By Jim Fagan
Bella means beautiful in Italian but to Margaret and Don Bayles, Bella, their 12-year-old Jack Russell, is not only beautiful she is a much-loved member of the family.
That’s why they are paying $19,000 to take her home to Tasmania this Friday in a privately chartered Cessna Citation CJI jet.
“Because of the Covid 19 restrictions, it’s the only way we can get her back,” Don told Noosa Today. “At the moment Virgin is the only airline flying into Hobart that takes pets but it is under administration just now and has very few flights.
“We’ve tried eight times to take her with us only to be informed the flight has been cancelled. It’s also meant we have had to go to the end of the waiting list.
“When I was told it could be possibly the end of November before we could get back with her, I started ringing round airlines with private aircraft.
“I found one in Armidale and the plane is coming to Maroochydore on Friday and then taking us to Hobart. Bella will be in the cabin with us, sitting right at our feet in a comfortable little container.”
Don and Margaret have had Bella since she was eight weeks old. “She’s part of our family,” said Margaret.
They have been coming to Noosa with Bella three or four times a year for the last seven years and have a house in Tewantin. They arrived here in February for a six-weeks stay right at the start of the pandemic.
“It’s been a very frustrating time for us.,” said Don, who had his own electrical contracting business before retiring. “We love Noosa and we have made some wonderful friends but there’s no place like home and we want to make sure we spend Christmas with our family.
“We have had offers from people to take Bella and, although they are more than capable, the difficulty is we don’t know how long it will be. If it was a couple of weeks we would consider it. but it might be six months or maybe never.”
Don and Margaret will still have to quarantine with Bella for 14 days at their home in Blackman’s Bay, a seaside suburb of Hobart. “it shouldn’t be too hard,” said Don. “We’ve had seven months to prepare for it.”
