Gift for first-time grandparents

John Lee received the best birthday present he could have ever hoped for yesterday when he met his granddaughter in person for the first time.

On his 68th birthday, he and wife Tricia touched down in Auckland from Western Australia in the early hours of the morning to be greeted by 3-month-old Poppy Lee. The trans-tasman travel bubble has allowed the first-time grandparents to book an extended stay with sontom Lee and his partner, Hannah Taylor, in the Waikato.

It was an emotional meeting and reunion for the Lees who have been separated for the past 18 months because of border restrictions and lockdowns.

‘‘It has been very hard. You want to be there for the kids, as well as for the granddaughter, and it’s hard not knowing when the opportunity might come to actually be here,’’ John said.

However, after closely following the news in Australia and from Tom in New Zealand, John and Tricia took a punt two weeks before Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the travel bubble, and booked tickets for April 20.

‘‘We weren’t confident, but we had to take the gamble because we so wanted to be here.

‘‘We had already had flights that we booked that Air New Zealand had withdrawn before Christmas, so this opportunity, we wanted to be on the first plane out ofwa. It has been a tightrope, but we are here, it’s fabulous,’’ Tricia said.

When confirmation of the bubble came through at lunchtime on April 6 there was still some trepidation.

‘‘Tricia burst into tears a lot. But even then we knew there was a possibility if something flared up then that could change, but I think the emphasis was on both countries being able to cope with any outbreaks and the mobile tracking which we’ve got is a very, very good safety feature,’’ John said.

The Lees admit it wasmagic to walk through the gates and finally get to hold Poppy.

‘‘To be able to touch her, cuddle her was precious.

’’And cuddling Tom, it’s 18 months since we have seen Tom and Hannah, so that is the longest time we have not seen them, so it was the whole package,’’ Tricia said. It was an emotional reunion for Tom as well who has been using social media, Facetime and video to keep family updated of Poppy’s progress.