A PENSIONER has told of not being allowed to enter Victoria for her second vaccine shot because she was in a red zone in Albury.
Wendy Squires, 64, and her sister Denise Garbutt, 72, are both diabetic and have been unable to cross into Victoria despite having exemption passes.
The siblings, who hail from Perth and have been travelling Australia, are among a group of campers stuck at the Albury Showground.
Ms Squires says she was denied entry to Wodonga by Service Victoria for a vaccine appointment and told to get one in Albury.
"I rang up Service Victoria asking about it, and they said 'no you're in a red zone, you cannot come across the border'," she said.
"They told me I had to have my appointment for my second vaccine shot in Albury and I've rung around, but they aren't taking any new patients.
"I can't even get it at the hospital."
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The pair want to enter Victoria to care for their brother who is currently battling cancer and they have had a border permit.
"I am so stressed out, I'm gonna go head over heels soon," Ms Squires said.
"Our sister-in-law is looking after our brother and she's 77, she needs some respite."
Both sisters have returned three negative COVID tests but have had no advice from Services Victoria on when they can cross the border.
"We do not know when we can go back over, until the borders are back open," Ms Squires said.
"I feel absolutely frustrated, we do all the right things, we've done the passes, everything and it's just so bloody frustrating that we can't get over.
"We're both on pensions and we can't afford this extra money, normally we can go out and do free camping but we can't now because it isn't somewhere they can track us.
"We can't afford this, it's $20 a night and that's not a drop in the ocean when you're a pensioner."
The Albury Showground is now closed to new people who may wish to set up camp due to lockdown orders.
Some of the campers on the grounds had expressed concerns that since the showground was being closed off they may be evicted.
Albury Show Society chairman Henk van de Ven said that was not the case.
"At this stage because they might have nowhere to go, we're allowing them to stay at the showground until such time as they are allowed to leave or have somewhere to go," he said.
"Part of the lockdown orders is that caravan parks and camping grounds are not allowed to take anymore people
"We'd like to help people out but the orders are such that we can't."
Another traveller sitting out their quarantine at the showground is former Newcastle resident Paul Thornely, who said he was harassed by police while waiting his 14 days.
"Six days after I'd gotten here to self isolate, two young policemen rocked up and they told me they were going to send me a fine, it was quite bizarre," he said.
"I planned my trip about a month before lockdown, so I rang Service NSW and they told me my trip could still go ahead but that I was just bound by the Newcastle public health order."
Mr Thornely said the police told him he unable to leave the showground for exercise and could only attend certain shops which he believes was contrary to advice he'd received from Service NSW.
"They told me I had to exercise within the showgrounds, so I felt like I was being detained," he said.
"They also said I couldn't go through the McDonald's drive through or get takeaway coffee, it felt like there was all these additional restrictions and that they were making these rules up as they went.
"It was bloody ridiculous.
"I had a negative COVID test.
"I've dotted all my Is and crossed all my Ts and I get treated like a criminal."
Mr Thornely felt the police believed he was going to be a vector for the virus from Newcastle to the Border.
"Put it into perspective there are like 500,000 people in the Hunter-New England area, mathematically it's just extremely unlikely that I'm going to bring the virus down here," he said.
"We need better leadership and communication with the community, they need to be a bit more fair and show a bit of compassion."
Albury police did not answer The Border Mail's calls.
