There was one very miserable German backpacker weeping and there were two other women crying with joy. Feelings were running wild in a Tauranga CBD travel agency.

'It was the saddest thing and the most beautiful thing” says Julie Commerer, who with her daughter Jess Bidois watched the whole drama unfold. 'And it made me very, very proud to be a New Zealander.”

And centre stage in this real-life drama was an emotional rock, a problem solving all-round nice person, Flight Centre consultant Julie Morgan-Hughes. 'Why did I do what I did? Why wouldn't you?”

The 'sad and beautiful thing” at Flight Centre in Devonport Rd played out like this.

'This young German wandered up to my desk,” says Julie Morgan-Hughes.

It was Johanna Schmidt, a 20-year-old backpacker from Kappeln in the very north of Germany on the Baltic Sea. 'Even Germans don't know it's there.” She's joking and happy now. But it was a far cry last Saturday afternoon. 'She was weeping and carrying on,” says Julie Morgan-Hughes.

She needed to get to Brisbane today, right now. 'I didn't know why her travel was so urgent. She was crying and I was trying to rebook her existing ticket, which was for a week out.”

But 15 minutes into their discussion the German was inconsolable. 'I didn't want to upset her anymore,” says Julie Morgan-Hughes. 'I thought someone may have died.”

The Sun's Julie Commerer says Julie Morgan-Hughes looked like a nice person, a listener. Because then the tourist just blurted it out.

'She was desperately homesick, had been for three weeks, she missed her family and she needed to go home…right now. And she was also homeless.” Johanna had been backpacking for five months on her own, five months through Australia and the last two weeks road-tripping between Napier, Gisborne, Taupo, Rotorua and Tauranga.

'Brave, yes,” says Julie. 'But there are a lot of nasty people out there and I wouldn't want my children doing it.” Even though there are good people out there too – people like Julie.

'That was my problem,” says Johanna. 'No-one to lean on and rely on. A friend would have made it so much easier.” And she was missing her family – her Mum and Dad and her brother and sister. 'Just the basics – like not having to wear shoes in the shower and Mum's fresh cooked meals.” Johanna says she got to the point she believed the universe didn't want her travelling any more.

'And I didn't mind admitting when I arrived at the Flight Centre, I was desperate.”

When Julie Morgan-Hughes found an earlier flight it would have cost Johanna another $358, which she couldn't afford. Another flood of tears. 'She said she had nowhere to stay, all the local hostels were full, as were the hostels at Auckland Airport.” And even the cheapest of hotels were beyond this backpacker.

So we have a 20-year-old homesick, homeless and broke backpacker with a week to kill before her scheduled flight home.

Up steps the Flight Centre consultant. 'I said to her: ‘This may sound a bit random, but you are more than welcome to come and stay at my house',” says Julie Morgan-Hughes. Beyond the call of duty even at Flight Centre. That's the dramatic moment the flight deck at the Flight Centre stopped dead, the moment heads turned and the moment tears were shed.

'It just made me cry even more,” says Johanna.

She asked the consultant why she was doing this. 'You don't even know me.”

'It's the Kiwi way love,” the consultant explained to the desperate tourist. 'Welcome to New Zealand. 'Bring your bags and stuff here, I finish at four o'clock and you can come home with me.”

So from being destitute and desperate, the young German had a warm bed, food and people who cared.

'That's when I told Julie she was gorgeous,” says the Sun's Julie Commerer. 'It made us extremely proud to be Kiwis. Everyone in the office was saying: ‘Aww, that's beautiful'. She was just so warm and sympathetic.”

'Don't worry,” joked Julie Morgan-Hughes. 'She will be doing the vacuuming.”

Again we ask Julie why, what prompted the offer? 'Well, I suppose if my children were halfway across the world and stuck, I would like to think someone was kind and offered them a place to stay.”

But maybe not in Germany, says Joanna.

'People would not be as helpful. They would rather duck and not be responsible for someone else's problem. They wouldn't want to get involved.”

Offering up free digs and meals is not part of Julie Morgan-Hughes' job description, but extending a compassionate hand to waifs and strays is quite normal. 'We have had exchange students for 11 years.” So everyone at home was fine.

And Johanna has fitted right in,” says Julie Morgan-Hughes. 'She was reading bed-time stories to my daughter last night. She is just like part of my family.”

The kids seem to like Johanna and Johanna likes the kids. There was even Wiener schnitzel for dinner last night – an ideal antidote for homesick Germans. 'I told my parents I am no longer homeless and my mother just about cried. They are very grateful.”

Johanna, who has finished high school and a gap year, is headed home to university and to tell stories about a far off country where it doesn't matter how stuck you are, people are willing to help.

'New Zealand rocks,” says one grateful Johanna Schmidt.