PACK YOUR BAGS: Trans-Tasman travel bubble start date set

The Australia New Zealand Trans-Tasman bubble will start from 11.59pm Sunday April 18.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made the announcement following a meeting of NZ’s cabinet on Tuesday, April 6.

The NZ travel bubble will allow people to travel between the two countries without 14 days quarantine.

“Cabinet was presented with advice today that conditions for opening up quarantine-free travel with Australia had been met,” Ardern said.

“The Director-General of Health considers the risk of transmission of COVID-19 from Australia to New Zealand to now be low, and that quarantine-free travel would be safe to commence.”

Quarantine-free NZ travel

The Trans-Tasman bubble announcement comes after both countries successful managed to contain coronavirus with strict border closures.

New Zealand nationals have been able to enter Australia without quarantine since October 2020.

“While quarantine-free travel to Australia and vice versa will start in a fortnight, it will not be what it was pre-COVID,” Ardern said.

“Those undertaking travel on either side of the ditch will do so with the guidance of flyer beware.”

Potential for travel bubble disruption

The Trans-Tasman bubble could be paused if an outbreak occurs in either Australia or New Zealand.

“Once we know about a case in Australia we will have three possible responses when it comes to flights and access to our border, and we’ve captured these with a framework based on continue, pause, or suspend,” Ardern said.

If a case is found in a border worker and is well contained, flights will continue. If a case is found that can not be linked to the border and a state responds by a short lockdown to identify more information, NZ will pause flights into and out of New Zealand to that state.

“If we saw multiple cases of unknown origin, we would likely suspend flights for a set period of time,’ Ardern said.

“It does mean we have the ability if we believe it safe to do so, to potentially pause or suspend flights in one state whilst, if another state remains unaffected, continuing travel there. So that flexibility exists but we’ll be using it cautiously and wisely.”

Keep reading:

• Family Parks in Australia and New Zealand
• NZ South Island road trip with kids

This article on the Trans-Tasman bubble is a Holidays with Kids digital exclusive. Be the first to see more exclusive online content by subscribing to the enewsletter here.

Keep reading:

• The best holiday parks in Australia
• Feeling lucky? Check out our latest competitions