In one week, Karen and Mike Malherbe will essentially be homeless.
When the pair sold their NSW Illawarra home and bought a new one near Busselton, in Western Australia, they were elated.
The move west would reunite them with family for the first time in three years.
They would be able to meet their first grandchild and be there to welcome their second.
'We were so excited,' Ms Malherbe said.
Karen and Mike Malherbe face homelessness after selling up in NSW and buying a new home in WA
Mark McGowan had promised to reopen the borders on February 5, but backflipped
But their excitement soon turned to despair, after the West Australian premier in a late-night press conference on Thursday announced the state's borders would not open as planned on February 5.
Instead they will remain shut to domestic travellers indefinitely.
Mark McGowan had promised to reopen the borders once the state's double-dose vaccination rate reached 90 per cent. It is now 89 per cent.
The backflip shattered the Malherbes, who now have to wait even longer to hug their grandson for the first time.
'We're not seeing any of the milestones, the talking and the walking, and we've never even held him,' she says.
'I'm so upset that I didn't sleep all night long. I'm on the brink of tears still.'
Despite owning a property in Western Australia, the couple have been left homeless due to Mark McGowan's border rules
But adding to their distress is the fact they have to be out of
