TWO STEVENSTON sisters who were trapped on the other side of the world during lockdown have thanked their amazing community for helping to bring them back home.

Sarah, 24 and Samantha Woods, 23 became stuck in New Zealand as the Kiwis entered a tough quarantine in March.

Thanks to a friend back home, £1,360 was raised to pay for specially chartered flights back to the UK.

The pair were off for a family reunion to see their older sister Catherine and three-year-old nephew who stay in Blenheim, on the south island of the country.

But their planned four week holiday turned into a frantic six-week mission to get back to Ayrshire.

Sarah told the Herald: “We left on March 15, we knew when we were going we’d have to self-isolate for two weeks, but had had planned this trip for over a year, and we wanted to see our sister and nephew.

“We arrived on the Tuesday and then come the Thursday the whole country was in complete lockdown.”

When their airline Emirates cancelled all flights, they were faced looking at charter flights at up to £3,000 per ticket.

Samantha said: “We were panicked and started to think we wouldn’t get home. There was planned ban on all flights in May, so we knew we were running out of time.”

The girls were also concerned about their finances. Samantha who works at Arnold Clark was put on furlough, with Sarah a care worker at South Beach House unable to earn whilst stuck in New Zealand.

The girls were on the phone to family back home every night, and friend Shawnie Harper decided to set up a GoFundMe in a bid to raise the cash to help girls get back.

The girls were able to get on charter flights on April 30, six weeks after initially starting lockdown in New Zealand.

Samantha said: “My sister drove us for five hours to the north island for us to get on a plane back to London.

“We stopped off in Hong Kong for a few hours where we were given something to eat and some juice. On the flight there was no social distancing, when we arrived at Heathrow there were people everywhere, trying to get luggage.

“Overall it was 40 hours to get back. We got stopped once at London Euston by police who asked us where we were going. And we told them it was essential travel.”

Back home, they were greeted by family and a sign for the window.

The girls feel indebted to the community for helping them.

Samantha added: “We would never have gotten back when we did if it wasn’t for the fundraiser. We couldn’t thank them enough.”

Sarah added: “It was our first trip to New Zealand and it was certainly one to remember.”