A passenger is greeted after arriving on a flight from Sydney at Wellington International Airport on April 13, 2022
(Picture: Getty Images)New Zealand has welcomed back Australians and permanent residents as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reopened the border after being closed off for nearly two years.
Hundreds of vaccinated Australians and returning nationals touched down in New Zealand on Wednesday morning, nine months after the border was closed for Trans-Tasman travel. The first flight arrived from Melbourne into Auckland at 1am.
As well as being double-vaccinated, returning nationals and Australians must also present a negative test before departure, again on arrival and then on day six of their stay.
Ms Adern said she could not “imagine or remember a time when we would have been so excited to be welcoming our Australian family back to our shores. It is very genuine”.
“Our borders have been open for New Zealand citizens and permanent residents to come back and forth for a while, today is the big day because this is when it is open for Australian tourists.
“You are our extended family, it means a lot to us to be able to welcome you back to your second home, because it is probably how we see ourselves and in many ways it is how we see you.
“It is more than just economic for us, it is a big part of who we are to be welcoming to people to our shores.”
International travellers from visa-waiver countries such as the US and UK will be able to enter the country from May 1.
New Zealand closed its international border in March 2020 as the pandemic began in order to halt the spread of the virus.
The country remained closed for most of the pandemic bar reopening for a short period of time for travel between Australia and New Zealand in April 2021, before it was closed on July 2021 due to the outbreak of the Delta variant.
There have been 497 deaths in New Zealand since the start of the pandemic while there have been 65,309 active cases in the last seven days.
