If you're itching to head overseas we have some good news!
After nearly a year shut off from the world, New Zealand is cracking open its borders, with a trans-Tasman travel bubble allowing two-way quarantine-free travel with Australia.
NZ's Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced on Tuesday the bubble would open from 19 April, allowing quarantine-free travel between the two nations.
Travellers from NZ have been able to enter selected Australian states without quarantining since October but the arrangements did not apply in the other direction.
Aussie PM, Scott Morrison, applauded Ardern’s announcement while airlines in both countries hurriedly advertised hundreds of weekly flights and routes.
At a press conference Ardern said she was “confident not only in the state of Australia, but in our own ability to manage a travel arrangement”.
“Quarantine-free travel will not be what it was pre-Covid-19,” Ardern said. Travellers would not be able to travel if they had cold or flu symptoms or were awaiting a Covid-19 test result, she said. They would have to wear a mask on flights, and provide contact details for their time in New Zealand.
She also said there would be random temperature checks at the airport and laid out a series of scenarios in which the bubble might be affected by new Covid cases, saying that “neither one of us wishes to export Covid to the other country”.
So where do you want to go? These galley of images from walks in NZ might inspire you!