Coronavirus: due diligence on travel’s road to recovery
The rules of engagement in the local travel sphere are a minefield and they’re messing with our minds.
South Australia is set to open its borders to all-comers on July 20. Hold your horses; not any more. Tasmania will reopen for business from the mainland on July 24. That’s a maybe. Queensland, which has steadfastly blocked holidaymakers from crossing the border, will relax restrictions on July 10 — unless they’re from Victoria.
It seems the only certainty in travel is on the international scene: without doubt, Australians are going nowhere overseas for some time to come.
READ MORE: All you need to know about local and overseas travel restrictions
On the domestic travel front, uncertainty is the new normal. Here we all are, keen to #holidayhere and support our local tourism operators, but we’re not sure where we can go and when from one day to the next.
There are travellers who are always happy to wing it, but for those who like to be organised, this level of unpredictability is messing with our minds.
We prefer to have every night’s accommodation booked, each restaurant table reserved and if we’re self-catering, we’ll probably have a couple of good quality knives and a bottle of olive oil stashed in our suitcase. Only scout master Robert Baden-Powell could be better prepared.
I am a devoted member of the plan-ahead brigade. My husband? Not so much, which can make for fraught negotiations at holiday time. In the current circumstances, however, I am on the winning team. Anyone intending to travel in Australia needs to do their research and keep an eye out for updates.
Otherwise they may discover, for instance, the museum they planned to spend a leisurely morning exploring is open only to ticket holders, and limited to one person per 4sq m. Skiers venturing to the Alps may be turned back from national park gates because they haven’t pre-purchased resort entry. Back-to-basics campers may pitch a tent at a holiday park only to find the communal kitchen is off-limits. You could even turn up at a friend’s vacation home to find you have one guest too many under the latest roadmap-to-recovery regulations. It is a minefield out there and every state and territory has a different set of rules.
On a positive note, there’s a wealth of information to hand on websites for each jurisdiction. Cut through the craziness on the Health Direct site, which has comprehensive coverage on its “COVID-19 restriction checker” plus links to all the government resources. Forewarned is forearmed. Dib, dib, dib.