A former Lake Macquarie woman who has been stuck in India since the COVID-19 outbreak anticipates she might have to spend up to $10,000 trying to get her and her daughter home.
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And she doesn't even know when that will be.
Deborah Tellis, who hails from Belmont but has lived in India for the past five years, has been helplessly trying to get home to Australia from Bangalore for months.
But the country's ban on commercial international air travel and country-wide lockdowns, along with a scarce availability of evacuation flights, plus having to cancel a chartered flight at the last minute due to her daughter being told she had coronavirus, have made it extremely hard to make that happen.
Ms Tellis wanted to tell her story to highlight the plight of Australians stuck overseas after the NSW Government announced it would start charging travellers for their mandatory quarantine stay because "Australian residents have been given plenty of time to return home", according to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
Ms Tellis teaches in India and signalled her intention in November to leave her job in August so she could start a new teaching position at a school in China.
When the pandemic happened, those plans were halted and she had to stay in India with plans to teach at the Chinese school remotely.
But Ms Tellis said her visa was about to expire and she only has 30 days to leave India once commercial international flights become available again. The ban on commercial international flights was recently pushed back until July 31.
She checks every day to see if evacuation flights are available, but is constantly met with a 'sold out' message.
On top of that, travel agents are charging excessive fees on top of expensive flight prices to secure seats for passengers on those planes - meaning the flights would cost between $2000 and $3000 all up.
"Normally, it's max $700 one way," she said.
There was hope for Ms Tellis and her daughter last month, when they secured seats on a chartered flight out of Mumbai for $1897 per ticket. But Ms Tellis said her school urged her to get tested for coronavirus before the flight on advice from a travel agent.
After the test, she received a phone call from police saying her daughter had tested positive, so Ms Tellis said they cancelled their flight to protect the safety of others.
The pair were at a hotel in Mumbai by that stage and were whisked off to a small, windowless room where they had to stay in quarantine for 12 days.
They were both tested after 10 days and returned negative readings.
Ms Tellis believes her daughter's first test may have been a false positive reading as she was told by a doctor if her daughter did in fact have the virus, it would have been extremely likely she would have contracted it too while they were quarantined together.
Ms Tellis said the ordeal caused her to lose five kilograms in two weeks.
"The anxiety - it was crippling," she said. "I couldn't keep food down."
Ms Tellis sought the assistance of Federal Member for Shortland Pat Conroy regarding her situation after a friend made an enquiry on her behalf.
"My office sought advice regarding her situation and we provided her with the information we obtained," Mr Conroy said in a statement.
"Our last contact with her was in June. She thanked us for the information and advised she had flights booked back to Australia.
"I feel for all those Australians who are having such difficulty in returning to Australia.
"Regarding the costs of quarantining, this is a matter for the states and territories, however costs should not be a barrier for Australians getting home safely."
Ms Tellis said the saga had taken its toll on her elderly parents who just want them home.
"It's just so difficult," she said. "I consider myself lucky - I have a job, I have savings. There's some people who have come over here to help sick parents who are not able to get home."
Ms Tellis has been in contact with other Australians stuck in India and a spreadsheet has been sent around to collect data on what people travelled for. The spreadsheet collected 500 responses in one day.
"No one on the spreadsheet is here for a holiday," she said. "It's either a wedding, a death, illness, there are some yoga students."
A Facebook group called Australians stuck in India also currently has more than 7000 members.
Ms Tellis said the implication that Aussies were intentionally not coming home and mooching off the government for their hotel quarantine stay was insulting. She wants the Federal Government to organise evacuation flights like it did in Wuhan to take stranded residents home.
"That's been really offensive - people calling us freebies. If only the government could see there are Australians who had no intentions of staying."
The cost of the quarantine hotel stay is $3000 for one adult, $1000 each for additional adults and $500 for extra children.
The NSW Government said any travellers who purchased their tickets before July 12 would be exempt from the quarantine charges.
The anxiety - it was crippling. I couldn't keep food down.
- Deb Tellis
Ms Tellis has bought tickets on a flight through Qatar Airways for August 18 - but is worried the flight will be cancelled if the commercial flight ban is extended again.
The government rules state that if flights are bought prior to the deadline, and the airline changes the day/time of the flight, travellers will not be charged for their quarantine stay providing they can evidence that their original flight was purchased prior to the deadline.
Any bookings made prior to the deadline and then cancelled by travellers are not able to be used as evidence of pre-booked travel for the purposes of a quarantine fee waiver.
Ms Tellis said if the Chinese borders do reopen she hopes to travel there to take up her job in person, but said she doesn't plan on going anywhere else besides there or Australia anytime soon.
"After what I've been through, I don't think I want to be going anywhere," she said. 'I've never had to face a situation like this."
Sage Swinton
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
