Many people became familiar with working from home during the pandemic, but it was a different story for Brian and Tanya Dixon.
They had to stay home from work.
The couple live with their children in Serviceton, Victoria, 1.3 kilometres from the South Australian border, and have a store in Bordertown, South Australia.
When the border closed again in June 2021, when Ms Dixon was pregnant, they set up home at the back of their farming supply business.
"I wasn't going to risk the pregnancy with border closures," Ms Dixon says.
"We'd heard too many horror stories from [Victorian] friends and locals living on the border and trying to access [Adelaide] hospitals.
Mr Dixon says they had heard partners were not allowed to access hospitals.
"Even with the birth [of Edith three weeks ago] … the little ones couldn't go in, it was only me," he says.
The Dixons are among thousands of people whose lives have been up-ended by South Australian decisions in the past two years — even though they don't usually live there.
The impact of a line on a map
More than 130,000 people live in the Victorian towns and shires closest to the South Australian border, but unless they own property on the SA side, they won't get to have a say in who the government is on March 19.
You're probably thinking ‘fair enough, they're not South Australians'.
Except in a way, they are.
Besides visiting Adelaide hospitals, it is common for cross-border Victorians to shop, school their children, and work in South Australia if they live close to the border.
"In defence of the South Australian Premier, did he have a choice in what he had to do at the border?
"Were we just the fallout of a decision for the greater group within his state? We are thankful for what we have got and that we've pulled through, but it's hard to think that way when you're suffering and losing things.
Across two years, cross-border residents such as the Dixons dealt with weekly nasal swabs at border road checkpoints, saw their business turnover fall as highway traffic dried up, and couldn't visit nearby family as the "bubble" in which they were allowed to travel unrestricted dropped to 70km then 40km either side of the border.
"[At the same time], South Australians were allowed 40km into Victoria and allowed to access all of South Australia, whereas we [border residents] were stuck in that corridor," Ms Dixon says.
"We couldn't just up and become South Australians because we have a business in Kaniva [Victoria] as well and a daughter at a college in Hamilton.
"When restrictions eased in 2021 and everybody went back to normal life, on the border there was never a normal because we were always restricted and I found that very hard to deal with."
Counting the cost
There is no comprehensive data to measure the cost to Victoria of South Australia's border closure — in money or social capital — but there are personal stories and economic figures that bear testament to hardship.
Mildura and Nhill residents have waited months for elective surgeries while specialists from Adelaide, the nearest capital city, had been barred from travelling to Victoria.
Casterton's childcare faced temporary closure, and Nelson created bumper stickers to try to reduce the stigma Victorians travelling into South Australia faced during Melbourne's 2020 wave.
Tourism has also taken a big hit.
Mildura Regional Development estimates the area covering Mildura, Red Cliffs, Ouyen and Murrayville took in $300 million in overnight and day trip visits from tourists in 2018–19, 19 per cent of that (or $57 million) from South Australia.
In the year ending June 2021, that figure had dropped by almost half to $174 million, or around $10 million each month.
Neville Heintze, a farmer at Murrayville, very nearly missed his son's SA wedding last year after getting approval from SA Health five hours before it was set to start.
He has also missed medical appointments.
Mr Heintze says even now he isn't sure whether South Australians appreciate the impact the closures have had on the lives of cross-border residents.
"The biggest immediate thing we faced when the border closed overnight was that Murrayville has no fuel.
"Anyone who lived in Murrayville rather than a surrounding farm couldn't access fuel because they couldn't get to Pinnaroo, and the nearest fuel was a 120km round trip to Underbool.
"There was a period in 2020 where they literally locked us out of South Australia, so we couldn't get chemicals, fuel, fertiliser or the medical services available in the Riverland."
There have only been three COVID cases ever in Murrayville, population 280, and 11 in Serviceton and surrounds.
In response to the fuel problem, a local set up a portable fuel tank, which is still being run by the Murrayville football-netball club.
The next 12 months
Though not South Australians, cross-border Victorians have also developed channels to get their voices heard in SA's corridors of power.
The Facebook page Cross Border Call Out has helped residents apply for exemptions to SA Police and SA Health to get across or back in a timely manner and the inside scoop on transition committee discussions that concern them.
Founder Paula Gust herself relocated to the South Australian side of the border last year to be with her family and avoid the challenges of the semi-closed border.
So grateful are some to the page's efforts, that when she announced her candidacy at the March 19 election, some Victorians — including Mr Heintze — said they would vote for her were they allowed to.
Beyond that, now that the border closure era appears to have ended, Mr and Mrs Dixon and Mr Heintze haven't thought much about who they would vote for.
Mr Dixon thinks there should be more support packages for border businesses.
The Dixons expanded to a third supplies business in Lameroo last year, but Mr Dixon is worried the opposite is in store for other traders given the economy was "fragile" before 2020.
Mr Heintze hopes the Victorian election in November involves a commitment to help secure a fuel station for Murrayville.
And he hopes all future SA governments take on board the lessons from the cross-border community.
