The Queensland-New South Wales border bubble is back and teachers, retail workers and stranded residents are thrilled to have some freedom of movement restored.
Volunteers, students, those who cannot work from home and locals in certain local government areas – including the Tweed Shire – can travel into Queensland for school, healthcare, essential shopping, court attendance and to care for the vulnerable.
Essential workers are required to have had at least one dose of the vaccine.
Teacher Lisa Hughes, who lives in northern NSW but has been locked out of her Queensland school for a month, could not be happier to be headed back to work.
"I'm just so excited," she said.
Ms Hughes lives 10 kilometres from her workplace, but with teachers not classified as essential workers during the hard border closure, she was unable to go to work.
"We work over the border, go to school over the border, everything is Queensland for us but we live just the other side of the line," she said.
"I have two teenage kids who have been denied an education for four weeks."
The change does not allow for travel across the border for recreational or social visits.
Meanwhile, this morning a 71-year-old Macleay Island man suffered a medical episode on the border at Coolangatta.
The ABC understands the man was trying to re-enter Queensland after being caught in NSW.
The man was treated by ambulance officers at the scene and transported to hospital.
Farewell to van life
Earlier today, Jeremy and Tayla Morris made it back across to Queensland after living in their van at Yamba for a month.
The Sunshine Coast couple had been snowboarding in Jindabyne when they heard Queensland would be closing the border.
The couple ruled out hotel quarantine and opted instead to set up camp in Yamba, where they witnessed what they said was a town doing it tough.
"With a 12-hour notice to get home and a 15-hour drive, that was never going to happen," Mr Morris said.
After a month at Jindabyne and another month in the van Mr and Mrs Morris say they cannot wait to get back to work.
Headed south
Queensland man Rod Campi was equally excited to be heading back to work just over the NSW border.
"It's been four or five weeks since we've worked together — we're in the building game," he said.
He said the border shutdown took a toll on the community.
"Just living in Queensland and having the town segregated has been the biggest thing," Mr Campi said.
'Extremely tough'
Coolangatta coffee shop owner Julie-Anne Leaf said she hoped the bubble would increase the flow of traffic through the area and boost local businesses.
"It's been extremely tough," she said.
"We've got the border directly behind us, most of our staff live in NSW.
"Hopefully it'll be the start of reopening and business coming back to some sort of normality.
