Geraldton couple Kim and Martin Weatherston happy to be on home soil after being stranded in war-torn Israel

A Geraldton couple are grateful to be back home after spending days in bomb shelters in Israel, fearing for their lives, before they managed to escape the war-torn country. Kim and Martin Weatherston spent days holed up in bomb shelters, desperately trying to find a way to get home. After several days, both Mr and Mrs Weatherston fled Israel, on separate flights, and are now grateful to be back on home soil. The couple, from the Geraldton suburb of Beresford, were staying in a compound in the Old City in Jerusalem when they heard the sounds of bombs and sirens. Seasoned travellers of Israel, the trip was their eighth visit to the country in which they run cultural tours every other year. “We’re used to a certain level of threat and danger, and have never felt unsafe until now,” said Mr Weatherston, who was leading a tour of visitors when the strike began. The couple was on the street when they heard sirens, their bomb shelter was too far away so they sought shelter in rock arches in the sides of walls. Mr Weatherston said they were “living day by day” and using their phones to access Israeli news outlets for the most accurate information on the world outside. “It certainly was a life-threatening situation. And we were well aware of that not just for ourselves but for the 20 people we had some level of responsibility for too,” he added. The attacks by Hamas militants on the Gaza strip began on Saturday, October 7, and it would be five days before the Weatherstons were due to fly home. When the scale of the attacks became clear, they were moved into bomb shelters built into the compound they were staying in. The compound housed multiple bomb shelters which accommodated the 120 residents. “We were very fortunate because if it had been the day before we would have been on the road coming from Tel Aviv,” Mrs Weatherston said. The pair were accompanied by friends who had spouses involved in the Australian military, informing them to register with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade should they need to be evacuated. Their lifelines came in the form of flights with Turkish Airlines and Emirates, having to fly separately as both flights were booked out. Each one-way ticket cost $3300. Their original flights from Israel back to Australia were booked in February and cost them $25,000 each. “We’re upset with the price gouging of Emirates, but at least they were flying — most of the western airlines just pulled the pin altogether,” Mr Weatherston said. After surviving the first three days, the most harrowing journey still lay ahead of them — the journey to the airport. Taxis were no longer an option due to safety reasons, so the couple used the light rail and train as well as being driven by a friend who lives permanently in the city. Riddled with anxiety and fear of leaving their compound, the pair had flights booked, but no certainty as to whether the airport would be closed or their flights would be cancelled. “We knew a couple that got to the airport, got through check-in and then were put in a bomb shelter at the airport,” said Mr Weatherston, who flew out from Jerusalem first, on Tuesday on a Turkish Airlines flight. Mr Weatherston said leaving his wife behind in Israel after her initial flight was cancelled was painful. “I had to leave her there and as a husband I found that quite hard,” he said. His wife left Israel with Emirates and landed in Perth on Thursday evening, greeted by her husband at the airport. The couple drove back to Geraldton on Friday afternoon. “We’re very fortunate, and very lucky. We’re not the typical story as we have connections there from previous trips,” Mrs Weatherston said. “I got the last seat on this Emirates flight for an eye-watering amount for a single ticket but nonetheless I was grateful. All the European and American airlines just stopped flying.” The couple said being able to secure flights when they did was like “winning the lottery”. The Australian Government continues to organise more flights to repatriate Australians still in Israel.