At the height of the strictest COVID lockdown period in NSW, in early April last year, Anathea Ruys was taken from Sydney Airport by police with the aid of military personnel to her hotel room to ensure she didn’t “abscond”.
She then spent two weeks locked in the pokey hotel room, with meals left on a tray at the door. Welcome back.
Of course, it was a quarantine scenario familiar to hundreds of travellers arriving in Australia at the time, but a shock to the system, nonetheless.
Despite the less-than-salubrious homecoming (and being separated from her husband and teenage sons, who were still finishing up business and schooling in LA, for longer than expected - more of that later), upon her “release” Anathea says she was immediately struck by the strength of the industry.
“In the year before I came back I was concerned about the Australian market because it was coming off the back of devastating bushfires, floods, and then Covid,” she recalls.
“But I seriously underestimated the strength of the market here. There seems to be a real resilience around our industry. I know that that’s not consistent across all sectors and groups, but I was and am still really impressed.
