Last modified on Fri 2 Apr 2021 03.14 EDT
When Hania Å»Ä dÅo, a new arrival in New Zealand, asked an innocent question about an unfamiliar fruit, she was not to know that she was undermining a national treasure.
As a registered nurse, Å»Ä dÅo and her husband, an anaesthetic technician, had both been granted âcritical purposeâ visas to take up jobs at Dunedin hospital. After landing in Auckland from the UK in late March, they were sent with their two children to the Crowne Plaza hotel for two weeksâ mandatory quarantine.
On day seven, the paper bag delivered to their door with that dayâs lunch contained an oval-shaped, grass-green fruit. It looked like a mini-avocado, Å»Ä dÅo thought, but it smelled citric, almost floral. âI was very happy to get something different,â she says, from quarantine still. âBut I had no idea what to do with it.â