Qantas to Norfolk Island

[drron]

The Vic covid line really has no clue, they just said if its on the map then it's correct, I then asked him to read out the changes from last night to me he said "red zone for all of NSW" I then said again how are islands off the coast of WA fitting that criteria..apparently my call back from my escalation will come "soon".

Obviously there is a deficiency in common sense in whoever is making these ludicrous decisions.

 

[cmon0005]

We've decided to go regardless now, and if it's not sorted by the time we depart back to VIC then so be it, we'll just isolate at home on return.

 

[Chicken]

We've decided to go regardless now, and if it's not sorted by the time we depart back to VIC then so be it, we'll just isolate at home on return.

Just home quarantine? That's totally cool.

Do you work? I would go just so I would be forced to do home quarantine, and have the full right to work from home, refuse to commute into office

 

[cmon0005]

Just home quarantine? That's totally cool.

Do you work? I would go just so I would be forced to do home quarantine, and have the full right to work from home, refuse to commute into office

Myself and wife WFH anyway, but little one would miss out from school.

 

[henrus]

We've decided to go regardless now, and if it's not sorted by the time we depart back to VIC then so be it, we'll just isolate at home on return.

I wonder what would happen if you applied for a red zone pass and then requested an exemption on the basis that their map is wrong?

No idea how Victoria works but up here in the great state of Queensland all of our hotspots are listed in some form of legal document therefore any incorrect updates to maps/websites are rather easy to figure out. I think the NT is the same perhaps so maybe Victoria has the same but in my brief searching I couldn't find this to be the case.

 

[cmon0005]

I wonder what would happen if you applied for a red zone pass and then requested an exemption on the basis that their map is wrong?

No idea how Victoria works but up here in the great state of Queensland all of our hotspots are listed in some form of legal document therefore any incorrect updates to maps/websites are rather easy to figure out. I think the NT is the same perhaps so maybe Victoria has the same but in my brief searching I couldn't find this to be the case.

If I get forced into home quarantine, I might take it to vcat and argue the point that NI is NOT an LGA of NSW.

 

[Aggi]

Does anyone know if the transfer bus is operating between the domestic and international terminal in Sydney? The Qantas website says it does but wanted to double check. Have a Norfolk Island trip booked for early August, going up from Melbourne via Sydney and returning via Brisbane. I think a transfer through Sydney may be okay if the transfer bus is running but not if you have to get the train?

 

[Chicken]

Does anyone know if the transfer bus is operating between the domestic and international terminal in Sydney? The Qantas website says it does but wanted to double check. Have a Norfolk Island trip booked for early August, going up from Melbourne via Sydney and returning via Brisbane. I think a transfer through Sydney may be okay if the transfer bus is running but not if you have to get the train?

No, there is no shuttle bus. I was there few weeks ago, and there was a big sign saying take train to transfer.

And here is the official notice:

The T-Bus service between the International and Domestic terminals is currently unavailable.

The cheapest is to take a public timetable bus, only $2.24 during off peak and $3.2 during peak. (link)

 

[cmon0005]

No, there is no shuttle bus. I was there few weeks ago, and there was a big sign saying take train to transfer.

And here is the official notice:

The T-Bus service between the International and Domestic terminals is currently unavailable.

The cheapest is to take a public timetable bus, only $2.24 during off peak and $3.2 during peak. (link)

I think Aggi is referring to the Qantas transfer bus not the general T-BUS? In which case it would appear the Qantas bus is operating according to this: https://www.qantas.com/au/en/qantas...es/sydney-t1-international-airport-guide.html

 

[DC3]

Does anyone know if the transfer bus is operating between the domestic and international terminal in Sydney? …. I think a transfer through Sydney may be okay if the transfer bus is running but not if you have to get the train?

I would say the train trip is most likely quicker than the QF Transfer Bus

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Well, I perhaps should have consulted this before I also contacted the Norfolk Island Regional Council today. I'd asked a reported on Twitter to ask about this at the presser yesterday and she did. The question was laughed off by Jeroen Weimar as "that sounds like a list of holiday destinations" (brilliant stuff mate) and a promise to "get back to you," which of course did not happen today and no one followed up, so off I went with my email to NI directly.

I got an almost immediate response that suggested every single person who can be is involved in working with Victoria to remove their status as a red zone. They're definitely not pleased about it either.

Norfolk Island is obviously not part of New South Wales and no public statements or any guidance has been communicated declaring it a red zone. Only the map shows this, and one could reasonably be forgiven for reviewing only the actual list of declared red/orange zones and making an innocent mistake.

