aussiedreamer

Brisbane to Melbourne for 3 nights.

So here we are at the airport, it feels surreal. But also really good. I thought I’d just take some notes for anyone embarking in an interstate trip. We are going to Melbourne to catch up with our travel companions who we haven’t seen in 18months, thanks to COVID. We’ve been really concerned about them with their harsh restrictions. Feel guilty as we’ve been very fortunate here in Queensland.

Like everyone else we’ve had several trips cancelled this year. But we’re very lucky to have had an awesome time in the US last Christmas, driving from Dallas down to New Orleans.

We’ve received several texts from Qantas preparing us for the changes. Firstly that masks would be mandatory in Brisbane airport and on board. And that the Qantas lounge probably wouldn’t be open.

Well, we’ve had a lovely lunch in the lounge and I could count on one hand people wearing masks. I’m guessing it will be different on board.

KayF

Thanks for posting. What was the flight like? I imagine no social distancing on the plane? Did you have to fill in border forms anywhere? I had read that masks are not mandatory on Qantas which means most people won't bother.

We are in Brisbane too and wary of travelling interstate in case of a sudden border closure. We would hate to end up in hotel quarantine for two weeks. I would happily do it at home but not in a small room with no fresh air.

aussiedreamer

Coronavirus Australia: Victoria records three cases, NSW outbreak grows

oh dear.... fingers crossed.

The flight was good, nearly capacity, although we had one of two empty seats. No social distancing on board or on boarding but masks mandatory during flight. Having said that we were told we could remove for masks during food service. No border declarations made but I’ll be interested to see if that changes on our return.

Locals are horrified at new Victorian cases.

rhon

We are also in Queensland and are wary of travelling interstate. We have one son and family in Canberra who came up for Christmas. Our other son and family live in Sydney in the southern part of the Northern beaches. They came up before Christmas fortunately. Our borders shut fairly quickly and we do not want to get caught and have to rush home.
We had to cancel a ten week trip to France early this year, and at this stage, I do not know if we will ever get to return.
We do feel very grateful to be living in Australia.
Here's hoping 2021 brings some relief for the world.

millie2112

I think you should be OK coming from Qld. However, we have new cases in Melbourne - thanks to the NSW outbreak. NYE here now and some new restrictions coming in.

aussiedreamer

We’re at the airport to head home to Qld. A lovely weekend spent with good friends and so glad we did it.... who knows what the next few weeks will bring. Had lunch near Melbourne/Sydney highway. The amount of caravans and campers pouring back in from nsw was amazing. We passed several testing stations with lines as far as the eye could see.

The airport is very quiet, masks are mandatory, the Qantas lounge is closed but the business lounge remains open. I guess we’ll find out on board if we have to do any sort of border declaration. I’d actually be surprised and quite confused if we don’t.

Bokhara2

I wonder how the flight back & arrival procedure went, Aussiedreamer.

I had a week planned in Melbourne over Christmas, but cancelled when the northern beaches cluster popped up. Thought it wouldn’t take much to get it to Melbourne & for Qld to slam the border.

As it happens, I could have gone, but would have been on tender hooks. Disappointed to cancel & we have rescheduled for Easter. Fingers crossed!

I’m glad you got your trip in & has a great time.🤗

aussiedreamer

Well that was an interesting couple of days.. I received a message from our daughter during the flight that there had been an announcement that all returning travelers from Victoria 'should' be tested and quarantine till the results were known.. On board we were told that Qld police would be at the arrivals gate to check id's. So we had a chat and decided that we didn't want to be 'those' people who didn't do the right thing. So after flashing our id at police, we kept our masks on and headed directly to the only testing station open. Is was 5.30pm and the others closed at 4pm. We found it interesting that most passengers discarded their masks as soon as they got off the plane.

So we arrived at the RBWH testing centre to discover several hundred people already in line...sigh. We lined up for 4.5hours, it was awful, just so tiring and our bodies are still aching from pretty much standing in one spot for that long. But everyone just dealt with it, even when at 8.45 they came out and said they'd be closing and anyone from a specific point were sent home. We were lucky, we had about 50 in front of us, about the same behind us , the rest were sent away about 100-200 we guess. Seeing the lines again yesterday we're glad that at least we did it in the evening, and not the heat of the day. We got our negative results at 4pm yesterday, so at least we know we did the right thing.

Still glad we got to see our friends and have a lovely weekend with them, who knows when we will again.

Melnq8

aussiedreamer - what an ordeal. Was the testing center at the airport?

KayF

Hi aussiedreamer - on behalf of all of us, thanks for doing the test. It must have been horrible having to stand in line for that long. I don't know how my back would cope for that many hours. Great news that you are negative. It's useful to have an insight of what happens at the airport and onboard.

Hi Mel - the RBWH is a big public hospital, not at the airport but a short driving distance away.

Melnq8

Thanks Kay.