Amanda Hanan and her family enjoyed having their new backpacker friends over and absolutely want to do it again.
Amanda Hanan and her family enjoyed having their new backpacker friends over and absolutely want to do it again.
Opinion by Amanda Hanan
OPINION
I originally tried to invite backpackers for Christmas dinner in 2021. My eldest son was overseas, and I was thinking about what kind of Christmas he would be having on his own, and I wanted to look after some backpackers at my own table.
Turned out in 2021 there were no backpackers - thanks Covid - but I received a lot of replies to my post on the subreddit reddit r/ backpacking. I wrote: “Any backpackers want to spend Xmas with NZ family?” Despite 1250 likes and comments such as “Grew up without a dad and I’m not sure why but this made me ugly cry” and “You Kiwis are so darn friendly” and “If you’re ever in Alaska, I’ll take you fishing and make you dinner” and (the only negative comment), “be careful backpackers tend to be meth heads”. Despite all the love, comments and up-votes it seemed there were no backpackers in New Zealand, so for Christmas 2023 I tried again.
This time I tried Reddit and NZ Backpackers on Facebook.
“If you are backpacking around NZ and in Napier for Xmas message me - there’s room at our table if you fancy a kiwi family Christmas”.
Amazingly I got more than 1600 views and three young backpackers (all men) said they’d like to come.
The three backpackers enjoyed their Kiwi Christmas and the other amazing things Hawke's Bay had to offer.
So, on Christmas Day Austin from South Carolina, Alex from Germany and Clemont from France arrived for Christmas lunch. None was already in Napier, they all travelled from various places in the North Island to be here. And while I can’t be certain, I’m fairly confident not one a was meth head!
When they asked about our Kiwi traditions for Christmas, I said we’d be having a barbecue with lamb chops and of course I told them about the pavlova.
Two had not heard of our national dish and we made clear - despite what they may hear when they went to Oz - that we invented it. What turned out to be the highlight of the different traditions at Christmas was the Christmas cracker.
They’d never heard of or seen one before. Luckily I was overstocked so we used all of them. They wore what they called the “crowns” all day, told the jokes, which we then explained - jokes are hard to get when not in your language - and we tried to get across that the plastic trinket inside meant nothing.
Amanda Hanan shared her Kiwi family Christmas with three backpackers who reached out to her online.
For lunch we had pork belly, the barbecued lamb chops and porterhouse steaks, dauphinoise potatoes, a beetroot salad and a broccoli salad.
Dessert was trifle, cheesecake and of course pavlova, and the food must have been okay as they had not just second helpings but thirds!
We all drank far too much bubbly, my 80-year-old mother flirted shamelessly with them, which they loved, and great stories were told and shared.
My sons and brother enjoyed Austin’s tale of gaining a certificate in alligator wrestling in Florida; and Alex’s story about meeting people on the Appalachian Trail who invited him to stay at a fancy hotel in New York with them, and while they were all on the rooftop he sat with his feet hanging over the edge and the police arrived as someone had reported him as a jumper.
Would I do it again - 100 per cent I absolutely would. It was such a fun and heartwarming way to spend Christmas Day.
