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Lucia White from Balmain and her best mates originally intended to head to Byron Bay for schoolies week, but the change in dates for the HSC meant they had to cancel.
Ms White, 18, said they could not find accommodation in Byron for the new dates, so a group of 10 friends are heading to Currawong Point on the South Coast instead.
Lucia White and Keira Jones had to cancel plans to go to Byron Bay for schoolies.Credit:Sam Mooy
Ms White said she was not too disappointed to be missing out on the official schoolies experience.
“I’d rather just spend time with my friends but I know a lot of other people are upset that they’re not going to Byron because a lot of people are going there – it’s like a hotspot,” she said.
Uncertainty over when the Queensland border will reopen to NSW residents – now scheduled for late December – ruled out the traditional schoolies destination of the Gold Coast for most school leavers. And while the international borders have recently reopened, very few students are jetting off to Bali or Fiji as they might have pre-pandemic.
Olivia Strelitz, 18, a boarder at Ascham said she always intended to go to the Gold Coast like her older sister but halfway through year 11 she and her friends made the call not to risk state border closures.
Ms Strelitz booked flights and accommodation for schoolies in Byron Bay over a year ago, along with about 30 of her classmates staying in four different houses. Fortunately the booking was for the end of November and Ms Strelitz is due to fly up to the Byron area the morning after her last exam.
“It’s the best thing to look forward to, to get through these exams after doing full trials and everything online, and being home for four months,” she said. “It’s really the only thing getting me through these exams at the moment; it’s very exciting.”
Byron Bay will be the hotspot for NSW school leavers, both as an enduringly popular destination in its own right and as the safe option given it doesn’t involve crossing any borders. Victorian school leavers are also partying closer to home, typically on the Mornington Peninsula and the Surf Coast around Lorne and Torquay.