It had been seven weeks since Alana Hoskinson's sister had seen her, after her cruise on the Diamond Princess ended in a risk of coronavirus exposure and a month of quarantine in two locations.
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But her sister, Kelli Skelton, knew exactly what to take when she went to meet Ms Hoskinson at the airport on Thursday night: Wild Turkey and raspberries.
"American Honey too - only the best," Ms Hoskinson said.
"And raspberries from the garden," Ms Skelton added.
Alana Hoskinson landed in Launceston about 11pm on Thursday.
She had spent the previous 14 days at an army facility repurposed into a quarantine camp at Howard Springs near Darwin.
The 14 days before that were spent in lockdown on a cruise ship with her friend and travelling companion Diana Headlam: they were not allowed to leave their cabin, which didn't have a window, except for one hour on deck each day.
The quarantine occurred at the end of the scheduled cruise. A man onboard had tested positive for the coronavirus, and the Diamond Princess was forced to stay docked in port at Yokohama, Japan, until the 14-day quarantine period was over.
The Australians were then placed in a second quarantine, in Darwin.
Ms Hoskinson said the hardest part was the five days they went without any medications in Howard Springs until the government could organise supply. She was also unimpressed that they weren't allowed alcohol at the Darwin facility.
But on the whole, she said, "it wasn't so bad".
"The people that we dealt with at Howard Springs, the army people, were really good fun - we had the same nurses for the whole two weeks and they were really good," she said.
"[On the ship] they got rid of the paid internet straight away, and they kept building it to the stage where the captain said it was the biggest satellite WiFi network in the world - because there were 4000 people trying to use it all at once.
"We had the cabin phone that we could call anyone whenever we wanted, they brought us food three times a day. They sent us presents, there was all sorts of things - businesses in Japan donated things, they tried everything.
"There's no point being bitter about it - and I'm home now, so who cares?"
She returned with presents from Japan for her family, and spent her first night back in Launceston catching up with her two sons and dog at home.
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Frances Vinall
Frances Vinall is a journalist at The Examiner, Launceston. Contact her at frances.vinall@examiner.com.au
Frances Vinall is a journalist at The Examiner, Launceston. Contact her at frances.vinall@examiner.com.au
