It was a great trip say tour operators

By REBECCA WALSH health reporter

As they travelled around China, Garry and Marie Mulvanah received emails from friends in New Zealand pleading with them to come home quickly. There was talk of quarantine and isolation as panic over Sars whipped around the globe.

But the Hastings travel operators at the centre of New Zealand's first probable Sars case say they have no regrets about the trip to China - and neither do most of those who took part.

A Hawkes Bay woman - one of a group of 35 on the tour - is believed to be the country's first Sars victim and is now recovering somewhere in Hawkes Bay after a week in hospital isolation.

For three weeks the Mulvanahs, who organise tours from their art deco office in the heart of Hastings, had showed off a country they have come to love.

There were trips to markets, a cruise on the Yangtze River, an acrobatic show in Shanghai and a professional kung-fu performance by Tibetan monks in the capital Beijing.

"We had wonderful times walking through markets. We weren't stopping and breathing over people. We never saw any sick people and we never saw an ambulance," Mr Mulvanah said.

For the owner-operators of Twin City Harvey World Travel, it was the sixth trip to China, and their third guided tour. The big difference this time was the lack of tourists - something they put down primarily to the war in Iraq - and fears about Sars.

The group rattled around in a four-deck cruise ship, which normally carries 150 passengers, with a family of five, as they soaked up a two-day cruise on the Yangtze River. The usually bustling international airport at Beijing resembled a domestic airport.

The couple, who have worked in the travel industry since 1989, had no qualms about leaving for China on March 30 after checking all available advice.

They kept up to date through CNN news broadcasts and received emails from home which painted a gloomier picture than they were exposed to firsthand.

"It was amazing what we got in emails compared with what we were seeing in China. There was nothing in China to make us think there was a scare on. The news coming through on email, you would think the world was coming down," Mrs Mulvanah said.

Mr Mulvanah said some of the group chose to wear masks but received looks from locals in Xi'an.

"We saw very few people in China wearing masks. There were days on the tour when the group never thought about the sickness. We were doing our own sightseeing."

Since the Hawkes Bay woman was admitted to hospital they say their world has been "turned upside down" - Mr Mulvanah was publicly slated by Director of Public Health Dr Colin Tukuitonga, who later rang to apologise.

The couple are now planning their next trip - this time to the Mediterranean. In a year they hope to be back to China.

"We were concerned, naturally, but we have been in touch with the group regularly and everyone else is very pleased they went . . most of these people would not have missed this for the world."