Warradale couple return home from Christmas Island
When a Warradale couple left for their family holiday in December, they did not expect it to take almost two months to get home. But travel restrictions due to coronavirus kept them on Christmas Island.
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A Warradale family was happy to be back home yesterday, having been stuck on Christmas Island due to coronavirus restrictions for two weeks.
Wei Sun, her husband Jun Xu and son Sim Xu, 6, arrived back in Adelaide yesterday afternoon on a chartered flight. They had originally embarked on their holiday back on December 31.
“We did a lot of travelling, including going to Shanghai Disneyland, before going to see Jun’s grandparents in Wuhan,” Mrs Sun said.
The couple arrived in Wuhan on the eve of Chinese New Year, on January 24.
But the outbreak of coronavirus meant they had to stay within Mr Xu’s grandparents house, which Mrs Sun said wasn’t a negative. “It meant more family time,” she said.
The couple were return to Adelaide on January 29, but their flight got cancelled.
“We rang the consulate, trying to get out of Wuhan, and obviously we had to go to Christmas Island, because at that time we didn’t have any other choice,” Mrs Sun said.
The family then went on a long journey of more than 30 hours, travelling from Wuhan to New Zealand before being transferred to Christmas Island. Evacuees were then housed at Christmas Island’s former detention centre.
“We just went with the flow. We knew the facilities would be basic but the staff were really welcoming,” Mrs Sun said.
“When we left Wuhan, the temperature was about 10C, and in Christmas Island it was 29 and very humid, but they helped us out with summer clothes.”
Mrs Sun said the family was looking forward to getting on with their normal lives; she is a nurse at the Flinders Medical Centre and her husband a researcher at the University of South Australia.
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“We’re just so appreciative of everyone who helped us during this crisis time, especially the government and the army.”
Meanwhile, Australians on board the coronavirus-infested cruise ship near Tokyo, the Diamond Princess, were preparing for their evacuation flight to Darwin last night.
About 550 of 3711 passengers and crew have contracted coronavirus, including 36 Australians, who, are being treated at hospitals onshore.