NZ and Oz - 2020.
- Thread starter Sbooker
- Start date
It appears a travel bubble with NZ is just around the corner.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-14/ ... a/12981258
It will be interesting to see what happens when the inevitable Covid cluster breaks out somewhere. Our hair triggered politicians will no doubt close the borders leaving holiday makers to quarantine in hotels upon return.
I don't know if I'm game to take it on. Perhaps it may be safer to arrange an August trip to Oz this coming year?
*It's been over a month since Australia has had a single community transmission. NZ is in the same situation. No community transmission for a number of weeks now.
We are getting regular positives from returning citizens who are in hotel quarantine. Apparently covid is still a thing in some other countries.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-14/ ... a/12981258
It will be interesting to see what happens when the inevitable Covid cluster breaks out somewhere. Our hair triggered politicians will no doubt close the borders leaving holiday makers to quarantine in hotels upon return.
I don't know if I'm game to take it on. Perhaps it may be safer to arrange an August trip to Oz this coming year?
*It's been over a month since Australia has had a single community transmission. NZ is in the same situation. No community transmission for a number of weeks now.
We are getting regular positives from returning citizens who are in hotel quarantine. Apparently covid is still a thing in some other countries.
Sbooker":m1wzayzl said:
I'm probably in a safer country than home right now.
I was joking obviously. I keep an eye on what is happening around the world.Tony Crocker":3cug6q9k said:Sbooker":3cug6q9k said:
I'm probably in a safer country than home right now.
It's more than interesting to observe the myriad of ways this has been handled (or mishandled) across the globe. Hopefully it's a long time before the next pandemic but I'm sure the scientists will have learned plenty from the past 12 months that could be used in the future.
The purely medical outcome here in Australia has been good but it has come at a high cost as far as freedom and liberty is concerned. It could prove to be a long term cost too.
It will be interesting to see how Joe Biden's team handles Covid. Obviously he'll have the vaccine in his corner and in a few months the seasons will change. I doubt he'll be holding any rallies anytime soon either. I'm expecting the second half of 2021 will be a totally different landscape than now for you people in the US. Here's hoping anyway.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-18/ ... k/12995398
The inevitable breakout has occurred with 17 positive cases in the last 48 hours in Sydney. It is believed the source is aircrew from an international flight. Apparently a shuttle bus driver that transports the crew to a nearby hotel contracted Covid and spread it to others. Panic has now ensued.
Western Australia has announced 14 days hotel quarantine for anyone that has arrived from NSW since last Friday.
Queensland has declared northern Sydney a 'hotspot' - meaning anyone that has visited that area in the past week has to do 14 days hotel quarantine (at their own expense). I would guess more severe and wider reaching restrictions will follow.
Caution is one thing but overreaction is another. This will adversely affect thousands of punters who are visiting or about to visit family for Christmas. It really makes arranging a holiday interstate a lottery.
The inevitable breakout has occurred with 17 positive cases in the last 48 hours in Sydney. It is believed the source is aircrew from an international flight. Apparently a shuttle bus driver that transports the crew to a nearby hotel contracted Covid and spread it to others. Panic has now ensued.
Western Australia has announced 14 days hotel quarantine for anyone that has arrived from NSW since last Friday.
Queensland has declared northern Sydney a 'hotspot' - meaning anyone that has visited that area in the past week has to do 14 days hotel quarantine (at their own expense). I would guess more severe and wider reaching restrictions will follow.
Caution is one thing but overreaction is another. This will adversely affect thousands of punters who are visiting or about to visit family for Christmas. It really makes arranging a holiday interstate a lottery.
Hopefully this will all be sorted out before we return to Australia in April 2023.
Tony Crocker":14jblnaf said:
April 2023. If it's not very much in the rearview mirror by then we'll all have much more to worry about than travel.
I assume you would only leave in Mammoth Mountain prime time for some special eclipse event?
If the eclipse is going to be seen in Brisbane you can house sit for me. I'll fly to LA for a drive up the 395.
The April 20, 2023 eclipse only touches Australia on the Exmouth peninsula.
Even if you live in Australia, Exmouth is about as remote as you can get, a 1,250km drive north from Perth. We are taking a chartered cruise from Broome, which will offer some scuba diving near very pristine islands.
The most reasonable way to view this eclipse is offered by AstroTrails.
Accommodation around Exmouth is limited and far below the likely demand during what is high tourist season for the area anyway. The land journey is tedious and likely would require camping. So AstroTrails' plan to charter aircraft to fly into Exmouth for the day makes sense.
While in general we prefer independent travel, AstroTrails' 2023 plan is further evidence that they do their homework arranging these trips. Other examples:
1) The 2012 eclipse was less than an hour after sunrise in Cairns/Port Douglas. Rather than take their chances with the dicey climate there, they arranged to put their group on buses at midnight and take them over the mountains to the drier leeward side in the Outback.
2) They were the largest of few tour operators to get permits into Argentina this year. Our group of 38 was among only 89 such foreign permits issued. We were told by several people in Bariloche than we were the first foreigners they had seen since March.
3) Patagonia is infamous for its wind, known by locals as the Broom of God in a recent Ski Journal article. AstroTrails arranged eclipse viewing site at Fortin Nogueira had several rows of cypress trees planted as windbreaks. This was important not only for comfort but for keeping tripods and camera gear steady. There was another small group a few miles away who also had a good view but were in steady 30-40mph wind, reportedly resulting in blurry pictures.
As you may recall, we had less complimentary comments about the advance planning of last year's Paul Gauguin eclipse cruise.
sbooker may be able to view the 2037 eclipse from home! 2028 won't require that much effort either.
