isolated here in a covis-19 pandemic, if you choose.  If you don’t choose, you will find there’s neighbours who are willing to do the driveway drinks thing, there’s neighbours willing to help out, whenever and wherever needed.

A Great Hideaway

But the best part is, most people don’t know where Pare-dise, (Paremoremo), is!  Paremoremo is only a 5-10 minute drive from the centre of Albany, or 30-40 minutes from Auckland CBD.  The area is surrounded by water, there’s large stands of native forest and bush, and the community is a well-connected, close knit group of people.  

There’s so many Aucklanders who arrive at Warblers Retreat and say, “I had no idea this place even existed!”  Of course we are very quick to tell them of what the local area has to offer; we do feel very much like local promotional advocates!  However, we know many of the locals don’t want people to know about it!

While the Pandemic is on

Locals have plenty of places to go where it’s so easy to keep their distance from others, and yes the great teddy bear search has reached this part of the country as well!

There’s 41 hectares of land to explore here, it’s surrounded by water and great views, there’s plenty of space for walking dogs on and off leash, but only on leash during the isolation period.  There’s bike tracks, so much outdoor space. 

There’s also the wharf which is normally a popular fishing spot for snapper and kawhi.  It’s a lovely spot to enjoy sunsets over the Harbour on a nice summer’s evening.  Many properties overlook the Harbour and enjoy amazing views and sunsets.  There’s small reserves such as the Chatham Ave Reserve, then large ones like the Lucas Creek Bush Reserve and the Paremoremo Scenic Bush Reserve.  So many places to go exploring, in isolation. 

Many of us have our own land to explore

At Warblers Retreat, we have created our own bush walks which has actually been a lot of fun to do.  Now that we are not so busy, I would certainly like to work on those, but the ground is still pretty dry.  I have a great track, I call the Goat Track, that needs a bit of work done to it.  The bush is the best place to be to escape everything!  We, along with some of our neighbours are keen to join our tracks up to make a larger walking track.  There’s glow worms at night and the creek is very full of native fish, so it really is worthwhile exploring these tracks.  

Wrap up for Monday

So, as I write this, the main noise I can hear is the resident Tui birds who are prolific and gorging themselves on the sugar water. There’s greenery all around, a slight view of Albany, the odd house in the distance, and lots of gardens to enjoy, not work in, well at least for today! And it does not really seem as though we are in lockdown, yet.

The stats today were 76 new cases, and 63 recovered cases.   Our Police Commissioner Mike Bush sent out stern warnings in regard to social distancing for those venturing outdoors for fresh air. The police online system that was established to dub in people, who were seen not doing the right thing, crashed within the first day because it was overloaded with entries!  This makes me  feel proud to be a New Zealander. I feel proud to know that in general people are taking this pandemic seriously, we aren’t a nation of nosy parkers, but  a country of people who generally care for others and not just themselves, and, we care for our country.  Maybe that’s why we have such great sporting success and that we, as New Zealanders, can rise to this challenge, successfully!

It’s great to be here in Pare-dise, NEW ZEALAND!