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Some New Zealanders taking advantage of the quarantine-free safe travel zone with New South Wales and the Northern Territory plan to head directly to other states once they have landed.
The first quarantine free flight, NZ103, which took off from Auckland for Sydney on October 16.
Photo: Supplied / Air New Zealand
But the message from at least one of those states is clear: They would rather the kiwi hordes stay away.
For Helen Kerr, it has been a long road to get to this point.
Nelson’s wife was supposed to leave New Zealand for Melbourne in March, even quit her job and rented her house.
But his flight was canceled when New Zealand went into lockdown.
“I have a new grandson who was going to be there for the birth but I couldn’t attend, he will be two months old next week on my arrival day, very exciting, [I have] a granddaughter who is about to turn six, I haven’t seen them in a long time. “
The new safe travel zone means New Zealanders can travel to New South Wales and the Northern Territory without spending 14 days in quarantine.
From there, they can travel as long as state lines are open. That means Kerr can now enter Melbourne.
“Well we only got to catch one flight to Sydney and from there I will fly on Jetstar to Melbourne separately.”
While some are taking advantage of the safe zone as a way to reconnect with family, some Australian state authorities warn that tourists should refrain from romping around the country.
To enter South Australia from another state, you simply need to register your intention to travel.
But South Australian Tourism Commission marketing manager Brent Hill said kiwis shouldn’t take that as a green light to head to places like the Barossa Valley in droves.
“As much as we definitely want to see Kiwis here, we love having them here, they are great tourists, they move and see a lot of our state and we think we have a lot to offer New Zealanders.
“I think from our perspective it’s reasonably complicated and convoluted at the moment in terms of how they can travel, I guess our advice would be when I’m free to move and travel both ways, which is probably the optimal time to come.”
Hill said he understood that people wanted to make urgent trips to see friends and family, but he has a message for those going to the state.
“If people intend to do things like travel to New South Wales and then get in a car and pass, they don’t want to get caught and find themselves inadvertently quarantined or something like that, and I think it’s just easier, it shouldn’t be too far that we have an open bubble at both ends. “
In a statement to ControlSydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said he expected most New Zealanders traveling to NSW would do so for family reasons.
However, he said the safe zone was an important milestone in the travel industry’s recovery.
“Months of preparation have been invested in establishing the protocols around Covid’s safe international travel and we look forward to taking this template and applying it to other international markets when the government gives the green light.”
New Zealand has yet to confirm a quarantine-free bubble with Australia, which means those returning from there still face 14 days in quarantine.
Although, Air New Zealand says that about 90 percent of the passengers flying to Australia this morning were going one way.
The airline said flight NZ103 from Auckland to Sydney today was relatively full, with most booked for one-way travel.
A spokesperson said the limit on passenger arrivals to Sydney was now removed from quarantine-free flights, allowing Air New Zealand to transfer some people to an earlier flight.
