Couple reunite after COVID border ordeal lasting three months

A lengthy unplanned and stressful separation due to COVID-19 for a Drouin couple finally ended last week when an aeroplane touched down at Melbourne airport.

On board was Jen Grant, who’d been stranded in Sydney, and waiting in the car to pick her up was husband Frank.

It ended a separation that Frank counted down precisely as “three months AND one day” rather than the couple of weeks planned for Mrs Grant to look after two grandchildren during the school holidays.

Although Mrs Grant said she wasn’t staying in one of the “red extreme risk zones” in Sydney her applications to get a permit to return home were repeatedly rejected by the Victorian health department.

That was even with supporting medical documents from Mr Grant’s doctor, a specialist that treats him and attempts by Member for Narracan Gary Blackwood to have a permit granted.

And the fact that she, and her husband, had received both shots of the vaccination.

Mrs Grant said she was not short of things to do in Sydney - helping with the two grandchildren, home schooling and indulging in her keen hobby of needlework - but was delighted to finally return home.

She had to get a clear result from a COVID test a couple of days before leaving Sydney, is now in the midst of a 14-day self-isolation period at her Drouin home and one of her first requirements last week was to go to the COVID testing station at Lardner Park.

Another “clear” COVID test will be needed at the end of the quarantine period before hers – and Frank’s - lives gets back to something like normal.

Mrs Grant said dealing with the health department to try to get a permit to travel back to Victoria was “frustrating and stressful”.

All contact had to be via email – “you couldn’t speak with anyone” - and when she rang the COVID “hot line” was told there was nobody she could be put through to for her inquiry.

Mrs Grant may have kept busy in Sydney during the three-and-a-bit months but husband Frank said he was lonely and doing it tough back in Drouin.

As well as a daughter in Sydney the Grants have three adult children living in Melbourne who, Mr Grant said, couldn’t even visit him on Father’s Day.

And lockdowns and restrictions stopped the 73 year-old visiting friends to enjoy a social chat over a beer.

“I tried to do things but lost interest quickly and preferred to stay in bed or spend much of the day in pyjamas playing games on my tablet because there’s not much on TV that appealed,” he said.

Despite Mrs Grant’s assessment that her husband is “a good cook” he said his diet “went to the dogs” during the separation.

He said he kept the takeaways busy in Warragul and Drouin and was blessed to have friends that cooked him some roast dinners able to be picked up “contactless”.

Mrs Grant’s freedom to eventually return to Drouin came after Victoria’s Chief Health Officer allowed residents of the state to come home from New South Wales from September 30 if they had proof they were fully vaccinated, had received a clear result from a test three days before departure and met testing and self-isolation requirements on their return.