The Illawarra's Olympic athletes were greeted with a flurry of excitement yesterday as they arrived at Sydney Airport fresh from the Beijing Games.
Albion Park's 19-year-old Hockeyroo Casey Eastham was exhausted after the long flight, but said the reception the Australian team received yesterday had made the trip worthwhile.
"It was awesome," she said. "We just pulled into our own hanger and there were hundreds of people cheering and waving flags, the welcome was amazing - I'm still on a high!"
Having devoted a year to Olympic training, Eastham said she was thrilled to finally spend some quality time with her family and friends.
"I spent a month in Beijing and before that eight months in Perth," she said. "I only came home a total of about two days that whole time.
"I'm going on holidays in a month but, in the meantime I'm just going to catch up with everyone ... visit some schools and talk to the kids."
Water polo bronze medallist Alicia McCormack said it wasn't just the athletes who needed to unwind from the Olympic experience, with 19-year-old younger brother Jake feeling the strain from the sidelines.
"He actually threw up three times during the final game, he was so nervous," she said.
"It was a very nerve-racking game for the spectators, both teams played very well."
The 25-year-old Helensburgh sportswoman said the size of her achievement was yet to hit home, and she wasn't sure if she would continue on the path to the 2012 Games.
"It feels so weird to be called an Olympian because these are the people I look up to and aspire to be like and now I'm one of them," she said.
"I have come back with the Olympic bug but I haven't made the decision whether to go for London yet.
"I'm taking a few months off and I'm going to go overseas to stay with a friend for a while and do some normal people things."
Former South Coast equestrian Shane Rose hadn't even unpacked his suitcase, but was already planning to jump in the saddle yesterday to prepare a new mount for international competition.
"I'm getting back to work as soon as I get home and will start looking forward to the world championships in two years," he told the Mercury yesterday.
"The horse I rode in Hong Kong will probably be a bit old in four years so I'll get into training up some of the other horses I have going."
Despite being isolated from most of the other athletes, he eventually had the opportunity to join the team for the final celebrations.
"We spent the last few days in Beijing at the athletes' village," he said.
"Obviously we had been in Hong Kong, a three-hour plane ride away from Beijing, so we didn't get the same Olympic hype that the rest of the athletes experienced."
For Lake Illawarra kayaker David Smith it was a bitter-sweet return home yesterday.
Disappointed with his Olympic performance, the 21-year-old said he would take a break from the sport he loved before attempting to tackle his next goal.
"It's always good to be back home, but I came back not achieving what I went for," he said.
"I probably won't go near the water for a few months.
"I definitely have some other goals coming up though, I really want to do the 50km Molokai ocean race in Hawaii."
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