Australia Covid travel guide: Where you can and can’t go from NSW

As the Omicron variant spreads, several states have reintroduced or scrapped restrictions ahead of New Year’s Eve. Here’s what they mean for you.

It’s time to pack your suitcase and turn on your out of office reply – domestic and international holidays are back on for the summer after months of lockdown.

Despite NSW reaching a full vaccination rate of more than 90 per cent many rules remain in place depending on where you’re heading- and the new omicron variant is seeing plans change overnight.

Masks are now being re-encouraged, the Prime Minister wants to scrap tests for Australians crossing state borders, QR codes will be back in some settings and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is organising to mail rapid antigen tests to NSW households.

But for now, here’s the latest on all the interstate restrictions around Australia as well as New Zealand hopefuls.

NSW

Border: Fully open | Masks: Compulsory indoors | Quarantine: Not required

If you’re planning a holiday close to home or a domestic odyssey, you’re in luck – travel across NSW is completely unrestricted, provided you’re fully vaccinated.

Now that NSW has surpassed the 80 per cent double dose vaccination milestone, travellers who have got the jab can venture into regional NSW to their heart’s content.

You’ll need to be able to show your vaccine passport to enter certain venues like restaurants, cafes and tourist attractions which require vaccination, though it is up to the business owner.

Unvaccinated people can move about freely as of December 15.

Masks are compulsory in public indoor areas, on public transport and inside airports, and QR codes will be reintroduced to restaurants and retail along with the one person per two square metres density limit.

The only people barred from NSW at the moment are interstate travellers who are close or casual contacts from “ places of high concern”, and Victorian residents aged 16 and over as they are required to be fully vaccinated to travel to NSW for holidays or recreation.

International travellers will no longer have to quarantine for 72 hours once they reach NSW as of December 21.

ACT

Border: Fully open | Masks: Compulsory indoors | Quarantine: Not required

NSW travellers keen to travel to Canberra can now do so freely as the border is now fully open to both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

But there is one thing that will stop you from crossing the border.

If you are a close contact of a Covid case you are barred from entering the ACT unless you have an approved exemption- and you must quarantine for 14 days since your exposure before being let in.

Casual contacts will need to complete a self-declaration form, get tested and isolate until negative to be allowed in.

As of December 23, you’ll need to wear a mask again in all indoor public areas like shops, workplaces or hospitality venues, and can only be removed for high intensity exercise, eating and drinking or communicating with someone with a hearing impediment.

You also won’t be able to visit anyone in hospital unless in “exceptional circumstances”.

You will also have to follow QR check-in protocols while out and about in the ACT.

VICTORIA

Border: Fully open | Masks: Compulsory indoors | Quarantine: Not required

Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Paul Jeffers

Victoria has reopened its border to all of NSW, including to unvaccinated people.

Unrestricted travel between the two states started on Monday November 1 for the fully vaccinated, before Victoria downgraded all of NSW and the ACT from orange zones to green under its permit system, allowing all travellers to enter the state regardless of their jab status.

You also won’t need a border permit anymore regardless of your vaccination status, or a Covid test before you arrive.

People who enter Victoria will have to follow the state’s rules like compulsory mask-wearing in public indoor settings and using QR check-in codes.

But if you’re unvaccinated, you will still be restricted in what you can do in VIC- non-essential retail, restaurants and cafes, events and tourist attractions will not allow you in unless you can prove you’ve had both jabs.

Victoria has also scrapped its requirements for all international arrivals to quarantine for 72 hours due to the spreading Omicron variant.

QUEENSLAND

Border: Open for the vaccinated | Masks: Compulsory in some indoor settings | Quarantine: Two weeks for unvaccinated

The Mirage Whitsundays.

Queensland is open to vaccinated holiday-makers, with the state’s government allowing travellers in from the interstate hot spots of NSW and Victoria.

It comes 141 days after the border closed.

As of 2am on December 13, fully vaccinated NSW travellers will be able to enter the state by road or air, but must have an approved border pass, undergo a PCR test and return a negative result in the 72 hours prior to departure.

Queensland has scrapped the need for a negative PCR test on day five.

And all arrivals, regardless of vaccination status, must get another Covid-19 test on day five after arriving in Queensland.

NSW/QLD border zone residents with a border pass will be able to move freely across the border, no test required.

Unvaccinated people arriving from hot spots must arrive by air and undergo 14 days’ hotel quarantine, and won’t be allowed in unless their travel is proven to be essential.

Once 90 per cent of the Queensland population is fully vaccinated, there will be unrestricted entry into Queensland for vaccinated people, but the unvaccinated will still need to do “a period” of quarantine.

Once you are allowed in, you’ll need to follow relevant rules such as capacity requirements in venues and using QR check-in codes.

Masks are also mandatory in QLD in supermarkets, shops, on public transport, and vulnerable settings, but on December 22 Annastacia Palaszczuk announced they would also be needed in cinemas and theatres.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Border: Open for the vaccinated | Masks: Compulsory indoors | Quarantine: For the unvaccinated

Fully vaccinated travellers are finally welcome into South Australia again with the southern state throwing open its borders to NSW and Victorian tourists from November 23.

And the state has now relaxed its testing requirements for domestic travellers.

Travellers from NSW will no longer need to queue up and have a COVID-19 test on arrival, but it is recommended travellers get a rapid antigen test on arrival.

The new measure adds to existing rules for travellers heading to SA, including that if you live in an LGA which has any Covid community transmission you need to have a test 72 hours before arrival into the state.

The Barossa Valley.

