A group of Australian expeditioners stranded in COVID-free Antarctica are receiving training on what to expect when they return home. 

Australian Antarctic Division psychologist Maree Riley is schooling them on the new COVID-19 reality.

She told Deborah Knight they left Australia late last year.

“I think you need to remember when these expeditioners left Australia back in October/November of 2019, COVID-19 was not part of our vocabulary,” she said.

“The world they are coming back to is going to be very different to the world that they left.”

Intellectually they understand what to expect, she said, but the experience will be an “abrupt shock”.

“We are doing some activities on station, where they’ll be social distancing, wearing masks.

“Things like using video footage to walk them though what to expect when they come home, what it’s like to go to a supermarket.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

Image: Getty