Emotional scenes at Adelaide Airport as first Sydney flight since borders reopened lands
The first flight from Sydney has landed in Adelaide, triggering tearful scenes as family members were finally reunited – and even introduced for the first time.
SA News
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Nerves were running high and the emotions overflowing at Adelaide Airport on Thursday morning, as the first plane arrived from Sydney since the border reopened.
Families and friends gathered around Gate 23, anxiously waiting for the plane to land at 10.55am so they could be reunited with loved ones after months apart.
Denise and Robert Pride stood pressed against the railing, as they waited to catch a glimpse of their eight-month-old grandson, Luca.
This would be the first time Mr Pride had seen his grandson.
“This is all pretty wonderful,” a beaming Mr Pride said.
After seeing Luca being carried up the walkway by her son, David, the tears flowed for Mrs Pride, who had met her grandson when he was two weeks old.
“We also have two grandchildren in Melbourne, so it’s been hard,” Mrs Pride said.
“I was crying all the way down here.”
David, who was with his wife, Nina Lacy, said it was “fantastic to be home”.
“I’m really happy, mum’s emotional,” he said. “It’s been really hard, no one else in the family has met Luca.”
The last time Louise Price saw her sister, Jane Crowther, was at Christmas last year.
“It’s been foul, horrible”, Ms Price said of the forced separation. “My dad has been really unwell.
“There has been stress on me but also in a different way, I have been looking after my parents, but Jane’s stress of not being able to be here has been enormous.
“There are so many stories of families who need to be together and we’re only one of them.”
Ms Price flung herself around her sister as she entered the airport, while German superstar Hans greeted the visitors by playing Abba’s Dancing Queen in the background.
“I’m feeling overwhelmed,” Ms Crowther said.
“It’s obviously wonderful to be home.”
She said the year had been “really difficult” not being able to jump on a plane and visit her parents without quarantining.
The sisters, along with Ms Price’s sons Zach and Joshua, who had been given the day off school, were off to give their parents a much longed for surprise – a family reunion.
Jude Wainwright was reunited with her daughter, Alice, after eight months apart.
“We normally see each other every couple of months,” Ms Wainwright said.
“It’s been tough, really tough.”
She is not planning on again being separated from her daughter for too long.
“I’m hoping to go to Sydney in October,” she said.
