When the train doors opened and his children greeted him with a cup of tea, Michael Barnes realised his nightmare had finally come to an end.
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After almost two years apart, and having spent the past six frustrating months trying to get home from the UK, the hugs of his children bought the Daylesford carpenter to tears.
"It was just a wave of emotion," he said. "We just sat up talking all night, kissing and hugging and crying. It's still very surreal and unbelievable to be back to be honest."
On Tuesday Mr Barnes finished 14 days of quarantine at the Northern Territory's Howard Springs quarantine camp and flew to Melbourne, via Sydney, to be reunited with his family.
Mr Barnes said his two weeks in quarantine had passed quickly and he was heartened that Victoria was finally considering a quarantine camp similar to Howard Springs where returned travellers stay in their own cabin, with access to fresh air, rather than the fraught hotel quarantine system.
"It's all very strict and stringent but we've been allowed out on the balcony and we've been fed really well.
"I can't say I'll go back on holiday there again ... but it was a good experience and everyone I have spoken to about the hotel quarantine system said it was highly logical that COVID would transfer through air conditioning or open doors so it makes more sense to have quarantine in a camp like Howard Springs than a city hotel."
Uncertainty over whether his children Jake, Madison, Jordon and Saxon could travel out of their 5km zone to meet him at the airport under the strict stage four restrictions of Victoria's circuit-breaker lockdown meant he decided to catch a train back to Ballan after landing in Melbourne on Tuesday night - adding an extra two hours to the separation.
"I didn't realise how emotional we were all going to be," Mr Barnes said.
"The kids were all there to greet me and bought me a cup of tea. I love my drinks of tea. Then we just came home and sat talking until 4am.
"It's nice waking up to the blue sky, wide open spaces and family ... and to be back in familiar surroundings."
"I've been living out of a suitcase and on friends couches trying to get back to Australia, so now to be home, to be somewhere familiar is really surreal."
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.
When the job ended and the COVID pandemic emerged he headed back to the UK assuming it would be easier to organise a return flight from there.
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He 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.
But he was finally given a seat on a DFAT/Qantas flight from London earlier this month, to the relief of his family.
Mr Barnes said his children had matured and grown so much since he last saw them. Saxon was just 15 when he left and has since had a growth spurt and is now taller than his father.
"Apart from Madi, they're all taller than me now and when I left that wasn't the case," he laughed.
While he initially feared that two weeks in quarantine, once back on Australian soil, would drag he found it not the case.
"In hindsight now, those two weeks have gone past very quickly," he said.
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Mr Barnes had to pass a COVID test in the 48 hours before boarding his repatriation flight back to Australia, and has been tested three times since touching down on Australian soil.
The last was 48 hours before his quarantine period ended on Tuesday.
"We were the first flight that came in over the last 12 months to all test negative on every test from start to finish which was a good bonus," he said.
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