Hawke's Bay urged to support backpackers through winter

French national Antoine Capentier helps pick fruit. Photo / Supplied

A Waipukurau woman who has taken two backpackers into her family home is urging fellow Hawke's Bay residents to help travellers get through winter.

Hawke's Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management group controller Ian MacDonald told RNZ on Thursday there had been an influx of hundreds of stranded foreign nationals into Hawke's Bay.

They'd wrongly thought they could get work fruit picking, but it wasn't the right season, he said. Other regions were also experiencing the influx, he said.

Dmitry Deker and Marian Campbell in the Tararua Ranges. Photo / Supplied

Marian Campbell, from Waipukurau, has offered support to Antoine Capentier, from Lille, and Dmitry Deker who was born in Siberia and is now based in London.

She said Hawke's Bay needed to support backpackers through winter.

Campbell met the duo at the beginning of the Te Araroa trail, which extends from Cape Reinga to Bluff, a journey of 3000km which took her five months to complete.

"I think we will miss them if we shut the doors on them.

"On the trail listening to the comments from the travellers makes me very proud to be a New Zealander and have a whole new appreciation of our culture," she said.

"I also think that backpackers provide labour for our menial jobs and business for lodges."

Antoine Capentier and Marian Campbell on the Waiau Pass. Photo / Supplied

Campbell met Deker on his own, but then teamed up with Capentier.

"The three of us kept bumping into each other the entire five months. I invited them to spend time with our family at Christmas time."

The family had a "wonderful" time with the boys at Christmas, she said.

"We stayed in contact until March and on March 19 Dmitry was waiting for me in Bluff. Antoine had finished earlier so had returned to Napier where he had a job picking blueberries with his French friends," she said.

"They were living in a backpackers lodge on Marine Pde. Then the lockdown happened and they both panicked and rang me. Antoine had been given notice on March 24 and his lodge shut the door on the lodgers.

"Dmitry had gone to Auckland to stay with friends but they could not accommodate him and he had no job. So it was panic stations that last day."

Shortly after arriving back from Bluff, Campbell travelled first to Palmerston North to collect Deker and then late that night - two hours before lockdown - she travelled to Napier to collect Capentier.

"Dmitry was tested for Covid-19 as he had been in Bluff, Queenstown and Auckland and had a nasty flu but luckily he tested negative."

She said the two have learnt about farming and doing farm jobs.

"We have been a very happy family but finally they can get flights home at the end of the month so they are making plans."

Antoine and Dmitry cooking up a storm. Photo / Supplied

RNZ reported that MacDonald had said the backpacker influx "appears to be finally bubbling to the surface. It's like watching a slow train wreck."

MacDonald told 'Hawke's Bay Today' on Friday that appropriate help was available for the visitors, including RSE workers who were vitally important to the community.

"We were aware right from the beginning of our response to Covid-19 that people choosing to visit or work in our region would be uniquely affected by the pandemic.

"We established networks of agencies and organisations to understand the issues migrants and visitors would likely face, actively seek out those most at risk, and connect them with appropriate support.

"The many organisations involved have already done a tremendous job in supporting people in these situations."

He said the work was far from over, with a lot of seasonal work finishing and winter approaching.

"To this end, we've developed a plan to continue to get people the right support, including exploring ways they might find employment, or return to their home countries if it's possible and appropriate," he said.

"One of the key principles of this response has been to show manaakitanga to people choosing to visit and work in Hawke's Bay."

Campbell said after her experience at meeting international people walking the Te Araroa she had a different perspective and an interesting contrast to life here in NZ.

"They are all so passionate about NZ and love the people."