A New Zealander who's just arrived in Auckland on a government-assisted charter flight from Peru says it feels weird to come back home in such unusual circumstances.
The flight, with 60 New Zealanders and three Australians on board, landed at Auckland Airport at 5am on Tuesday. .
Peru has been in lockdown for a month and with no commercial services operating between New Zealand and South America, this was one of their last chances to get home.
Tahlia Loughlin had been in Peru since August last year - her biggest hurdle to getting on to the flight was actually making it to Lima.
She says while everyone was relieved to be going home, there was a weird feeling amongst the passengers on the plane.
With just over 60 people on the LATAM Airlines Dreamliner, Loughlin says they all got at least a whole row to themselves.
Once they landed in Auckland, there were extra checks at the border.
All of the passengers will now spend two weeks in managed isolation in an Auckland hotel, before they're allowed to return home. In the meantime, Loughlin says she's feeling grateful for the small things.
