Before he left Auckland and prior to any announcement of a Covid-19 outbreak, he tempted fate with a comment he made to his producer.
"I said to my boss when I left... 'look I should be fine unless there's a Covid outbreak in Denny's'.
"Sure enough, I got back down here [Bluff] and one of the first locations of interest was Denny's at 1.20am, so it was hysterical."
He said immediately after finding out, he went back in his mind remembering there was a man who had been coughing in the confined space, he said.
It was on about day five or six after visiting the restaurant that he found out it was on the list of places visited by people who had the Covid-19 Delta variant.
As soon as he found out, he was tested at the Bluff Medical Centre.
"It's a great location for testing. It's 30 seconds away and there's no queue."
His test came back negative, but he was now waiting to have a second test in about three days, at day 12, before he could head back to work.
Lush said he had been phoned daily by health workers who would reel off a long list of possible symptoms, all of which he had said no to.
"They've been fantastic, each day they ring and text."
He had not heard if anyone who had been at the restaurant at the same time had actually caught Covid-19.
Despite being holed up at home with his partner Vanessa Underwood and sons Tracker and Denver, the Lush clan had been keeping themselves busy.
"The kids have been fantastic."
Time had been filled making crumpets and cookies, watching the Star Wars movies and playing with Lego, he said.
He believed now would be an ideal time for educators to ask for a pay rise.
"What a fantastic job teachers do."
They were thankful to their friend, Misty, who was acting as personal shopper to get any needed supplies, he said.
