If it wasn't for a cyclone, Albury couple Vivienne and Dylan Jones would still be stuck overseas, unable to fly home in the middle of a pandemic.
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After a month trapped in Vanuatu the pair finally touched down on Australian soil late Monday night, after hitching a ride on a military plane sent to provide cyclone aid to the pacific nation.
Despite their tropical surrounds, Mrs Jones, a journalist with The Border Mail, said it was extremely distressing being trapped in a foreign country with no idea of when, or if, you will be able to go home.
"I think most people didn't really understand why we were complaining about being stuck there,'" she said.
"It is a beautiful place and yes, we could move about, but the mental and emotional strain is something you just can't describe, not to mention the financial impact.
"Some days I didn't want to get out of bed. Most days I cried. The hardest part was not knowing, there wasn't much consular assistance, so we really struggled with the unknown."
Mrs Jones said when they left Australia on March 14 there was no travel advice in place for Vanuatu.
"Never did we think they would close their borders, Australia would call everyone back and we would be stuck there for a month," Mrs Jones said.
Three days into their trip, when the couple were on a remote island, Prime Minister Scott Morrison called on Australians to return home.
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But because of their remoteness it took Mr and Mrs Jones four days to get a flight back to the mainland.
"Then it was more than three weeks of cancellation after cancellation and not knowing when we would be going home, if we could get home," Mrs Jones said.
On Sunday, after the pacific islands were ravaged by Cyclone Harold, Mr and Mrs Jones received word they would be able to return home on an aid flight, but later that day it was also cancelled.
The next day they returned to the airport, hopeful.
"I honestly didn't believe we were going home until the jet took off," Mrs Jones said.
"It was just one hit after the other while we were over there so we just expected the worst."
The pair's flight was met by military officers and police in hazmat suits, with Mrs Jones saying she'd "never seen an airport so empty".
Despite no cases of COVID-19 in Vanuatu the pair will quarantine in a Brisbane hotel for two weeks.
"It's really nice but the four walls are already starting to close in," Mrs Jones said.
"The next 13 or so days seems like they will drag on and like everyone keeps saying - if this doesn't test a marriage nothing will."
Digital journalists with The Border Mail.
Digital journalists with The Border Mail.
