Qld border: Faye Sakkas hugs son for first time in 10 months and meets granddaughter Gia

The easing of borders has allowed one Queenslander to hug her son for the first time in 10 months and meet her granddaughter for the first time.

It had been about 10 months in between hugs for Brisbane woman Faye Sakkas and her son Andrew, but as nice as it was, there was someone else she was itching to meet.

Ms Sakkas on Monday was one of hundreds of Queenslanders who flew into NSW at the first available opportunity to reunite with family and friends, with eased border restrictions meaning she wouldn’t find herself locked out of the Sunshine State upon returning.

Andrew met his mum at Sydney Airport and the pair embraced for the first time since February.

Faye Sakkas reunites with her son Andrew. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

They then headed back to Rosebery so she could meet the newest member of the family: Andrew’s daughter Gia, her first grandchild.

“I was going to go down in September but with lockdowns … that didn’t happen,” Ms Sakkas told NCA NewsWire.

“We’ve only had Zoom calls for the last while … It’s lovely, I just can’t believe it.”

It had been nearly 150 days since the Queensland government shut its borders to Covid hotspots of NSW, Victoria, and the ACT in a bid to prevent a similar spread up north.

In terms of case numbers and deaths, the state’s hardline border stance worked a treat.

But the human cost of distance and separation – and frustration over the rigidity of the rules – has weighed heavily.

Thank you, Queensland. pic.twitter.com/NGFV1blgeI

— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) December 12, 2021

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk acknowledged as much in a letter to Queenslanders on Monday morning, thanking residents for how they “have handled this pandemic”.

“It’s been nearly two years. Tragically, we’ve lost seven lives. But the results have been really unprecedented compared to the rest of the world,” she wrote.

Brisbane student Bianca Love was another traveller reunited with family, flying home to Sydney for a quick pre-Christmas catch-up with mum Debbie.

Bianca, who moved north to study a bachelor of musical theatre at the Queensland Conservatorium, said the last time she was home was in June, just before the borders shut.

Bianca Love was last home in June. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

She said she had been watching the border situation carefully, and when Queensland indicated it might be bringing forward the reopening, she tarted to plan her dash.

“I’m just racing down and then will run back up,” Bianca said.

“It’s nice knowing that the borders are going to stay open.”

At the airport, she said both she and her mum looked at each other and said: “It’s been a long time.”

Ms Palaszczuk has not ruled out shutting the border again if necessary, although authorities seem to have accepted that the coronavirus is now here to stay in Queensland.

The influx that began on Monday morning is expected to erode the state’s relatively Covid-free record – with Queensland not having hit double-digit daily local cases since early August – even if arrivals from hotspots are fully vaccinated as required.

Bridie Carmichael and her Aunty Stephanie Ewart, who arrived from Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Tens of thousands of people are expected to arrive in the Sunshine State over the coming days and weeks, with chief health officer John Gerrard accepting it was inevitable some of these people will be carrying the virus.

“As time goes by it is highly likely, it is inevitable that cases will increase. How many we see and when this will occur is still unclear,” Dr Gerrard said on Monday.

For now, people are free to come and go from Queensland as long as they are vaccinated and have undergone a PCR test.

Ms Sakkas said this hopefully meant it wouldn’t be so long between visits with Gia.

“It just makes it all worthwhile when you can see the little ones, you know,” she said.