'Really quite scary getting off the plane': Young family home in Mandurah after gruelling ordeal

Last week their baby daughter, Indigo received cuddles from her grandmother for the first time, at the age of nine months.

"It was the most amazing feeling being able to give my daughter over to my mum," Ms Ellis says. "They have a beautiful bond already."

Ms Ellis and Mr Pedersen have returned home to Mandurah after a gruelling and expensive ordeal.

They were among more than 36,000 Australians who had told the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade they want to come home, with the number of people deemed vulnerable at 8070.

But as more stranded Aussies arrived home, more joined the list so the number of those waiting was hardly shrinking.

When Amber spoke to the Mandurah Mail in September, she was fighting back tears because returning home to Western Australia seemed so far out of reach for her young family.

They were living in New Zealand when the COVID-19 pandemic took its grip, causing Mr Pedersen to be made redundant from his dream job as an airline pilot and forcing them to call off their wedding. Meanwhile they started fearing for the life of their unborn baby.

The next few months included an abrupting placenta, many months of bed rest and an emergency C-section, all during strict isolation, with Mr Pedersen going long stretches without being able to see their newborn child.

Meanwhile they were trying to get home to Mandurah to be with Ms Ellis' family but their hopes were dashed by hard borders and then cancelled flights.

Finally last month they boarded on a plane; and arriving home has been everything they expected it to be - after the shock of touchdown.

"The army is stationed at the airport, it's really quite scary getting off the plane, you feel like you're in Afghanistan or somewhere, not Western Australia," Ms Ellis said.

"But it was amazing coming home. I never thought I'd miss Mandurah as much as I did."

Rule changes mean that people arriving in Western Australia from New Zealand can self-isolate as long as they do so safely - they can interact with other people living in the house in which they are staying as long as they keep a 1.5 metre distance and no visitors are allowed.

Indigo popped two teeth while they were in quarantine - "it's much easier to deal with that in a house rather than a hotel," Ms Ellis says.

"People were coming to see us from the front of the house and we were talking to them from the balcony."

After two weeks of quarantining in her mum's Port Bouvard house, they have started seeing family, catching up with friends and going for beach walks every evening.

They say financially Mr Pedersen's redundancy has been tough on them but they're busy trying to get back on their feet.

Read also: NZ travel deal pressures Australian states

"Trying to manage having a baby with both of us out of work was hard but we've kept our head above water and having the family support around us has been amazing," Ms Ellis said.

"It's been amazing coming into the family home and having somewhere to live straight away so that's taken away some of the financial burden."

She has started work in her mum's business Zoo Bridal in Mandurah marina and Mr Pedersen has been interviewing for FIFO roles.

From Monday, the national cap increased to about 6700 a week as international flights arrive in Melbourne again.

DFAT officials said more than 426,000 people have returned since Australia's borders were closed in March, with 30,000 on government-facilitated flights.

Of those returned, 1.3 per cent have tested positive for the virus.

Mr Morrison raised hopes in September when he said he was keen to get as many - if not all - of the stranded travellers home in time for Christmas.

He's put the blame on states for the weekly cap on international arrivals, put in place to keep the hotel quarantine system sustainable.

Officials said the system's capacity was the constraining factor, with 30,000 empty flight seats a week because of limits.

Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said home quarantine posed an unacceptable risk for most international arrivals.