As an Australian living overseas in America, I always knew that getting back home was subject to how Covid-normal Australia was.
When Sydney went into lockdown, my hopes of coming back home were replaced by a fear of being locked out.
Every day, I checked the papers, hoping that our flight out on 11 July would be safe. We had relocated to the US to allow my husband to complete his fellowship at the Mayo clinic, a decision we had not made lightly.
When friends asked me about our departure date, I would joke, “hopefully they will let us back in! You never know, if they go into lockdown they might drop the arrivals and our flights could get cancelled.”
I watched, horrified, as Australia slowly became a fortress. I felt for my fellow Australians around the globe who were desperately trying to get home. I desperately hoped that I would not become one of them.
In the first days of the Sydney lockdown, I could feel the fear creeping back in. Although both myself and my husband had been vaccinated with Pfizer months ago, I knew it didn’t mean much to Australia.
On the morning of the national cabinet meeting, I felt extremely nervous. I knew that we had to change our flights as soon as possible or risk being locked out, living overseas with two kids and no income and nowhere to live as my husband’s fellowship had just finished.
I had a sick feeling in the pit in my stomach as I made the phone call to our airline a few hours ahead of the impending national cabinet meeting. I felt a sense of urgency to get out of the US within 72 hours or risk being stranded like so many of my fellow Australians all over the world.
We spent close to six hours on the phone with the airline and managed to get an extra four seats at no extra cost. I feel eternally grateful to the lovely man who answered my call that day.
We still had a whole house to unpack, furniture to be sold, a car to sell, six suitcases to pack within 24 hours and had to find somewhere we could get a Covid test prior to travel as well as organising our transport from Rochester to Minneapolis airport, while looking after two children under the age of six.
I looked at my husband right after the phone call and, although elated, we both knew the immense task ahead of us to get out of the country. The stress between us was palpable but the prospect of not making it home was something we were not willing to risk.
We were running on a rush of adrenaline as we finally made it to the airport. I knew I could not completely relax until I got on the plane to Sydney from Los Angeles as we had heard of so many stories of planes being cancelled last minute.
The stress and worry of not being able to come home was overwhelming, and I still did not feel reassured we would make it. My eyes welled up with tears of gratitude once we received our final boarding passes and the concept of finally going home became a reality.
In the US, vaccination rates are high and life had started to become somewhat normal, so in some ways I felt afraid of being exposed to Covid-19 (particularly the Delta strain) in Sydney.
The Australian government has failed its people with the rollout of the vaccine. As a doctor myself, I am well aware of the risks of Covid-19 and grateful that they have managed to keep Covid deaths low by the necessary but difficult lockdowns, and I am supportive of the immense effort by healthcare workers across the country to keep Australians safe. But the vaccination rollout needed to be much faster and more efficient to prevent Australia becoming the fortress it has now become.
When we started our descent into Sydney and I saw the blue water beneath us, I cried tears of relief of finally being home. I hadn’t realised how much I had missed this beautiful country and my family and friends. Although I knew we were headed for hotel quarantine, it felt like a small price to pay for getting home safely and just in the nick of time.
I am grateful that we made it but there are thousands more like us, who are waiting to come home. There can be no such thing as Covid-normal unless we vaccinate our population as soon as possible as it is the only ticket out of this pandemic.
• Dr Sarah Arachchi is a Melbourne paediatrician
