Kiwis ready to fly
A year after New Zealand’s borders slammed shut, the trans-Tasman travel bubble has at last opened allowing overjoyed Kiwis and Aussies to reunite. Kate Lord, her partner, Colin, and their daughter, Matilda, pictured, will travel from Christchurch to Adelaide in the first week of the travel bubble.
‘‘I think the thing I am most excited about is introducing my children to the wonderful culture in New Zealand. You don’t get that here in Australia.’’
Shelley Canobie-Harris
When Shelley Canobie-Harris and her two daughters step onto a plane today, it will be with a feeling of delight and anticipation – a stark contrast to their previous trip to New Zealand.
Canobie-Harris, 34, and her daughters Zara, 4, and Ayla, 5, travelled from Australia to New Zealand in August last year to farewell her dying father.
The sombre reality that awaited her was two weeks of isolation in a hotel room with two toddlers, pinning her screaming kids down during Covid-19 tests, and finally saying goodbye to her cancer-stricken dad.
But today, the sadness gives way to jubilation. This time there is no quarantine, no Covid tests, and the loving arms of family to welcome them home.
Canobie-Harris and her girls are among the first travellers to take advantage of the quarantinefree trans-Tasman travel bubble that has finally become a reality.
After 13 years in Australia, Canobie-Harris is finally coming home.
The family have been living in Murwillumbah in the north-east of New South Wales, but will now settle close to relatives in the Bay of Islands.
A few days before their flight, Canobie-Harris told The Press how happy she was to reunite with her family and settle with her two girls in New Zealand.
‘‘I think the thing I am most excited about is introducing my children to the wonderful culture in New Zealand. You don’t get that here in Australia,’’ she said.
Zara and Ayla are just as excited to be close to their grandma and aunties. Ayla even has a special travel companion called Sebastian, a stuffed toy worm given to her by her former teacher.
Sebastian belongs to the class, but got a school-issued ‘‘passport’’ and even a tiny mask to accompany Ayla to New Zealand. Once she starts her new school, Sebastian will make his way back to Australia to rejoin his class.
Across the ditch there was an equal amount of excitement as Australians eagerly awaited
flights coming from New Zealand carrying family, friends and visitors.
Kate Lord, 36, and her family are among the many travellers making the most of the travel bubble to reunite with relatives in Australia.
‘‘The travel bubble is just a huge relief,’’ she said.
‘‘I never imagined we would have to go this long without seeing our families.’’
Lord and her partner Colin have been living in New Zealand for six years and are based in Christchurch.
They will be travelling to Adelaide with their daughter Matilda, who turns 2 in May.
Their first stop will be to see Lord’s family and spend some time on the family farm, before travelling to Sydney to spend time with Colin’s relatives. Lord said she will also be able to see her 95-year-old grandfather during the trip.
‘‘We realise how fortunate we are to see our families. We have many friends with families in other parts of the world, and they are not able to see them. We are very fortunate.’’
From promise to reality
Six flights will leave Christchurch Airport today destined for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The first three all depart between 10.05am and 10.25am.
The first flight from Australia will arrive in Christchurch at
2.20pm from Melbourne, followed closely by a flight from Sydney at
2.25pm. Six flights from Australia are expected to arrive today.
The trans-Tasman travel bubble has been a long time in the making. The New Zealand border has been closed to anyone not a citizen or resident, with some exceptions, since March 19, 2020.
Last May, New Zealand and Australia garnered international attention for being among the first to announce a plan for a travel partnership between the two countries.
The hope was to open a bubble from September, but in August an outbreak of Covid cases in Victoria crushed any hopes of Christmas reunions.
At the time, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that before a travel bubble could be considered, Australia would need to have 28 continual days with no community transmission.
In October, a limited travel bubble emerged when Australia allowed passengers from New Zealand to travel to New South Wales and the Northern Territory without having to quarantine on arrival.
This was, however, a one-way arrangement, and travellers from Australia still had to quarantine upon their return to New Zealand.
When a positive Covid case emerged in Northland in January, Australia moved quickly to temporarily suspend its one-way travel bubble with New Zealand.
On February 4, New Zealand and Australian officials met for a 12th round of trans-Tasman talks in an effort to finalise arrangements, requirements, and implementation planning.
While the Government was reluctant to put a timeframe on the negotiations, business owners, tourism operators and economists continued to press for New Zealand to open its borders to the Aussies.
On April 6, Ardern announced the long-awaited start date of the travel bubble.
‘‘The director-general of health considers the risk of transmission of Covid-19 from Australia to New Zealand is low and that quarantine-free travel is safe to commence,’’ she said.
‘‘The bubble will give our economic recovery a boost and represents a world-leading arrangement of safely opening up international travel while continuing to pursue a strategy of elimination and keeping the virus out.’’
Ardern has said New Zealand and the Cook Islands are working towards a travel bubble by May.