Topline

Families separated by Australia and New Zealand’s strict coronavirus lockdowns reunited for the first time in a year Monday with the opening of a “travel bubble” to allow for transit between the two island countries without mandatory quarantines.

Key Facts

Airports across Australia and New Zealand were the settings for emotional reunions Monday, as the last of the mandatory quarantines were lifted for travelers making the three-hour flight between the two neighboring islands.

While most of Australia’s states have allowed New Zealanders to visit without a period of self-isolation period for months, New Zealand’s government did not return the favor until Monday.

Before the pandemic, Australians and New Zealanders were frequent visitors of each other’s countries — Australians made up New Zealand’s largest portion of international arrivals, making up nearly half of all foreign visitors and spending $2.7 billion in 2019.

“We have genuinely missed our Australian cousins,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday, according to the New York Times. “And that’s because, in some cases, they are literally our cousins. That’s certainly the case for me.”