New mum stuck in NZ after flying to collect adopted baby

A Queensland Ambulance Service dispatcher has been stranded in New Zealand for three months due to Covid restrictions after crossing the Tasman to adopt her sister’s baby.

A Queensland Ambulance Service dispatcher has been stranded in New Zealand for three months by Covid travel restrictions after crossing the Tasman to adopt her sister’s baby.

Shonara Selway flew to Auckland in July for the birth of her nephew Turi, who she plans to raise on the Gold Coast.

But the trans-Tasman travel bubble closed soon after he was born and she has been stuck in NZ, unable to return home to the Coast.

Her friend and QAS colleague, Nadine Minnitt, has launched an online fundraiser to try to get Ms Selway home.

Ms Minnitt said Ms Selway was paying rent and bills in both countries as she faced another two months of being stranded.

New mum Shonara Selway has been stuck in New Zealand for the past three months after travelling there to adopt baby Turi.

“Shonara is well known and respected by so many people as a kind and giving person with a beautiful soul, always putting others first and being available to help anyone who needs it,” Ms Minnitt wrote on the gofundme fundraiser.

“It would be nice to help Shonara and Turi out with some small donations, to take the pressure off their situation. I know she would do the same for others in a tough predicament.

“This is an easy way for Shonara’s many friends, colleagues and family members to help her out of a sticky situation until she can return home.

“She will have lots of extra expenses including hotel quarantine and luggage shipping when the time comes.”

Shonara Selway (right) has been stuck in New Zealand for the past three months.

More than $4000 of the $5000 target has been raised since the fundraiser was launched just over a week ago.

Ms Selway is the second QAS staffer to have been stranded by Covid restrictions.

Advanced care paramedic Bryce Hill has been stuck in Melbourne after flying down to farewell his dying mother and deliver the eulogy at her funeral.

The Sunday Mail revealed last week that police were struggling to process more than 8000 border pass applications from Queenslanders desperate to return home and southerners wanting to flee Covid-ravaged Victoria and NSW.

Only 245 rooms were available in hotel quarantine to cater for the mass influx, with Queensland Health’s exemptions unit also battling to cope.