Community generosity silver lining for backpackers

THE KINDNESS of strangers has put a silver lining on the end of a challenging working holiday for overseas couple Nicolas Zappa and Magdalena Bolek.

The pair has been overwhelmed by the hospitality of a Torquay family who took them in after the COVID-19 shutdowns turned their world upside down.

Nico, from Argentina, and Magdalena, from Poland, had both worked at Lorne in hospitality jobs over summer and were preparing for the next leg of what was to be the trip-of-a-lifetime travelling to all corners of Australia.

“We bought a car and the plan was to go to Perth and almost the next day after we got the car they closed the borders,” Nico, 31, explained.

The pair was left without employment and were forced out of their caravan accommodation outside Lorne.

“We decided to stay in Lorne and we were hoping that it will change and somehow the states and territories would be joined again so we could travel,” 28-year-old Magdalena recalled.

“We were all probably crazy to be thinking that it wouldn’t last long.”

The couple tried tirelessly to find work in a bid to see out their 12-month working VISAs and moved to both Melbourne and Mt Hotham chasing job opportunities.

Although they were prepared to do anything from house cleaning to packing shipping containers, the work either fell through or involved miserable but costly living arrangements.

After three months of disappointments and hardship, the resilient duo decided to return to Lorne.

It was on the drive back they made contact with someone associated with the Coast Surfing Facebook group and an offer was made for them to move in with a Torquay family (who wished to remain anonymous).

“We were shocked at the beginning because we hadn’t expected that,” Nico said.

“We stay there and it feels like home. We have been taken care of really well.”

The couple has spent about three weeks in Torquay sightseeing, horse riding and bonding with their host family.

“Torquay is a beautiful town,” Nico said.

“We love the nature more than anything because it is so exotic and different.”

The couple has also been volunteering with Feed Me Surf Coast, making twice weekly bulk food deliveries to the 40-plus travelling workers who have remained in Lorne and are struggling to meet costs such as rent.

“Some, they don’t want to leave Lorne because they think ‘let’s stay in this together’ so they stay together and they know each other from seasons before,” Magdalena said.
“It is like a small family.”

But with no job prospects and unable to leave Victoria, Nico and Magdalena decided to return home and were due to fly out to Germany on July 15.

They said while the situation was no-one’s fault, they felt as though they were going “against the wind”.

“We really tried to stay but if feels like everything is saying to us ‘go home’ … maybe it is just time,” Magdalena said.

“It is the dream of so many people in Europe and South America to come to Australia.

“We hope in the future to come again but as a tourist next time,” Nico added.

If you have the means to assist any of the seasonal workers still on the Surf Coast you can message the @CoastSurfing Facebook page.