Triple vaccinated individuals have been allowed into most of Australia since Monday and Western Australia is set to open its borders from 3 March.
St Andrew’s resident Emma Anderson has lived in Guernsey for 20 years and said she was ecstatic to be returning to Perth, WA, at the end of March.
‘It never ceases to amaze me how, with all the global experience that has gone before, Australia chose a zero-Covid stance only then to have to join the rest of the world far later in the recovery,’ she said.
‘It has been so long. The only real plan I have is spending a lot of time with my family and friends.
‘I do have a ritual of throwing myself into the Indian Ocean as soon as I can after I arrive, so I imagine I will be doing that too.’
February 2019 was the last time Mrs Anderson visited WA and she has since missed family members’ milestone birthdays and two years with her 82-year-old mum.
‘My mum is in good health but I have spent two years praying she didn’t get sick and fearing I would not be able to get to her,’ she said.
For the past 10 years or so, Mrs Anderson has visited her family twice yearly and hoped she could start doing that again.
‘I have missed them so much,’ she said.
She was horrified the government was charging the majority of people there £10 per LFT, but she thought opening the borders would be eye-opening.
‘WA has been so cloistered from most of the Covid restrictions or impact of the sometimes fatal strains of the virus due to the closed border,’ she said.
‘There is a naivety in the population – my family included – about how bad it has been for many.
‘I don’t think they quite realise the massive spike in cases they are going to have once they join the rest of the world in allowing travel.’
Chaos Festival organiser Chris Chadwick is also from WA and was happy at the prospect of returning.
‘It will be good to be able to go home,’ he said.
‘WA has been closed for over two years but it’s been three years since I’ve been back.’
He said those he spoke to hadn’t minded too much about being locked down because they could still travel within the state.
‘I think we’re getting to the part where more places around the world are going to live with Covid how it is, rather than lock ourselves away from it,’ he said.
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