Lake Roxburgh

As I have mentioned previously, Maggie had come down with Covid while we were still in the Bay of Islands. This was not something we had planned for, but had to just battle on, taking each day as it came.

It certainly was not easy for Maggie. In fact it was terrible. Although she did not suffer the fever and headaches often associated with Covid, it did manifest itself as a severe gastric flu. She had no interest in food and absolutely no energy. The only thing she really wanted to do was rest in bed, however that was not possible.

By the time we reached Clyde, she really had hit the end of her endurance. She had not been able to do any of the previous riding and it now looked like my riding had also come to an end.

After talking to Tereza (our guide), we were informed that there was a brand new clinic that had just opened in nearby Alexandra. After getting the rest of the team started on the ride, she drove Maggie and I to the clinic. Although she parked right outside the place, by this time Maggie was so weak that she struggled to even make it to the front door.

Fortunately, the waiting room was empty and we did not have to wait long before she was examined and assessed by a doctor and nurse. I have to commend them on how thorough they were, even giving her a full ECG test on her heart. The doctor came to the conclusion that the main reasons for her weakness were dehydration and lack of food. She was immediately put on a saline drip and treated with anti-nausea medication. The improvement was quick and dramatic.

After a couple of hours in the clinic, Tereza picked us up and took us to the hotel. By the end of the day, Maggie was starting to show an interest in food and was already looking so much better. It had been a very worrying time, but we finally started to feel that maybe she had passed the worst, and was about to start recovering her strength and energy.Read more