Coronavirus: cheers, reunions and Maori performance as New Zealand welcomes Australians after border reopens

Maori cultural performers greeted travellers while families and friends hugged and cried at Auckland airport where two flights from Australia landed in the morning

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was ‘extraordinarily excited’ about the reopening

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Jane Cheeseman (in black) and her two children were reunited with her sister after they arrived from Australia on Wednesday. Photo: The New Zealand Herald

Published: 8:55am, 13 Apr 2022Updated: 2:08pm, 13 Apr 2022

New Zealand welcomed hundreds of travellers from Australia with emotional scenes on Wednesday as it opened its borders to its trans-Tasmanian neighbour for the first time since mid-2021.

Maori cultural performers greeted travellers while families and friends hugged and cried at the Auckland International Airport where two flights from Australia landed on Wednesday morning. Those waiting in the arrivals lounge held up boards saying “Hello & Kia Ora & G’day & Welcome”.

“Just so, so excited to be back, and all I really want to do is spend time with the family really,” Jane Cheeseman told The New Zealand Herald, as she and her two children were reunited with her sister ahead of Easter holiday.

New Zealand had some of the toughest border controls in the world during the Covid-19 pandemic as part of government efforts to keep the coronavirus out. A short-lived travel bubble between New Zealand and Australia was suspended in mid-2021 after Covid-19 outbreaks.

But the government has started to ease these increasingly unpopular measures, hoping to boost tourism and ease labour shortages now that Omicron is widespread domestically.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Australia’s Channel 7 she was “extraordinarily excited” about the reopening.