“You’ve been on a long flight and much has changed since you left Sydney” said the Federal Cop through the aircraft tannoy, “new border rules have just been put in place and you’re the first plane into Cairns this morning….right, so hands up if anyone is from the Northern Beaches or has been in the area in recent days”. There was a collective gulp before stunned silence filled the cabin. Now what? Any hands going up? No one, anyone? 

These were the words that greeted us when arriving in Cairns on Friday morning, having scrambled the previous day to get a flight up a day earlier than planned, before the growing COVID outbreak in Sydney’s Northern Beaches slammed borders to NSW, Queensland of course being the most trigger happy and most likely state to close first. 

As it turned out we were just asked to show ID and proof of address before being thanked and wished a Merry Christmas and ‘Enjoy Queensland’. Phew! Emerging into the blinding tropical sunshine never felt better. I reckon we dodged a proverbial bullet. 

Off to Wonga for FNQ immersion.