Wagga man stuck in quarantine after finding a way home from Cambodia

When John Reid struggled to find a flight home after travelling to Cambodia to deliver medication and health supplies, his colleague set up a GoFundMe page to assist him to find a way home.

After the Australian Embassy secured a flight for about 200 Australians stuck in the region, Mr Reid arrived in Sydney on Sunday and was transferred to the Sofitel Wentworth to undertake his mandatory 14-day quarantine period.

While he said he felt lucky to be home and to have had financial support from those who donated, he said it was hard to understand the impact of the lack of fresh air, exercise or interaction without experiencing it first-hand.

"It's been a very sobering experience in terms of having the door shut behind you and you can't go out," he said.

Mr Reid said he had even greater concerns for those in quarantine with small children and smokers who he said had been forced to go "cold turkey" with no assistance.

"I'm just trying to advocate for exercise, fresh air would be handy even if it's every other day for 20 minutes .. but the (NSW Police) commissioner Mick Fuller seems to think that's too hard to do," he said.

Mr Reid said he was managing anxiety by drawing on the mindfulness techniques he usually recommended to others, along with the emotional and professional support of family and colleagues.

"I've had to drag all my own mindfulness out and distraction techniques and contact others to sort of debrief too, which is something I really haven't had to do for a long time."

Through his work Mr Reid has also been able to access a psychotherapist.

"I wouldn't have thought that anyone else in this building would have access to that sort of support, I'm so grateful for that," he said.

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He said the daily mental health check-up call they were receiving from a nurse would not go far enough for many.

"From my experience it's something you need to probably probe people more for ... rather than wait for people to ask for help when it's probably a little too late down the track," he said.

"They've got to probably show some initiative to try and head off potential long-term mental health affects for people I think, and they haven't done that.

He said while he understood authorities were trying to manage a large volume of people while "trying to do this stuff on the run," but the lack of focus on mental health would see negative impacts long after those in quarantine return home.

"I think the reality might hit home for people a lot further down the track."