Victorians on wrong side of coronavirus hard border with NSW face anxious waits for information

While thousands of Victorians spent the final hours of 2020 in a frantic dash back over the New South Wales border, Daniel Forrest was enjoying a quieter night.

The 19-year-old from Wangaratta and his three mates saw in the new year from their Snowy River camping spot, about 10 kilometres into New South Wales — and without mobile phone reception.

They’d arrived there on December 28, and it was only as they travelled back into mobile phone reception on Saturday that they realised the world outside had changed.

“I had five missed calls from Mum from yesterday saying ‘you better get back, you better get back’, but I had no idea that we had to get back in time,” he said.

“We were just out there, sitting in the river and drinking beer and…