Even if you live in Australia, Exmouth is about as remote as you can get, a 1,250km drive north from Perth. We are taking a chartered cruise from Broome, which will offer some scuba diving near very pristine islands.
The most reasonable way to view this eclipse is offered by AstroTrails.
Accommodation around Exmouth is limited and far below the likely demand during what is high tourist season for the area anyway. The land journey is tedious and likely would require camping. So AstroTrails' plan to charter aircraft to fly into Exmouth for the day makes sense.
While in general we prefer independent travel, AstroTrails' 2023 plan is further evidence that they do their homework arranging these trips. Other examples:
1) The 2012 eclipse was less than an hour after sunrise in Cairns/Port Douglas. Rather than take their chances with the dicey climate there, they arranged to put their group on buses at midnight and take them over the mountains to the drier leeward side in the Outback.
2) They were the largest of few tour operators to get permits into Argentina this year. Our group of 38 was among only 89 such foreign permits issued. We were told by several people in Bariloche than we were the first foreigners they had seen since March.
3) Patagonia is infamous for its wind, known by locals as the Broom of God in a recent Ski Journal article. AstroTrails arranged eclipse viewing site at Fortin Nogueira had several rows of cypress trees planted as windbreaks. This was important not only for comfort but for keeping tripods and camera gear steady. There was another small group a few miles away who also had a good view but were in steady 30-40mph wind, reportedly resulting in blurry pictures.
As you may recall, we had less complimentary comments about the advance planning of last year's Paul Gauguin eclipse cruise.
sbooker may be able to view the 2037 eclipse from home! 2028 won't require that much effort either.
I suspect many Americans would gladly trade your Queensland bubble for the $#!&show we have here. If Queensland is truly free of the virus, you should have:sbooker":3utu09kq said:
1) All schools and universities open with in-person classes
2) All restaurants open in normal capacity
3) Live sports open to spectators (I think you mentioned this earlier)
4) Live music events and movie theaters open
I recall reading that New Zealand was completely open internally once there had been no new cases for a couple of weeks.
berkshireskier
Active member
Tony Crocker":l9rjsqwj said:
I'm not a medical expert but I guess the question I would have is: how does any one region or country know, for sure, that every single person in that region or country does not have the virus? Yea, I realize you can test people but there are false negatives with some of the tests AND it seems to me you would have to test every single person every single day, to know for sure that no one is infected with the virus. I would think the obvious risk to opening everything back up is if there are some infected people out there, you run the risk of spreading the virus, especially in crowded situations.
If number of cases is just a handful, you can contact trace backwards as well as forward and quarantine all the contacts. I think two full weeks with zero cases is the requirement for full reopening. Queensland and NZ also require 14-day hotel quarantine for anyone entering the country/province from outside. I think Hawaii was doing something similar for awhile. This is logistically easy for islands. In Queensland nearly all the road traffic comes in along the coast from New South Wales. From what sbooker tells us, the authorities are monitoring that border stringently.
I've been somewhat offline while holidaying on the Gold Coast with my family. We've been doing the beach/swimming/fishing/bushwalking thing.
Life is pretty much normal here in Queensland aside from not being able to get out of the state. Restaurants are open, sporting fixtures have crowds, there's live entertainment etc. All that is really great but still frustrating to a wannabe skier. First world problems I guess.
There is light at the end of the tunnel though!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-05/ ... 1/13033788" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Resuming flights from July this year sounds a little ambitious to me but it is an indication I may be a chance to ski in Japan, Canada, US or Europe this time next year.
On another topic. Ummm. As an outsider I probably shouldn't make comment on US politics but....What is going on over there? It's entertaining in a way from a distance but I'm a little lost for words.
Life is pretty much normal here in Queensland aside from not being able to get out of the state. Restaurants are open, sporting fixtures have crowds, there's live entertainment etc. All that is really great but still frustrating to a wannabe skier. First world problems I guess.
There is light at the end of the tunnel though!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-05/ ... 1/13033788" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Resuming flights from July this year sounds a little ambitious to me but it is an indication I may be a chance to ski in Japan, Canada, US or Europe this time next year.
On another topic. Ummm. As an outsider I probably shouldn't make comment on US politics but....What is going on over there? It's entertaining in a way from a distance but I'm a little lost for words.
ShiftyRider
Member
Individuals here like to wear their idiocy like a badge of honor. Trump held a morning rally. He asked where Hillary was. When he said "bulls***" the mob turned it into a chant. Then he told them to march to the Capitol and mess things up.
Cuz that's where his Vice President was. Really. The truth is stranger than fiction.
Because that's where acceptance by Congress of the 2020 Electoral College vote for president was taking place. That process started at 1PM and was halted when the rioters got into the building 2PM. The Capitol was secured 6PM and Congress resumed 8PM. Congress completed the acceptance of the Electoral Vote at 3:45AM today after voting down objections regarding Arizona and Pennsylvania.
ShiftyRider
Member
If all the circuses form a league they will need TV broadcasters. You and I can do it.
For the play-by-play we have ShiftyRider...
Oh no, the tiny old car seems to have blown its engine! The driver is out. Wow, here come 35 clowns, how did they all fit in there?
Tony...
Buick had switched to a 5-seat configuration, but that didn't happen until several model years later...
For the play-by-play we have ShiftyRider...
Oh no, the tiny old car seems to have blown its engine! The driver is out. Wow, here come 35 clowns, how did they all fit in there?
Tony...
Buick had switched to a 5-seat configuration, but that didn't happen until several model years later...
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