The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Dundee-born man to the rescue of Scot in New Zealand plight
Hostel owner gave backpacker place to self-isolate after she feared worst
A Dundee-born hostel owner in New Zealand has been praised for coming to the rescue of a Scottish backpacker who feared she had coronavirus.
Fiona Raeburn has been working and travelling through Australia for a number of months when she decided to visit New Zealand before the full extent of the virus was known.
As the pandemic spread across the world she found herself developing coldlike symptoms and was unable to return to Melbourne, where she has a stable place to stay and a network of friends.
The Glaswegian was staying in the Flying Kiwi Hostel in Wanaka, run by Dundee-born David Brown, who managed to secure a Covid-19 test and set up a room for Fiona to self-isolate.
The test came back negative and she was able to return to Australia.
She said: “I really don’t know how I would have coped with the situation without the help of David and his staff.
“They really helped to calm me down and take care of me in a stressful unknown time. I learned from this that there are nice and kind strangers who are willing to help in times of need.
“Also, that us Scots tend to stick together.”
David, who grew up in Kirkton before travelling the world and eventually buying the hostel in February last year, admitted the situation was stressful but said he had been glad to help Fiona as “she was in a foreign country and had no one”.
He said: “A number of strangers rescued me when I was younger in Dundee and I have never forgotten how it felt and what the profound impact was for my life even today.
“I hope to see Fiona again when we come home to see our families.”
David closed the hostel as lockdown measures were implemented in New Zealand. The country has been one of the most successful at handling the virus, but David said it has still come at a cost.
He added: “The lockdown has been brutal here.
“I have kept all of my staff and still pay them as they are also backpackers with no support so I am effectively the family support for them.
“The real issue we have is tourism as Wanaka is such an amazing place and tourism is the number one driver here.
“We are not planning on any real return of guests until, at the earliest, November 2020. We have been completed devastated by this and Wanaka has been like a ghost town.”