PHOTOS: Families and loved ones shed tears as Victorians allowed into Tassie for first time in months
Emotional scenes filled Hobart Airport’s arrivals hall today as families welcomed loved ones from Victoria without the need for quarantine for the first time in almost nine months. SEE OUR BUMPER PHOTO GALLERY >>>
Tasmania
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EMOTIONAL scenes filled Hobart Airport’s arrivals hall this morning as families welcomed loved ones from Victoria without the need for quarantine for the first time in almost nine months.
Qantas flight QF1011 was the first flight to land in Hobart from Melbourne after the reopening of borders at midnight, touching down just before 10am.
There were plenty of tears and emotional embraces after passengers cleared the health check screening process.
Tara Mrhar was there to meet her parents Marly and Vesna who she had not seen since March.
Tara, 24, moved to Tasmania last year from Geelong in regional Victoria to work as a pilot for Sharp Airlines and said she was ecstatic to see her parents again.
“It was just amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever been separated from them in my 24 years for maybe longer than two months,’’ she said.
“It was just the best thing in the world. I don’t ever want to go through that again.”
Vesna said it had been a difficult time enduring COVID-related lockdowns in Victoria and not being able to see her daughter.
“It’s been a pretty hard year for all of us and her being on her own has been hard because she has no family here,’’ she said.
“Thank god for FaceTime but it doesn’t really cut it [compared to this]. We are just really ecstatic about being reunited again.
“I just hope borders don’t close again because I don’t think I would be able to cope.”
Another reunion on Friday morning saw Kostya Park, 12, see his mother Allison Park for the first time in almost eight months.
Kostya lives in Melbourne and came to Tasmania in the school holidays earlier this year to stay with his grandparents, and has been here ever since.
Allison lives in metro Melbourne and had to endure a prolonged lockdown enforced by the Victorian Government to control the spread of COVID-19.
“It is very normal for him to do that, to come and spend it with my parents, and he has basically been stuck, really,’’ Allison said.
“I haven’t been able to come down obivosuly and he hasn’t even able to come back but lucky him, he’s oblivious to everything that went on [in Victoria]
“Kostya hasn’t been in a school classroom since March, he’s been doing online that whole time.”
Kostya said he had adapted well to the schooling arrangements.
“It’s probably been better for me because there has been less distractions than in class,’’ he said.
“It’s been hard [being without mum] but I enjoy being in Tasmania.”
It was emotional scenes when Amanda Osuchowski saw her parents Peter and Kerry Stallard for the first time since Christmas last year.
“It’s been a really tough time and thrilled with what Melbourne’s done in coming out of it. We couldn’t be happier that our life is back to a new COVID-normal,’’ she said.
“It’s been tough though. A very tough year.”
Amanda said the first hug with her parents after so long was “indescribable”.
“I think when when we were in lockdown and knowing that you just couldn’t come home and give your mum and dad a hug and see your family and friends, that was really really tough. But all good now,’’ she said.
Kerry said she had been “tearing up for weeks” since finding out her daughter would soon be visiting.
Mandi Buchanan welcomed back her daughter Caitlin from Melbourne and while they used FaceTime regularly to stay in touch, both were overwhelmed with emotion when they were finally able to see each other in person.
“I haven’t her for nine months. It’s been awful,’’ Caitlin said.
VICTORIANS TO ENTER TASMANIA BY THE HUNDREDS
EARLIER, 6AM:
HUNDREDS of travellers will enter Tasmania from Victoria on Friday without the need to quarantine, as Tasmanian tourism operators prepare for an expected rush in bookings from the state’s biggest visitor market.
Tasmanian borders have opened to Victoria for the first time in more than eight months, meaning there is now quarantine-free travel from all Australian states and territories, except South Australia.
Passengers will arrive at Tasmanian ports on 11 flights across four airlines from Melbourne on Friday — four into Hobart, three into Launceston, two into Devonport and one into Burnie.
It comes after Victoria brought under control a large-scale coronavirus outbreak and now has no active cases of the deadly virus.
The relaxation of border restrictions is set to provide a significant boost to the state’s tourism sector because Victoria makes up about 40 per cent of Tasmania’s domestic tourism market.
Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said while an uptick in visitors from other states had been welcome, Victoria was “the main game”.
“We are very much looking forward to seeing Victorians much earlier than what was expected,’’ he said.
Mr Martin said there was “excitement and enthusiasm” among tourism operators but also some trepidation.
“With every state that’s opened, we are seeing a bit of a rush of activity straight away and that clearly shows the pent-up demand,’’ he said.
Mr Martin said he hoped Victorians would choose driving holidays in Tasmania, calling for fees associated with taking vehicles on the Spirit of Tasmania to be reduced.
Airlines are starting to return to somewhere near pre-COVID levels and a Qantas spokesman said there had been strong demand for services to and from Tasmania.
He said flights from Melbourne to Hobart, Launceston and Devonport would ramp up, with routes from Hobart to Canberra and Brisbane to start on December 4.
“We expect to be offering more than 16,000 seats per week on services to and from Tasmania in the lead up to the busy school holiday period and over the summer break,’’ the spokesman said.
A Jetstar spokesman said during December, the airline would increase its schedule to operate up to 77 return flights per week between Tasmania and Victoria.
Premier Peter Gutwein said while quarantine was no longer required, travellers from Victoria would still be health screened at the border along with visitors from other jurisdictions.
Public Health Director Mark Veitch said Tasmanians should feel comfortable about welcoming Victorian visitors because that state had not recorded a new COVID-19 case since October 29.
Dr Veitch said authorities hoped travellers from South Australia would soon be allowed without the need for quarantine, but said that could not happen yet with new cases being diagnosed in that state.
Mr Gutwein said arrivals in Tasmania from Victoria should register their travel and contact details through the Tas e-Travel system.
NEW HOTEL OPENS IN TIME FOR VICTORIA’S RETURN:
ONE of the Hobart CBD’s newest hotel accommodation offerings has come online as Tasmania prepares to again welcome visitors from Victoria.
Hobart City Apartments on Elizabeth St was officially opened on Thursday with the launch of eight penthouse apartments.
Their completion comes after the opening of 72 other studio apartments earlier this year.
The project supported dozens of construction jobs along with ongoing employment for hotel staff.
The building at 80 Elizabeth St — which was formerly the State Revenue Office — was sold for $11 million in 2016 — at that time the highest price paid for an office building in Hobart since the RBF bought 144 Macquarie St for about $12 million in 2012.
Hobart entrepreneur and project developer Kai Yang celebrated the opening alongside dignitaries including Premier Peter Gutwein, Attorney-General Elise Archer and Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds.
Hobart City Apartments assistant manager Tom Allie said the conversion from public offices to studio apartments had taken place over the past 12 months.
“The latest addition is, as far as we know, Hobart’s only mezzanine penthouse level, consisting of two and three-bedroom, high ceiling, New York-style loft apartments,’’ he said.
Mr Allie said the opening of state borders had provided a boost to the business, with strong bookings from Victorians ahead of Tasmania opening borders to that state on Friday.
The availability of an increasing number of direct flight routes to other Australian cities was also correlating to more bookings, he said.
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