WELCOME HOME: Leading Seaman Electronics Technician Michael Krause has spent Christmas with his family Able Seaman Medic Karney Armstrong and 20-month-old son Hadley after serving on the HMAS Toowoomba for the past five months. LS Krause grew up in Toowoomba and has family who live in Highfields. Contributed
FORMER Toowoomba man Michael Krause, 29, dared not believe he would be home for Christmas until his ship docked in Perth.
He had just spent five months at sea onboard HMAS Toowoomba, patrolling near Iran, Pakistan, Oman and the East African coast, and searching for remains of missing flight MH370.
But when a bright yellow banner with the words "Welcome Home Daddy Krause" came into view on the West Australian coast, Leading Seaman Electronics Technician Krause knew he was home.
He would see his partner Able Seaman Medic Karney Armstrong and their 20-month-old son Hadley for the first time in months.
"It's probably the hardest (deployment) I've had to do, especially having a family now," LS Krause said.
"The first thing I did was walk straight to Karney and give her a big hug, big kiss.
"The little fella sort of thought, 'who is this guy?' but within a couple of hours, he couldn't leave me alone.
"It's so good - so very happy to be home."
LS Krause said the deployment had lasted five months.
Before that, HMAS Toowoomba had assisted with asylum seeker mission Operation Resolute north of Australia and the MH370 search, taking his total time at sea to nine months.
A quick phone call to his parents John and Robyn Krause, who live in Highfields, was cut short as the newly returned sailor organised removalists packing up their Perth home.
LS Krause grew up in Toowoomba after his father was posted to the Borneo Barracks at Cabarlah.
He will have served in the Australian Navy for 10 years in January.
He said it was only fair taking the reins from AB Armstrong who for the past nine months had coordinated with builders as the couple built their own home.
"For the past five months, she has been like a single mother trying to look after the construction of the house, going through all the building and packing, and juggling all of that," LS Krause said.
"I think she deserves a lot more praise than I do - for me, it's just been about putting my head down and doing the job."
LS Krause said he had about four weeks leave over the Christmas and New Year period and after digging out the packed-up Christmas tree on December 24, looked forward to spending time with his family.
He also planned to enjoy the freedom of being back on solid ground.
"For right now, I've got about four weeks off before the ship fires back up again to do whatever they're doing next year," he said.
"I haven't found out what they're doing."
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