There were cheers of delight as a plane carrying 13 New Zealanders rescued from a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship off Uruguay touched down on home soil.
In total, 16 New Zealanders were among 112 people rescued from the South American nation after their cruise to Antarctica went wrong.
They had been trapped on the Greg Mortimer for three weeks as Covid-19 infections soared.
Three of the New Zealanders remained in Australia, with the rest returning home on a charted medevac flight.
They will now spent two weeks in isolation, but for Aynsley Guerin and his fellow travellers, there was a massive sense of relief to be home.
"We had an amazing four days in Antarctica, but the rest of the holiday was not what I signed up for," he told 1 NEWS.
"But at the same time it's been an amazing experience, everyone was looking out for each other."
They left Montevideo last night, heading for Melbourne and then Auckland.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says they would be treated as high risk, and will be quarantined, regardless of the outcome of testing.
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