New Zealand starts reopening for business with coffee a hot-selling favourite

New Zealand made a step towards being back to business as usual, with the move to Alert Level 3 today.

Our roads are filling up again, our café queues are getting longer, and in Dunedin, the surfers are turning out to the beach in their dozens.

High on the list of post-lockdown treats is a shot of store bought coffee.

Christchurch café C1 espresso is giving out the liquid gold free of charge, all day.

"The selling of coffee is a small part of what we do, the sense of community and space is more of what we're doing so it seemed like an obvious thing to do," says owner Sam Crofskey.

But a reminder as we are given a bit more freedom, experts say Level 3 is the most crucial stage of our fight against Covid-19.

Dr Siouxsie Wiles says New Zealanders have done an amazing job so far, but right now, we are in a very vulnerable position as a country.

"If we basically start treating life as normal now, if there are some cases there, so some people with the virus that don't know it, we will start to see that exponential growth again and this has been seen in other countries, so it's so important that we keep our eyes on the goal, and we really ease into moving down the levels."

The Government says people still need to stay in their bubbles and is asking Kiwis to still work and learn from home if they can.

And Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is reminding the country, it won't be for long.

"Just keep in mind, we're asking this only for two weeks. We hope it's two, it may be longer if we don't succeed though, so again, how well we do here determines whether or not we will be able to open up New Zealand and open up people's lives again."

It's the new normal for now, but it's a step closer to life as we know it.