Unvaccinated travellers will need an approved exemption to enter for occasions including funerals or end of life visits and will be able to home quarantine if select criteria is met.

But all travellers to the state will need to complete an online border entry process – to be known as EntryCheck SA regardless of vaccination status.

Tourists will have to wear masks at airports, healthcare services, personal care, passenger transport and in indoor public spaces.

They must also use QR codes and follow density requirements, which have recently tightened to one person per four square metres indoors and one per two square metres outside.

Family gatherings will be reduced from 30 to 10 people.

And once unvaccinated travellers are released from quarantine, they won’t be able to go to nightclubs or other high risk venues, according to the road map.

The next update to South Australian restrictions is expected at 90 per cent double dose.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Border: Open to the vaccinated | Masks: In some areas | Quarantine: For the unvaccinated

As of December 20, free travel for the fully vaccinated has resumed into the NT- but there’s a few strict rules you’ll need to follow to be let in smoothly.

At the border, you‘ll also need to show proof of your vaccination status, and have a completed and approved border entry form.

But testing rules have changed, with officials announcing on December 22 that interstate arrivals would no longer be required to take a PCR test on day three and day six upon arriving in the NT.

Instead, they must take a rapid antigen test (RAT) provided to them at the airport.

Children under 15 who aren’t vaccinated will be treated the same as the fully vaccinated.

While unvaccinated people who have an approved exemption are allowed to enter the NT from NSW but will have to undergo two weeks in a quarantine facility at their own expense.

Anyone without a valid excuse who is unvaccinated or has been at an exposure site interstate in the last 14 days will be turned away.

Once you’ve been permitted entry – or completed your quarantine period- you’ll be allowed to go about your business in the NT, but must stay away from designated “exclusion zones” which include remote Aboriginal communities for 14 days.

You also will need to download and use the G2G check-in app as you move about, and wear a mask in certain regions.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Border: Closed with limited exemptions | Quarantine: 14 days at home

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Perth. Picture: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

After a long wait, WA Premier Mark McGowan has revealed a start date for free travel to Australia’s westernmost state.
The door will open to WA for fully vaccinated travellers on February 5 next year, Mr McGowan announced on December 13, but there will be a strict list of requirements to meet before tourists can come in.
You will need to have an approve online border pass, a PCR test and test negative within 72 hours of leaving for WA, and have another PCR test within 48 hours of arriving in Perth.
There will be no need for fully vaccinated travellers to quarantine, but the unvaccinated will need to complete hotel quarantine.
Once you’ve arrived, you will only need to wear a mask in high risk areas like hospitals, public transport and airports, and will need to follow check-in protocols at all public venues.
You will also need to prove you’re vaccinated to be allowed into large events, get into sports stadiums and go to nightclubs, and will have restricted access to remote Aboriginal communities where necessary.
But until then, NSW is still classified as a high risk zone by West Australian officials, meaning only a limited selection of people travelling for strict essential reasons can only enter with approval and must self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival.
The list includes senior government members, military personnel, federal MPs, specialists required for work that can’t be done by a person in WA and anyone who is approved by the State Emergency Coordinator.

Self-quarantine is allowed, but you may not be allowed to enter WA if you don’t have a suitable location to isolate in.

You must also prove you are fully vaccinated, get tested 72 hours beforehand, wear a mask and not quarantine more than 200km away from where you arrived in WA.

Once you’re let out, you’ll have to follow local Covid restrictions- right now nightclubs are closed and masks are mandated indoors in public spaces.

TASMANIA

Border: Open for the vaccinated | Masks: Compulsory indoors | Quarantine: For the vaccinated

Table House Farm at Table Cape, near Wynyard Tasmania.

NSW travellers hoping to head to Tasmania without needing to quarantine can finally set off after the border opened at midnight on December 15.

But there are some tight restrictions you must follow if you want to make it to Australia’s island state successfully.

All travellers entering Tasmania must complete a Tas E-Travel pass via the Tas E-Travel website.

Those from high risk areas of NSW- a list which currently includes the Camden, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Liverpool, Newcastle and Wollondilly LGAs- will need to test negative 72 hours before travel.

If you have been to a recent Covid exposure site, you will be barred from entry.

Those travelling internationally will be required to quarantine for seven days.

Face masks are now mandatory in all public indoor settings again, and you will need to follow Tasmania’s social distancing rules and use the state’s QR check-in app while out and about.

Unvaccinated travellers will still be required to apply to enter Tasmania, and if approved, quarantine and other conditions may apply.

And anyone who has travelled from the nine African countries shut off from Australia will need to quarantine for 14 days in the state they arrive in before Tasmanian officials will permit entry.

NEW ZEALAND

Border: Closed with limited exemptions| Masks: In all indoor public places| Quarantine: 14 days

Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand. Picture: Mathias Ortmann

Kiwis have been free to travel to Australia without quarantine as of November 1, but NSW travellers aren’t welcome across the ditch just yet.

The travel bubble set up between New Zealand and Australia earlier this year has yet to resume, with travellers only allowed into our closest neighbour for a short list of exemptions.

And you will need to be fully vaccinated, complete a travel request form, prove you are vaccinated and test negative to Covid within 72 hours before arriving in NZ.

You will also have to complete a mandatory seven-day quarantine period once you arrive.

Most of New Zealand is on Alert Level 2, meaning you will have to wear a mask on public transport as well as in all retail and public venues.

The NZ government last suspended travel with Australia on September 17 for a further eight weeks, with the decision set to be reviewed in mid to late November.

Originally published as Australia Covid travel guide: Where you can and can’t go from NSW