Depression and close family overseas - anyone else in the same situation?

[KC12]

Hi all,

I have been depressed from some years now and I have been struggling to find my place here in Australia. I moved here for love as my husband is Australian. He knows how I am feeling and although we speak about it a lot he can't really empathise as all his family and friends are 1 hour away and mine are 30 hours on a plane...

Due to the travel restrictions and my PR status, I am not able to leave the country which I thought it was okay during the worst times but seeing all the information about being trapped here until next year,2 years or waiting for the vaccine(?) is making my anxiety go wild. My close family(parents and sister) are overseas and not knowing when I can see them is really affecting me. I really struggle to keep my worry under control and it doesn't help all the news about it. My home country and family got hit really bad, and Australia's number is nothing comparing to what Europe went through but they were never stripped from their right to leave their country.

Sorry for the rant, just want to see if anyone else is in the same situation and it would be helpful to hear how are they coping.

Thanks

[lunastone]

Hi, Tangney and all,

The international border closure isn't recent. I think a lot of countries starting to close the border slowly in March. The demand of flights dropped as a result. Qantas ceased international flights in April or May. To add in the complication, aussies can't return because of the cap of international arrival. Perth is ~500 per week. Which airline is flying with that number? The reason is that there is not enough resources for the hotel quarantine if we don't have the cap. PM has just announced upping the cap to 2000 per week to get aussies home by Christmas. Needless to say, premiers are jumping up and down about the announcement. Seriously, go and learn from other countries. There is something called rapid testing. Not 100pc bullet proof but it reduces the time in quarantine. I doubt they are going to use it because everyone is paranoid about that ONE case that gets away. Who is so keen to come back and be in the self-paid quarantine jail if they have a better choice oversea (ie. no visa issue, with a job etc)? It is just cruel to let down our mates. Oh. Apparently, even with dual citizenship, you can't leave on the ground of another citizenship.

BTW, there have been many people shaming and slamming qantas for asking to re-open domestic borders a while back. Today, i received an update from qantas asking people kindly to submit their support for safely opening the interstate borders. Define covid hotspot etc. Asking stories of people how interstate border closure has affected them. I am sure that they will get a lot of nasty "not" supporting posts. Apparently the support will put forward to local MP etc. Put money grabbing aside, i really think that our domestic borders have shut long enough that it isn't helping interstate business, especially risk is low in non hotspot. I would have shown my support if i don't have to leave my name (despite of no possible work travel for the rest of the year).

[Tangney]

Hi lunastone. I agree 100 percent. Scallwagin, I hope you're ok.

[Scallywagin]

Thanks Tangney, yeah im going alright so far. How about you and everybody ? I think we should maintain a register here so that every morning everybody puts a tick next to their name to show they are doing alright.

[Guest_1584]

Yeah the domestic border thing is so over kill it's hard to fathom.

To our amazement though my partner flew into Melb from Sydney Monday with nothing. After we bought the ticket l later tried to ring around , airports , Sydney and Melb , even the airline, the rona hotline , anything l could find , trying to find out what we're suppose to do and will she be able to fly down ok, get on in Syd and off in Melb ok and what the procedure was . Nothing. No one knew jack or seemed to giva shyt, and couldn't tell us anything. Not Syd , not the airlines, nothing. One guy at Melb airport said we do ask that people wait for their arrivals and meet them outside rather than come inside. That was it. Nothing.

Well she just turned up at Syd airport , strutted straight in , boarded , as per any other day. Melb airport was basically empty , no staff anywhere , no counters open , nothing., could've thrown a party in there, no one checking anything or anyone anywhere. The odd person walking about in an airport uniform that was it. A few travelers coming and going and waiting around , her plane landed , l was inside because there was just no one around anyway, then we just walked out found the car and drove outa there. Drove out of Melb did get stopped about 30k out when they were checking cars , that was it.

We were expecting all kinds of who knows what drama , we were worried they might even send her back to Sydney or they might not let her on in Sydney or God knows what. Nothing.

[lunastone]

Hi, everyone,

Scallywagin: hope you are doing ok. I wanted to say that the other day but just didn't have the energy to write more.

Randomx: interesting! Glad to hear that you and your gf are reunited. I doubt it is gonna happen like that in WA. Everyone needs permission to enter WA atm. I have had a few rough days...I'll talk about it on Tangney thread later. Don't want to double post.

[Tangney]

Hi RandomX. Well done. It's makes me wonder as the media beats so many things up. I can only imagine your surprise. I'm glad your girlfriend got through with no troubles. Ridiculous that you were stopped on the road, though. But all power to you.

[Miranda_J]

I feel the same. My partners Aussie and has Friends thatare all here and I hAve none and my family are 26 hours away is another country. I’m the same with the visa. I have horrific depression and anxiety plus my partner works fifo so I rarely see him. I don’t know if it’s worth it I can’t cope like this

[JJ5]

Hey dear, how you are doing now? I’m a first time mom and ever since I was pregnant in Australia my parents couldn’t come at all due to international border closure... I’ve been trying everything to save myself but still quite cranky and depressed hehe... Surprisingly found your initial post and found out that I’m not alone hehe. Now my baby is almost half year old and I’m about to go back to work but sometimes the depressed thoughts and COVID19 news still hit me... Wish you all the best.

[Guest_1584]

Damn jj , sorry to hear that.

Just to the thread in general though but nah it hasn't only been Australian but a very weird mix of others. Uk italia slovenia spain scotland , just a few l've heard about and many others have been completely closed on and of right through this . The friend l menyion l forgot to ad they smuggled her out of Italy in the middle of the night but then she got locked in at slovenia and then locked in at spain. She's had a bad run for sure. no one getting in or out. But l still don't know wth is wrong with people leaving Australia .

Oddly and prolly just one of dozens of reasons why the US has double or triple the worst covid in the world yet guess what , the've still been coming and going like flies right through this .

Anyway , any news op and some of the others here?

[ypla]

I'm in the same situation. My family lives overseas and I have no close relatives here in Melbourne. To make matters worse, my grandfather lost his life to COVID a day after I moved to my grandparent's empty house in Melbourne. The whole whole house is filled with his memories, it feels like he'll just knock the door and come in. At the same time, I find strength in what he used to do. He had it tough at life, probably more than me.