We fly Saturday and plan to go regardless. I am lawyer but more importantly I am also stubborn and annoying, so if VicGov tries to direct me into isolation on return, you can bet I'd be spending every moment of those 14 days making a very loud scene. Even on a precautionary principle, this is ludicrous and cannot be justified on even the most risk-averse of "public health advice."

I'm also not one to have much confidence in Victoria admitting mistakes, but I do think given the efforts of NI itself to resolve this, it may well be quietly fixed. That Christmas Island and the Cocos were lumped in makes it even more obviously a mistake. As noted, they've simply lumped all these extra-territorial islands together into one entity.

By the way - I assume this has less to do with post codes and more to do with a lazy effort to red zone the Jervis Bay Territory which is categorised the same as Norfolk, Christmas and Cocos.

ETA: I see the above has also been noted by others. Well, they've definitely received plenty of data points.

We shall see.

 

[Aggi]

I would say the train trip is most likely quicker than the QF Transfer Bus

Thank you. I’m just concerned that if you leave the airport and catch the train then you are no longer deemed to be transiting through the airport and given Sydney is a red zone, I would need to quarantine when I get back to Melbourne?

 

[DC3]

Thank you. I’m just concerned that if you leave the airport and catch the train then you are no longer deemed to be transiting through the airport and given Sydney is a red zone, I would need to quarantine when I get back to Melbourne?

I wonder what happens if the Transit Bus is shut down without notice. It’s happened before. Could be somewhat problematic?

 

[QF_Flyer]

Thank you. I’m just concerned that if you leave the airport and catch the train then you are no longer deemed to be transiting through the airport and given Sydney is a red zone, I would need to quarantine when I get back to Melbourne?

You don't leave the airport, the stations from Domestic to International (and vice versa) are on the airport (they're landside, but you don't need to leave the airport at all).

 

[henrus]

Does anyone know if the transfer bus is operating between the domestic and international terminal in Sydney? The Qantas website says it does but wanted to double check.

There is a transfer bus operated by Skybus on behalf of Qantas which is confusingly marked "Qantas Staff Only". This operates every 15 minutes but I've got no idea if this has been operated during the recent Sydney lockdown. The stop at the international terminal is located just outside the old Qantas transfer center. At the domestic terminal, the stop is on the departures level located at the far eastern end of the drop-off area.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Alas, no update from Victoria on Norfolk Island. I've asked the same reporter who asked on Monday if she might please follow up again and she said she'll do her best to ask again.

After 18 months of watching Victoria manage things, it's at once completely unbelievable and yet also totally believable this has yet to be fixed.

 

[nancypants]

Alas, no update from Victoria on Norfolk Island. I've asked the same reporter who asked on Monday if she might please follow up again and she said she'll do her best to ask again.

After 18 months of watching Victoria manage things, it's at once completely unbelievable and yet also totally believable this has yet to be fixed.

Has anyone got contacts in the Indian oceans territories? I imagine they wouldn’t be thrilled about it either, presuming they know? Unfortunately my contact there left about a month back

 

[cmon0005]

So looks like my trip wasn't to be after all, boarded the flight in BNE yesterday ready to take off when an announcement came over the PA that NI had just made a decision to require Victorians to isolate on arrival for 14 days and that if we wanted to get off to let them know immediately, so about 6 of us in all got off, had our bags unloaded. The QF staff on the ground were just wonderful though, and even managed the cancellation of the remaining flights and rebooking back to melb. So returned straight back to Melb on an orange permit, tested near Melb airport last night, negative result this morning.
Also the NI tour operators and accommodation were understanding too and provided full refund to me. I'll attempt to go back in future!

I see VIC still hasn't 'fixed' the red zone thing either for NI and the other islands...

 

[Chicken]

Also the NI tour operators and accommodation were understanding too and provided full refund to me. I'll attempt to go back in future!

That's awesome!

I see VIC still hasn't 'fixed' the red zone thing either for NI and the other islands...

Doesn't matter anymore.

Had a work meeting yesterday afternoon, we were all saying that Melbourne was going to go into lock down, and our prediction was exactly correct.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Yep. Laughable that VIC never bothered to fix NI as a red zone and then we became one ourselves. We've rescheduled for August (we'd ironically brought our trip forward earlier this week assuming we better go while things were calm... how fast things change). I suspect that like last month, if the government declare the lockdown a success after 5 days, they'll still have the same tight rules and ridiculous 25km radius in place again all while publicly claiming the lockdown is over. Can't see Melburnians going anywhere for at least 2 weeks.

Fortunately rebooking with Qantas was easy and accommodation on NI was very kind to change dates despite being outside cancellation / change window. Clock is ticking on QF to NI, but we're certainly trying.