Cheers and tears of joy as Australians return home without quarantine
Grandparents met grandchildren for the first time, young romantics flung themselves into each other’s arms, and airport staff handed out Tim Tams.
Grandparents met grandchildren for the first time, young lovers flew into each other’s arms, and airport staff handed out Tim Tams while an acoustic duo played Men at Work’s Land Down Under.
Returning Australians have touched down in Sydney on Monday morning to cheers and tears of joy following almost 600 days in exile from loved ones.
Relieved families met their loved ones on flights that arrived from 5:25am from Singapore and then Los Angeles - with 14 more arriving throughout the day.
Fully inoculated Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families weren’t marched onto a bus and taken under police escort to a hotel for a two-week quarantine stint under the guard of members of the defence force - instead walked arm in arm from the airport with their relatives.
A tearful David Frisken stood at the back of the international terminal, quietly waiting with a bouquet of roses for his fiancee, Hye Young Moon, who he hadn’t seen for over two years.
The high-rise window cleaner said it was “amazing” to be with his loved one again, who was forced to return to South Korea after her visa expired in 2016.
Mr Frisken used to travel to South Korea on holiday to visit Ms Moon until the pandemic struck.
“She was my boarder at home and I kind of fell in love with her,” the 25-year-old told The Australian.
“I’ve been booking tickets ever since I got her travel exemption. Flights just kept getting cancelled because there was no hotel quarantine.”
Mr Frisken says the last two years without her has been the most difficult of his life.
Returning Australians have touched down in Sydney this morning to cheers and tears of joy following almost 600 days in exile from loved ones.Â
— Liam Mendes (@liammendes) November 1, 2021
Grandparents met grandchildren for the first time and young romantics flung themselves into each other’s arms. pic.twitter.com/mK6Dp8w0D8
“I ended up having to get on antidepressants just to function. I was struggling at work,” he said.
“It was really hard. I really missed David,” Ms Moon said.
Grandmother Toni Lyras struggled to hold back tears as she held her nine-month-old daughter Emelia for the first time.
Ms Lyras’ daughter Melissa is relocating back to Australia with her husband Sebastian Pugligheddu, a finance manager, after 14 years overseas.
Despite daily photos on Facebook and FaceTime calls, Ms Lyras said there was nothing like holding her granddaughter for the first time in person.
“It was beautiful,” she said.
“I’ve been talking to her every morning and every night since she was born. We wanted to see how she’d react when she met us in person, and she was fantastic. It was as if she’d known us all along.
“She always tries to grab our face on the phone so she managed to grab us in person now.
“It’s just great to have her, it’s a wonderful feeling.”
The young family is looking forward to reuniting with friends and family, and after having multiple flights cancelled Amelia’s mother Melissa Lyras is in shock that she’s back home.
“It feels surreal, I don’t feel like it’s real at all,” she said.
“I still quite can’t believe it … It’s a really strange feeling.”
Qantas flight manager Paul Wilson said it was “fantastic” to not have to isolate after spending four of the last ten months in hotel quarantine and home isolation after working on repatriation flights.
Mr Wilson volunteered to work on flights bringing home stranded Australians from Dubai, India, London and Frankfurt. He was also stood down for a period during the pandemic.
“I can walk out like an adult human, I can go to the supermarket. This is a really great day for everyone here in Australia just to be able to go out and to live our best lives,” he said.
“We have just been confined to hotel quarantine the entire time, today is a real milestone day because it means that we can move out and it means that my colleagues at Qantas can come back to work doing the job that we love one more time again.”
The flight attendant of over 20 years said there had been a lot of mental preparation for his long stints alone.
“It’s very hard. You have to get used to it. It’s tough, it takes strength to do it.
He looks forward to visiting Los Angeles, where he doesn’t have to quarantine, instead of Queensland.
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