Backpackers staying at Kerikeri's Hone Heke Lodge, from left, Emma Anderson (UK), Maria Himmel (Germany) and Chris Galiano (Germany). Photo / Peter de Graaf
Backpackers staying at Kerikeri's Hone Heke Lodge, from left, Emma Anderson (UK), Maria Himmel (Germany) and Chris Galiano (Germany). Photo / Peter de Graaf
They travelled around the world to see New Zealand's natural wonders.
Instead all they're seeing is the inside of dorm rooms and packing sheds.
However, backpackers staying at Hone Heke Lodge in Kerikeri say they're still grateful to be here, even during the Covid-19 lockdown.
And, despite reports of backpackerselsewhere behaving badly at the start of the lockdown, they say they're following the isolation rules to the letter.
About a third of the lodge's backpackers who had planned to work through the winter have gone home on repatriation flights organised by their governments.
Her visa was due to run out on May 1 and the fine print in her travel insurance made it void if the German government called it citizens home.
''I'd love to stay. New Zealand is a beautiful country, the people are very friendly. It's my third time in Kerikeri and the lodge especially feels like a home away from home.''
When not working in the hostel Himmel passed the time by going for walks, reading, exercise and yoga.
''I've never had this much time for myself, which is kind of nice. You always have to make the best out of the situation because you can't change it.''
However, Himmel said she missed being able to socialise in the hostel due to Covid-19 isolation rules.
''I have a feeling I don't know the people here any more.''
Once home she would have to register as unemployed for the first time in her life.
''I'm really grateful that I had got a place to stay in this situation, and to the New Zealand government for allowing us to work and stay. There are worse places to get stuck.
''I'm also grateful to David and Victoria [Howells, hostel owners] for always being there for us. I know the situation is hard for a lot of people.''
Backpackers staying at Kerikeri's Hone Heke Lodge, from left, Emma Anderson (UK), Maria Himmel (Germany) and Chris Galiano (Germany). Photo / Peter de Graaf
The stayers include 20-year-old Chris Galiano, also from Germany, who works as a hostel cleaner. He arrived in January with plans to save money then travel the country.
''Unfortunately that stopped with the coronavirus but I'm still very happy I'm here. Right now we're locked down, all I do is work in the morning then come back to my room. I spend a lot of time with myself, doing lots of reading and learning French. I'm using the quarantine situation to grow as a person.''
Galiano didn't take up one of repatriation flights organised by his government because he has so far seen little of New Zealand.
''I also feel comfortable here. I hope the situation will end during this year so I will still be able to travel at some point. We shall see.
''I kind of do want to be at home to support my family but they are still working, they're in a good place. I'm grateful to be here in New Zealand,'' Galiano said.
Emma Anderson, 26, from the UK, arrived in September 2018, originally to work in conservation. She has also worked on a farm in Kaikoura, a macadamia orchard in Paeroa and a laundromat in Kerikeri, with ''lots and lots of travel'' between.
Anderson planned to stay until her visa expired in August and she was ''dragged kicking and screaming on the plane''.
The crunch point came last week when the last flight left to the UK with some of her friends on board.
''I don't want the adventure to end on bad terms and pragmatically I am safer here. My mum wants me to stay. My country is not doing so well, the response at home [to Covid-19] has been very reactive.
''Here I'm safe and happy and able to isolate. At home I'd be in a more dangerous position, but if any of my family got sick it would be difficult to be so far away.''
Anderson is trying to make the most of sharing a bubble with two Germans by learning their language.
''I'm also doing a fair amount of knitting, home exercise videos and eating a lot of cheese.''
Earlier in the Covid-19 crisis backpackers elsewhere in the country had copped bad press for flouting the lockdown, but they were a minority.
''In every situation there are cases of people breaking the rules, foreigners and nationals alike, but a lot of us are worried. We do appreciate the severity of the situation and that our families at home aren't enjoying the kind of safety we are.''
Victoria and David Howells with twins Ella and Joe back in 2014, when they bought Kerikeri's Hone Heke Lodge. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Lodge owners David and Victoria Howells had 65 guests at the start of the crisis. That had dropped to 42, aged between 18 and 31, as some opted to return to their homes in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and Slovenia.
David Howells said the backpackers had been split into separate bubbles for two packhouse crews and a picking crew. Hostel workers had their own bubble, as did guests who had been waiting for flights.
The packhouses and orchards had agreed to stagger their start times so the backpackers could eat breakfast in shifts, with the kitchen cleaned between each crew. The bathrooms and even the door handles on the hostel van were constantly being sanitised.
''Our message is 'clean, clean, clean'. They're all very receptive.''
The Howells had a scare on the first night of the lockdown when someone shouted "foreigners go home" as a group of backpackers was returning from work.
''That worried us but since then people have really come together. In a crisis people look for a scapegoat. It was more ignorance than anything else.''
Victoria Howells said all their guests had been in New Zealand at least four weeks — most a lot longer — when border restrictions were introduced. They were essential workers who were helping keep Northland's horticulture industry afloat, she said.
''We hear the horror stories from Queenstown [about backpackers partying despite the lockdown] but ours aren't like that. They're here to work.''
Now the challenge for the Howells is keeping morale up among the 42 extra grown-up kids they've acquired, as well as keeping them informed by text message of daily developments.
Normal hostel life is highly social, punctuated by quiz nights, barbecues and pot luck dinners, but now the backpackers are confined to their bubbles with no mixing between dorms or work crews.
''We try to keep their spirits up when they're 12,000 miles from home. We're their mum and dad now,'' Victoria Howells said.
''They know they've been lucky. They hear the stories from their families at home and for some of them — from the US and Europe especially — New Zealand seems a much safer place to be.
"We've had emails from parents saying thank you for looking after their kids. That always gets you emotional.''
