“It's my grandson's seventh birthday on Wednesday,” she said.
“We said we’d be up there to help him celebrate and now we can’t.
“He’ll be very upset . . . They have just moved there and he was looking forward to having his whole family around him.”
Ms Peate was counting down the days to a visit to the water park to celebrate her grandson's special day.
But with all flights cancelled, the family is now in limbo.
“Flying takes a lot of organisation because we often fly with our intellectually disabled sons,” Ms Peate said.
“We're not sure when we'll be able to see our grandson again.”
Intrastate, birthday celebrations and family holidays had to quickly pivot or were cancelled altogether when Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced a snap five day lockdown on Friday.
For many in the Goulburn Valley, the news came as an unwelcome sense of deja vu.
Shepparton woman Ada Andrews said her granddaughter's ninth birthday had been "ruined" due to the snap lockdown.
“She was so looking forward to it,” she said.
“Her friends were having a party in Shepparton and then the family were having dinner out on Sunday night because her birthday is on Valentine’s Day.
“I know we have to stay safe but I have ordered a rainbow cake from Shepparton and I don’t even think we are allowed to get together to have that.”
Shepparton mother Ash Lee was heading to Marysville on Sunday to celebrate her special day.
Now, there's no day trip for her birthday, and one of her children will miss out on her friend's own party.
“She'll be devastated, but you've got to do what you've got to do,” she said.
For dairy farmer Fiona De Lai, it was rare to get time off.
But for Valentine's Day weekend, her and her partner had finally taken days off to celebrate a friend's 50th birthday in Yenda.
“We had the relief milker booked, the motel booked and we were ready to head out of town to have a very much needed mini break,” she said.
With plans cancelled, she was hoping to catch up with her friend at a later date.
“But then we will have to find another time with the milker,” she said.
“It’s just not easy to go away.”
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