Territory families rejoice as easing restrictions move them closer to seeing family interstate

TERRITORY families are rejoicing as border control measures begin to ease, bringing them closer to being able to see family members in other states.

TERRITORY families are rejoicing as border control measures begin to ease.

Samantha Toft-Goulding, her husband and children Harper, 3, Brooklyn, 3, and Declan, 1, are eager to see their family who are spread across New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, including their grandfather who they haven’t seen in person for more than a year.

“My mother lives in Darwin so it hasn’t been too hard and she lives in the suburb over so on my side of the family its been easy enough,” she said.

“But for my husband, all his family’s down south so it has been a bit hard.”

They’ve maintained contact with family through social media and video calls but were eager to hug their loved ones.

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Her family’s experience during the coronavirus crisis has been manageable but challenging at times to help the children understand.

“Because they (kids) are so young they don't really understand what’s happening and you try to explain it to them,” she said.

“It’s a little bit hard and frustrating for both of us, myself and my children to actually try to tell them what’s happening in the world.

“Even when the playgrounds were shut they were like ‘we want to go to the playground, we want to go to the water park’, but you can’t, they’re closed ‘but why are they closed?’, little things little that.”

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Mrs Toft-Goulding was thrilled to hear border restrictions would be begin to be more regularly reviewed.

“By the end of the year would be fantastic so we can have the family come up while its still beautiful,” she said.

“But we would be happy any time this year if the borders are open and everything’s fine and dandy.”

“We thought it would be until next year borders would be open so it’s getting a little bit exciting for us now.