Rottnest Island is known for its cute marsupials. Photo / Mark Stoop, on Unsplash
Rottnest Island is known for its cute marsupials. Photo / Mark Stoop, on Unsplash
This week, the nation went into lockdown in a fight to save lives and stop the spread of covid-19.
The world can feel like a glum and gloomy place as we all take shelter in our homes and watch the ever increasing numbers of positive coronavirus test results announced.
But each day, there are some little gems that pop up, that might have got missed in the major news updates.
Each Friday over the next four weeks, the Herald Travel team is going to bring you a selection of some of the happier coronavirus-related travel stories, to help break up the doomsday vibes.
#BringTomHome: Our travel writer finally made it back
A major celebration this week within the close-knit NZH Travel team was the safe return of Thomas Bywater to New Zealand soil.
Initially, we were all outrageously jealous of his cruise to Patagonia. Until he couldn't get off the ship due to protestors angry about Covid-19. Then the borders began shutting down and flights were cancelled. Each day seemed to bring a new challenge to #BringTomHome
Finally this week, he returned to New Zealand by the skin of his teeth, apologising profusely to the rest of our team as if it was somehow his fault he was trapped abroad.
If you have to go into lockdown, you might as well do it Aussie-style, with a bunch of quokkas (Google if you've never heard of one before - you wouldn't be the only one).
With nowhere to go, hundreds of Australian cruise passengers were this week planning to go into coronavirus lock-down on Rottnest island - which is famous for the cute marsupials.
Rottnest Island is known for its cute marsupials. Photo / Mark Stoop, on Unsplash
The quokkas are fluffy, fearless mammals around the size of a teddy-bear and have thrived on the predator-free island.
Go grab your Kindle and let us know what's first on your list.
Let the Matterhorn glow
The ski fields are closed, but Switzerland's famous Matterhorn is sending messages out to the nearby resorts.
Switzerland's Zermatt ski resort has begun light projections to the top of the Matterhorn, the famous pyramid-shaped peak that straddles Switzerland and Italy, as a way to show solidarity with all those affected by the pandemic.
Can we take a minute to appreciate Yukon's annual hair freezing competition?
The Takhini Hot Springs in Whitehorse is holding its Hair Freezing Contest in northwest Canada. And what better way to spend our lockdown than to vote for the best do?
Frozen beards and icy hair can be contorted into wild shapes in this part of the Yukon. Photo / Supplied
The warm outdoor baths and sub-zero temperatures provide the perfect conditions for creating strange and arresting shapes out of frozen hair and beards. While the pools are now closed to the public, voting is open until April 1st.
Temperatures in this part of the Yukon can dip as low as -12 Celsius, or -21 at night. This causes damp hair to freeze instantly into impressive frosted shapes.
A section of China's Great Wall has been reopened to visitors, in a sign that the country's tourism industry is cautiously recovering.
While the reopening has many obstacles, the measures could be adopted by other national landmarks in a post-virus world.
It will be open to visitors from 9am-4pm, but numbers will be strictly limited and controlled, so as to protect it from both from damage by tourists, and to prevent further spread of disease.
Technically not a travel story, but she's a good egg and deserves a shout out. Because in times like these, we need a bit of a laugh and a reason to dress up.
