The Daylesford father-of-four had been stranded in the UK, desperate to get home, after six flights were cancelled over the past five months but finally made it on board a DFAT/Qantas flight from London on Monday.

He is among thousands of stranded Australians desperately trying to get home as the UK health system threatens to buckle under its second wave amid a surge of a more deadly COVID variant.

So when the wheels of his Qantas flight finally left the tarmac at Heathrow Airport he and his fellow passengers, most of whom had also been trying to get back to Australia for many months, felt immediate relief.

"That roar of elation when we took off is something I'll never forget," he said from quarantine at Howard Springs in the Northern Territory.

"As we took off we all started a rousing cheer. It was great to hear a plane full of Australian citizens getting relief they're actually coming home.

"As you can imagine it's been nerve-racking but I finally got on the flight. I'm elated to be home and my family is very, very happy to know I'm on Australian soil again and will be home in a couple of weeks."

Mr Barnes had been trying to return to Australia since October, paying for three flights that were ultimately cancelled - one when he was at the check-in counter - and missing out on a seat on three DFAT-organised repatriation flights.

With each commercial flight cancellation taking three-to-five months to be refunded, he had run out of cash and was desperate to get home.

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After his last flight cancellation on January 15, Mr Barnes reached out to a friend in Creswick to find a phone number for a local MP who could perhaps help him.

That kickstarted a fundraising campaign and led to a story in The Courier which caught the eye of Senator Sarah Henderson.

"My office has been supporting the return home of many residents who live in regional Victoria," Senator Henderson said.

"For a number of weeks, I have worked closely with Michael and his family to help him secure a repatriation flight from the United Kingdom. I wish to thank Foreign Minister Marise Payne and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade who are working so hard to bring Australians home including Michael."

Senator Henderson said she had been keeping in touch with Michael by email most days.

"I know how much he is looking forward to re-uniting with his family ... After such a long time away, his arrival in Victoria will certainly be a big celebration."

Family is the main thing on Mr Barnes' mind as he sits out his quarantine period.

He can't wait to hug his children Jake, 26, Madison, 23, Jordan, 21 and Saxon, 17.

"I just want to give them a big hug. It's been hard to get excited each time I book a flight knowing there's a chance it will be cancelled. I've always been the eternal optimist so it's been hard to tell my children I can't come home again ... so hugging them is my main priority."

Mr Barnes left Australia in March 2019 to work for 12 to 14 months as a specialised carpenter on a traditional wooden rollercoaster in Norway, a job he took to provide a better future for his children.

Jordan said it was a relief to have his father back on Australian soil.

"We were nervous about him being in the UK with COVID going insane over there and he did have to return a negative test before he got on the flight, so that alone provided enough doubt for us. Following what had already happened, and him making it to the terminal on one other flight then it being cancelled, I never built up too much hope," Jordan said.

"His COVID test came back negative and that boosted morale again, then he sent a picture of himself waiting in the airport lounge, then not getting a reply from him and knowing he was on the flight ... then touching down in Australia it's just massive."

Mr Barnes texted his children at 5.30am on Tuesday to let them know he had landed after the 16.5 hour non-stop flight.

"We feel a lot better and being able to tell people he's in Australia ... it's not just hope any more."

Although they have yet to make plans for their reunion, Jordan expects his dad will just want to be at home with the family.

Mr Barnes was full of thanks for Ms Henderson and The Courier for highlighting his plight and helping him get home, and for the community support and donations to a fundraising campaign which have covered the cost of his flight and quarantine.

"(Sarah Henderson) contacted my family offering compassion, support and assistance and I have been dealing with her for a couple of weeks and she's been a tremendous help. I think she's got a massive heart and understanding of our community spirit and the Australian spirit and the injustice of it all so I really appreciate her help."

Since the Morrison Government first advised that Australians reconsider the need to travel abroad due to COVID-19, 448,000 have safely returned to Australia and DFAT has helped more than 38,800 Australians return on over 500 flights - including about 12,600 people on more than 90 government facilitated repatriation flights.

Mr Barnes praised the Howard Springs quarantine facility and said he believed more quarantine camps like it should be built in similarly remote areas, rather than relying on hotel quarantine where the virus could more easily spread to the community.

"Looking at this camp, more stranded people could be bought home and facilitated in places like these," he said.

Mr Barnes said there were hundreds of self-contained, socially distanced huts with sections of the camp rotated through as new plane loads of returned travellers arrive.

"They have had a total of about 100 (positive COVID) cases come in to Howard Springs and not one escape from this complex so quarantine here is working safely ... and I can see no reason why other camps can't be opened like this around the country.

"This style of isolation, unlike city hotel accommodation, seems to be the way to go because it's not immediate to a population in a city so you don't have hotel workers going home, mixing with large numbers of the community."

After Mr Barnes makes it to the long-awaited reunion with his family, he plans to try to help other people get home, and write his story "to exorcise it from my own mind and get it out on paper".

In the coming days he will also talk to the Human Rights Commission who got in touch with him after his story appeared in The Courier.

"There are still thousands of people on the vulnerable list so hopefully these flights are going to keep going and quarantine quotas will be opened up."

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And he hoped the Australian public would soften their attitudes toward returned travellers.

"There's this conception that we are bringing this virus in. Yes some people have been tested positive but it's not when they are released from quarantine that's letting COVID out to general public, it's the health care workers dealing with us," he said.

"There's a misconception it's all us returning citizens that need to be kept away, but that's not the traditional Aussie spirit or sense of mateship."

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