Everything you can and cannot do once Freedom Day arrives
Relief, excitement and anticipation are buzzing throughout the state as families prepare to reunite, mates get ready to catch up and people get a haircut. Freedom Day is almost here!
NSW
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After 114 days of hard lockdown and months of sacrifice and uncertainty, Monday will bring new freedoms and the start of a well-earned celebration for many.
Relief, excitement and anticipation is buzzing throughout the state as families prepare to reunite, mates get ready to catch up at the pub, and those lucky enough to nab a haircut appointment can start getting on top of our unruly mops.
Freedom Day is almost here, and for many the party plans have already started.
“We already have a pub booked for 6pm and are fighting for that seat at the table with the 4sqm rules in place,” 29-year-old Surry Hills local Anika Tungusova said.
“It’s very, very exciting. I can’t wait to have some wines with the girls or maybe even go to a bar and have some cocktails where you can actually dress up, see everyone face-to-face and have a genuine conversation with someone across the table.”
Parramatta student Luke Ratcliffe, 21, brought forward his second vaccine dose so he could make the Monday celebrations.
“Obviously I’m excited about having a social life again, I’m already making plans with a lot of friends to go out in Sydney once the night life is back,” he said.
Mr Ratcliffe has already booked restaurants and bars for the first week of freedom. But after months of living in an LGA of concern and under the strictest of health orders, the freedom to travel is the sweetest reward.
“I’m pretty keen to see my family again cause they’re all outside of Sydney. And as nice as FaceTiming and calls are, it’s very different from being with the people you care about,” he said.
BACK TO THE PUB
In the pubs, restaurants and bars of Sydney, staff are back preparing for a bumper first week of trade.
Claude Castaldi, 19, started his first shift at the Quarrymans Hotel in Pyrmont this week in preparation for Freedom Day.
“Everyone has just been waiting for this, it’s relief and excitement combined into one,” he said.
Mr Castaldi spent the week cleaning the pub from top to bottom, including scrubbing 114 days’ worth of dust from each glass and setting up the kegs ready for the beer to flow.
Publican Craig Laundy said his venue the Woolwich Pier Hotel already had 177 bookings, with his capacity at 232.
When the venue was closed staff locked away all the spirits, sent back the kegs of beer, flushed out the beer taps and put the pub to sleep for three months.
Now the cleaning, keg orders, food preparation and staff hiring has begun.
“The staff are pumped, they are so excited to be back … when people are walking by, they are knocking on the glass doors and windows and saying ‘we’ll be back on Monday’,” Mr Laundy said.
His message to punters is to “get out, get among it and enjoy yourself NSW — you’ve earnt the right to an icy cold beer, a glass of wine and a nice bite to eat.”
DINING FINE AGAIN
One person who hasn’t left his restaurant is celebrity chef Luke Mangan.
The restaurateur has for every day of lockdown sat in his dark restaurant dining room overlooking an empty George St with a coffee, waiting for the opportunity to throw his doors open.
Now the music is playing, the staff are back in full force, and tables are booked out for their October 20 opening.
“We’ve got staff in the restaurant cleaning and polishing, the music’s on, the lights are on in the restaurant,” he said.
While Mangan is busy getting fresh produce and wine back into his restaurant, his famous P & O Cruise restaurants have been unable to serve Aussies for almost two years, and he hopes the NSW road map and promise of international travel will bring with it the rebirth of local cruising.
“If international flights are happening from November, then cruising needs about three months notice to start up before we can get teams together, ships back into Australia,” he said.
“If that doesn’t happen until January, ships won’t come back until April … if we are looking down the path of international travel opening up, restaurants and hotels, then what is the issue?”
When cruises do resume, it will probably only be for vaccinated customers who also test negative.
Buffets will likely be a thing of the past, dining will be done in family groups, and rapid PCR testing will occur on board for anyone with Covid symptoms.
ON WITH THE SHOW
One of the first big musicals to debut post-lockdown is The Wedding Singer, starring Sydney local Christian Charisiou, who is already emotional about getting back on stage after a year of cancellations and lockdowns.
“I think everybody needs to feel like they can live again and enjoy something again,” he said.
“This show is nothing but joy and I know Sydney audiences are going to feel just as electric as we feel when we step on stage,” he said.
Theatres will reopen in the coming weeks, including the celebrated production of Hamilton at the Lyric Theatre on October 16.
Stars Jason Arrow, who plays Hamilton, and Lyndon Watts, who plays Burr, told Insider the show would be bigger and better than ever after lockdown.
“Even if people have seen the show before, if they are able to snag a ticket, you’re going to see a new show,” Watts said.
Come From Away also reopens at the Capitol Theatre on October 20
Movie theatres also start up again on Monday, and experiences like art galleries, museums and zoos will all open next week.
CLASS TIME RESUMES
Our smallest citizens are also getting ready for life to go back to normal, with Kindy and Year 1 back at school on October 18.
Renae Jury, mum of five-year-old Maggie, said her kids were climbing the walls in lockdown – literally — and getting Maggie back to seeing her friends and learning in the classroom would be a huge relief.
“There’s a bit of anxiety about sending the kids back to school, because at her age she can’t get vaccinated, but it’s definitely pleasing to see they are going back to school,” Ms Jury said.
TRAFFIC BUILDING
Major roads across the Greater Sydney region are expected to heave with travellers, while the public transport system is being ramped up for Monday.
Trains, ferries and buses will return to a dynamic Monday to Friday schedule with capacity increased to 50 per cent. School zones will also be enforced as the term kicks off.
WHAT YOU CAN AND CANNOT DO FROM MONDAY
Visiting and outdoor gatherings: Up to 10 fully vaxxed can visit homes and 30 can gather outdoors. Kids under 12 don’t count toward visitor caps, and the unvaccinated can only gather in groups of two outdoors.
Travel: Anywhere within Greater Sydney, including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong, but not between regional NSW and Sydney. Travel between regional LGAs is permitted.
Retail and beauty: All non-essential retail reopens to the vaccinated with the 4sq m rule in place. Non-vaccinated people can only access essential shopping. Hairdressers and beauty salons open with a five-person limit.
Restaurants and hospitality: Restaurants, bars, pubs and (seated) nightclubs can open with the 4sq m indoors and 2sq m rule outdoors — for the vaccinated. Booking caps at 20 and no singing or dancing allowed indoors. Eating and drinking seated indoors but can be standing outdoors.
Gyms and recreation: Gyms can reopen with the 4sq m rule and 20-person class limits. Indoor pools can open for lessons and recreation centres can open, but no community sport.
Events and entertainment: Stadiums, race tracks and theme parks can open with a 5000 person cap, or with an exemption. Zoos, libraries and museums can open with density limits, and theatres and cinemas can open, capped at 75 per cent capacity. Ticketed outdoor events are capped at 500.
Weddings, worship and funerals: Up to 100 vaccinated people. Dancing allowed at weddings, but eating and drinking must be seated. Places of worship open with density limits and up to 10 in choir.
Got a news or entertainment tip? Email weekendtele@news.com.au
Originally published as Everything you can and cannot do once Freedom Day arrives
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