Editorial: Kiwis not only loutish backpackers

Tracey Chatterton.

There will always be a few rotten eggs that spoil it for the rest of us.

And so it seems to be the case among backpackers.

A few rowdy Kiwi travellers trying to explore our own backyard have upset accommodation owners.

Ryan Turney, 20, was turned away from a Blenheim backpackers after being told they did not accept New Zealanders.

The policy is understood to have been adopted by other accommodation providers in the town, who claim Kiwis drink too much, cause trouble and intimidate guests.

Having been a Kiwi traveller I'm all too aware of the boozy label that gets stuck on us - the Waitangi Day pub crawl through London is a case in point.

Now I'm not against having a good time, I've been on the said pub crawl, but when larrikins go too far and become aggressive that's when the trouble starts.

I once watched a group of young men, decked out in All Blacks attire, who had also come from the sevens at Twickenham, joking and fooling around on the Tube. But it soon turned confrontational when someone asked them to quieten down.

I shrunk down in my seat. It was the first time I was embarrassed to be a New Zealander.

But it is always just a few and it's not just us Kiwis that get carried away.

I've been kept awake in dorms by loud French people playing cards and had alcohol run into my room by a group of English hockey players who spilled their drinks in the hallway.

So banning certain nationalities seems a bit extreme to me.

As Devon Snell from Rotten Apple said: "A backpacker is a backpacker" and I'm sure the good outweigh the bad.