Bots and scalpers: desperate Kiwis try everything to get into Fortress New Zealand

New Zealanders stranded abroad are growing increasingly frustrated with the country's over-subscribed quarantine system

In the age of coronavirus, New Zealand can seem like an idyll: a tightly sealed hermit kingdom, recently rated best place to survive global societal collapse, and one of the last countries in the world to evade incursions from the Delta variant. But the walls of fortress New Zealand aren't only successful at keeping out Covid-19.

With demand for government-required quarantine greatly exceeding the supply of spaces, desperate New Zealanders are going to enormous lengths - employing bots, coders, and $2000 booking assistants - to try to secure entry to the country. For many, the emotional and psychological toll is enormous.