Back at the beginning of 2021 I wrote about special moments in 2020. How we were able to catch up with both our children – our daughter living in Queensland and our son living in Tasmania. These two states had been closed to us. We had met our son for dinner in Melbourne as he flew through; we met our daughter and family in Byron Bay during school holidays. I had included that I would miss the first “As Time Goes By” class in 2021 because we were allowed into Tasmania and were booked to travel to Launceston for our grandson’s 18th birthday. It did not happen! Tasmania closed to Victoria for a brief period just at the wrong time. They re-opened the morning of the birthday party, but this was too late for us to get there in time.
BUT we were able to travel to Tasmania in April 2021 – exactly two months after our original plan. A permit was required, but this was not a problem. We were able to catch up with the family and treated them to a special dinner as a late celebration of Luke’s birthday. Being just a family group meant we were able to see more of our son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons than we would have done if we had attended the party.
June saw us driving north again, this time to Noosa where our daughter lives. Queensland was open to Victoria. So we spent a week catching up with her family almost exactly twelve months after we had last seen them. We had to obtain a permit, and of course download check-in apps for both NSW and Queensland. No problem here. We did find check-in was not required for retail in either state at that time.
While we were in Queensland, NSW cases started rising. We watched carefully to work out if and how we could get home. Should we cut our holiday short…or add extra time to our stay? Should we do a non-stop trip from Queensland border to Victorian border? Regional NSW was rated as orange. What was the risk that it would be red before we got back to Victoria? In the end we kept to our original departure date. As we left Noosa restrictions were announced there for the day after we left.
We had originally planned to take extra time traveling through NSW but changed our route home. Our initial itinerary had us driving through red zones, which would in theory have been OK provided we did not stop. But one of our accommodation bookings was in a red zone. A new route had us turning inland much earlier. This meant we did not manage to catch up with family in the Coffs Harbour area. Maybe next time!
We arrived home a day earlier than planned and needed to get a Covid test within 72 hours. We were sitting in our car for the test less than an hour after we got home. Results were back before 11:00am the following morning.
So as in 2020, we were able to catch up with both our children during 2021, working around lockdowns and entry permits.
Joy Shirley
February 2022
BUT we were able to travel to Tasmania in April 2021 – exactly two months after our original plan. A permit was required, but this was not a problem. We were able to catch up with the family and treated them to a special dinner as a late celebration of Luke’s birthday. Being just a family group meant we were able to see more of our son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons than we would have done if we had attended the party.
June saw us driving north again, this time to Noosa where our daughter lives. Queensland was open to Victoria. So we spent a week catching up with her family almost exactly twelve months after we had last seen them. We had to obtain a permit, and of course download check-in apps for both NSW and Queensland. No problem here. We did find check-in was not required for retail in either state at that time.
While we were in Queensland, NSW cases started rising. We watched carefully to work out if and how we could get home. Should we cut our holiday short…or add extra time to our stay? Should we do a non-stop trip from Queensland border to Victorian border? Regional NSW was rated as orange. What was the risk that it would be red before we got back to Victoria? In the end we kept to our original departure date. As we left Noosa restrictions were announced there for the day after we left.
We had originally planned to take extra time traveling through NSW but changed our route home. Our initial itinerary had us driving through red zones, which would in theory have been OK provided we did not stop. But one of our accommodation bookings was in a red zone. A new route had us turning inland much earlier. This meant we did not manage to catch up with family in the Coffs Harbour area. Maybe next time!
We arrived home a day earlier than planned and needed to get a Covid test within 72 hours. We were sitting in our car for the test less than an hour after we got home. Results were back before 11:00am the following morning.
So as in 2020, we were able to catch up with both our children during 2021, working around lockdowns and entry permits.
Joy Shirley
February 2022
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