Today, the Jeffries are stuck in a rented house near Winnipeg, unable to return to Perth because of draconian Australian entry restrictions that have stranded tens of thousands of Australian citizens and residents overseas. As a group, they form part of an unexpected phenomenon of the pandemic: displaced people of the developed world. And for Australians overseas or with loved ones abroad, the tyranny of distance — a largely bygone concern conquered by jet travel — is once again very real.