Finally, some good news! The New Zealand government has announced the opening of borders to Australia from 19 April 2021 — the first stage of reopening to the world. What exactly does that mean for clients from other parts of the world? Here’s a brief update on the current situation.

The impact of Covid-19 globally has been enormous — physically, socially, and economically. It has been a long time to put life on hold, but it seems finally there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

New Zealand has coped better from a health perspective than most countries, so it is no surprise that foreign hunters and anglers are raring to come to Poronui. The border closures are particularly painful at the present time as most of the deer species are rutting, and trophy quality and numbers are as good as they have ever been. Local hunters are the winners at present, as are the deer who are enjoying a rut without too many hunters!

International forward bookings for 2022 and 2023 are heavy, which is fantastic.

As of April 2021, the situation facing international visitors is the following:
(Source Ministry of Health New Zealand website)

• If you’re from another country you can’t enter New Zealand.
• Managed isolation and quarantine of 14 days is mandatory for New Zealanders returning home and a few exempted others.
• At present, New Zealand has no community cases but a small number of quarantine or managed isolation cases periodically occur.
• Quarantine-free travel from Australia to New Zealand will begin on 19 April 2021.

In addition, the New Zealand vaccination programme is on track, with all adults to receive vaccinations before the end of 2021. As we move closer to this situation, we are likely to get more clarity around opening the borders fully. We will provide updates as more information becomes available.

While we can’t predict exactly when life will return to “normal”, we will ensure our guests are protected from the uncertainty. If borders don’t open in time for guests to take up their booked stay, that reservation can roll over to another year or be refunded in full.

One thing to be sure of is we will be ready to go when the first guests can arrive! As the photographs within this article show, the stags will also be ready. Another year older and bigger, we are expecting several red stags over 700 SCI by that time.

It is worth waiting for!

Photo credits: Greg Morton