Overview
When the latest lockdown first came into effect, Melburnians were only allowed to shop and exercise within five kilometres of their home. Then, when stay-at-home conditions entered their second week, that distance was extended to ten kilometres. Now, from 11.59pm on Thursday, June 10, lockdown is ending. New rules will be in place, though — and the distance you can travel from your house is ramping up to 25 kilometres.
People living in metropolitan Melbourne will be able to travel within the larger distance for any reason they like, too — so not just for exercise and shopping. You no longer need to adhere to the two-hour time limit, either; however, you still cannot enter regional Victoria.
Hankering to go on a four-hour run or have a lengthy picnic session? Soon, you can. Those picnics can also get a little bigger as well, without outdoor gatherings of up to ten people allowed.
These rules are set to stay in place for at least a week, which means you have seven days to get reacquainted with whatever is within 25 kilometres of your home. There are a few easy ways to check out your household's government-approved travel radius, but none have proved quite as popular as KM From Home — a website that originally launched in Ireland back in March 2020, when that country introduced its own travel restrictions.
Melburnians jumped on board in August 2020, too, with creator Dave Bolger tweeting at that time that over 225,000 Aussies had checked the site in 24 hours. The online map is free and easy to use — simply centre it to your address, select a 25-kilometre radius and you'll see a big red or blue bubble encompassing the zone you're free to travel in under the Victorian Government's new rules.
You'll find other radius apps out there as well, including the likes of Map Developers and The Age's tool.
Alternatively, if you've got a Garmin watch, you can download this range warning and it'll alert you when you're closing in on a certain distance from your run's starting point.
Want to check a specific cafe or shopping centre to see if it falls in your 25-kilometre zone? There's a function on the Google Maps app that allows you to measure a distance as the crow flies. Simply touch and hold the location on the map until the red pin appears, then scroll down and click 'measure distance' below the venue's details. That'll tell you how exactly how far the address is from your starting point.
Victoria's latest round of eased restrictions come into effect at 11.59pm on Thursday, June 10. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Victoria, head to the Department of Health website.
Top image: Km From Home