When can we visit Australia again?

I think they are opening up Sydney and Melbourne in November this year. That was on our news yesterday anyway together with that gruesome Irishman in charge of Qantas.

Dear grans and grands, a lot to f us in the same boat, but as GreenGran says “We must soldier on and hope for the best!” And of course “Thank heaven for the internet”!

Spice I think that you will find that Nov 1st is only for Australian nationals.
Here is the photo of the link to the whole article. Sorry can’t do proper links!

Mrsdof. My sympathies to you, and your family. You are really having a tough time.

I have a DS and DIL in Sydney, a DD and SIL + 4 year old GD in Perth, and a DS and DIL + 17 month old GS also in Perth, whose birth I missed because of Covid.
At 82, I am just hoping to stay fit enough for the long journey when they finally allow it.
However, I feel even more sympathy for the Aussies who haven't been allowed home yet. Some of them must be in dire straits with money and employment, not to mention missing their families.
We must just soldier on, and hope for the best. Thank heavens for the internet!

It’s now nearly 3yrs since we have seen my eldest GS who lives in Perth and my middle son who lives in Melbourne. Miss them both dreadfully. Haven’t seen my gorgeous eldest sister, who lives in America for 3yrs either and now she has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Liver Cancer just a week after she lost her eldest grandson in a house fire ? ?. All this nearly a year after we lost our 101yr old mother to this damn COVID. None of them could attend her funeral . We were hoping she would be able to come over to UK so that we could scatter Mum’s ashes, but now that seems unlikely! So desperately sick of all this bad news. Just hoping for some better news regards travel (if we can afford it )

My DS & family have booked to come to UK from Melbourne for Christmas! I really hope it will happen as we will get to meet our darling GSs (2&4 months) who we haven’t been able to meet yet. It may not be the best time to visit as far as weather- but my sons UK family cannot wait to meet his beautiful family

DD2 in Brisbane phoned last night with the same news Spice?

Thanks Spice101 we’ve got to keep positive! (Or negative in this case)!

This may be of interest to some of you:

Victoria will scrap quarantine requirements for international arrivals.

(Double dosed and test neg here of course)

Arrivals will not have to quarantine at home or in a hotel

Likely to happen same day it happens in NSW - Nov 1

Also,
Queensland I believe is opening their borders to overseas travellers from December 19th

Glad I visited regularly when I could for all sorts of reasons. I knew one day it would stop. It’ll be left to the younger generation to visit the older one, but I have a sneaking feeling they might just come back for funerals.

With the rising number of cases here in the UK, I’m beginning to think Australia and New Zealand will never let us in. Yesterday Morocco announced they’ll be no further direct flights between Morocco and the UK.

BlueSky

I can think of worse ways of spending 27hrs than resting, eating and drinking. Well worth it anyway, would hate to think I’ll never be able or fit enough to do that again.

?

And then, if there are health problems, the insurance costs as much as another flight.....

I can think of worse ways of spending 27hrs than resting, eating and drinking. Well worth it anyway, would hate to think I’ll never be able or fit enough to do that again.

Good posts PamelaJ and Maddyone.
We saw our family from Perth in August 2019 and hope we can see them in 2022.
We’ll go there if we can in April Last time we paid to bring them here because that way our son gets to see his three brothers and the cousins all get to be together.
Fingers crossed it’ll happen for us all.

Good post maddyone.

We have all suffered I think.

PamelaJ is right I think. As well as loss of liberty and social life, nearly everyone has friends or family in different countries, or different parts of the same country, who they have been unable to see. Covid has been cruel in so many ways. The greatest loss is the loss of life, so I think we must think ourselves lucky to be here ready for when we are able to see our beloveds again.

Lucca

Kalu

I would love to say I have only seen my daughter intermittently during the pandemic. The truth is I haven’t seen her at all for almost 3 years and I have no idea when I will see her again.

Exactly.

We all think we're lucky because we saw them all just before Covid arrived (although I think it was already around before December 2019.)

It could be another year at least, I think, before borders are opened.

I will correct you because I think you are wrong, infoman.
I already know someone who has booked her flight over to the UK ? (not one of my DC).
Some parents are elderly and/or and unable to travel so their DC will come here. Some will pay the fares for their families to come here.
Some love a cold winter instead of the unbearably hot, humid summers. The long school holidays are December - January.

Correct me if I am wrong,but I would have thought most
U.K./Oz/U.K. traffic would be
U.K./to Oz
I think its easier for a parents/grand parents to travel to Oz when their might only be one of you heading down under.
As opposed to having to take a Mum and Dad and possible one, two or three children on the long journey from Oz to the U.K.
When travel starts up again I can see the planes being very full going to Australia but half empty coming to the U.K.
Who would wants to travel to our damp cold climate in dec/jan/Feb.

Thank you Pamela, I'm not holding my breath.

As we only saw our family every 3 years when we came to the U.K. on leave whilst I was growing up I think that I may have accepted the lack of visits better than most.
It is so much easier these days to keep in touch than it used to be.
However I meant this thread to simply inform not to be a contentious issue on who has suffered most. We have all suffered I think.
Josianne will you be able to go to HK? My niece has just gone to work there and the hoops she and her fiancé have had to jump through were unbelievable. It has taken their employers months to sort out their permission. At the moment they are locked up for 21days on Lan Tau. I hope you are lucky.

Ginster is your friend an Australian citizen?

It is all very sad worldwide.
I know a lovely NZ/UK couple who called off their relationship just as it was blossoming because they were having to wait too long to reunite. The girl is distraught.

Each state has their own rules so that has been causing problems for months even without the federal government rules.
Then you have each state closing down different areas (a bit like here) . Aussies are used to being able to travel from one side of a state and inter state at their own will.
I have relatives and friends that have had great problems with being able to work as they live and work in different parts of Victoria when one area is in lockdown, the other isn't and one of them even had to take time off because he wasn't allowed to travel to his workplace, and a friend has even struggled to get from rural Victoria to Melbourne to see her oncologist.
I reckon it will be some time before visitors to Australia as a whole will be allowed in.

Kalu

I would love to say I have only seen my daughter intermittently during the pandemic. The truth is I haven’t seen her at all for almost 3 years and I have no idea when I will see her again.

Exactly.