Hello, I'm Simon Calder, welcoming you to my independent travel podcast, bringing you the latest on travelling, whether you're just dreaming of a great escape or actually away and having the time of your life.

And this is a little earlier than usual. That is because I've been assimilating all the news which has come in overnight from Australia about

opening up that fair country after almost two years of closure. And the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison,

has told people, yep, from the 21st of February, all fully vaccinated visa holders can get to Australia.

He's mentioned without a travel exemption. That's one of the few reasons that at the moment

would allow you to go there. But don't get too excited if you are hoping to go and see loved ones

in Perth or anywhere else in Western Australia,

I'm afraid that's going to be tricky and also traveling just across the state border into

South Australia could also be tricky. So let me just run through the rules. It's relatively

straightforward except when you get to the state level.

So if you were just going to Sydney or you were just going to Melbourne, then it's very straightforward.

Pretty standard fully vaccinated rules. In fact, generous by most accounts, any of the jabs that you're likely to have and a number that you're not such as

coax in from india sputnik v from russia or a couple of chinese ones are allowed um you would expect to

have had the second jab at least a week ago so that's pretty easy too and um if you've only had a single uh johnson and johnson or yanson jab then that's pretty easy too and if you've only had a single Johnson & Johnson or

Janssen jab then that's sufficient as well and you're even allowed to mix and match your visas

if you are able to prove medically that you can't be vaccinated then you're treated the same as fully jabbed

arrivals, though you do need to jump through a few hurdles or hoops in order to get there.

Now, unlike some European countries, many European countries now, there's no expiry date on

vaccinations, and it doesn't matter whether or not you have had the booster, which is good as well for people who maybe got their second jab some time ago.

Children under 12 counters fully vaccinated for travel purposes.

I'm trying to establish whether there's also a little bit of leeway, 12 years and a couple of months.

That is looking patchy.

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