WELLINGTON sports journalist Barry Knott and his wife Heather were two of the last Brits to leave Australia last week before the country closed its borders.

The couple were just two weeks into their Golden Wedding trip to Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast when they decided to cut short their trip and return home.

Barry said: “We began to realise the seriousness of the coronaviris outbreak and how it might affect our travel plans.

“We decided to contact our travel agent in Taunton to find out if we could return early. It was touch and go and we finally got the last two seats on an Emirates plane before the airline stopped all flights the next day.

“If we had stayed with our original travelling plan we could have been stuck in Australia for months. Some might not think that a bad thing but the fact you’re not in control of your holiday makes it totally different.

“Most of the passengers on the plane were UK residents anxious to return home. Many others did not make it.”

Barry added: “We were joined on our holiday by my brother Tony and his wife Lil. We rented a large two-bedroom apartment overlooking Caloundra. Tony and Lil also had to end their intended four-week stay and head back to their home in Blaxland near Sydney the next day before the country went into lockdown.

“Looking back we should probably have cancelled our holiday but we would have lost a lot of money. When we booked the holiday towards the end of last year we never dreamed of it turning out like this. It took us 30 hours to get back home, which included a four-hour stay in Dubai.

“Will we go again? Probably.”