Over the years, we have been fortunate to work with a number of very special people. People who have led interesting lives, who hold interesting knowledge and who are interested in people. These are our guides. Each one of them has been personally selected and vetted. Almost all of them can now be counted as personal friends, with relationships based on mutual respect and integrity.
We have no hesitation in recommending these people as highly competent and wonderful companions in whose company to enjoy discovering New Zealand.
Some of these guides are regional specialists, some are generalists, and some are technical specialists.
Given our historical focus on the Russian market, we also have two specialist native Russian guides as well as a Russian-speaking CEO. However, these guides are also interesting in their own right for non-Russian speakers who make up the majority of our clients.
If you are interested in having any of these guides accompany you for a day, a week or the entire time of your stay in New Zealand, please let us know. As busy people, often with successful independent businesses, they are not always available - so early notification and booking is recommended.
Dave Nicholas - Wine Entrepreneur
Dave Nicholas has been in the business of wine in New Zealand for the last 12 years. A professional marketer and former Chairman of New Zealand Wine Exporters, Dave learnt the business of international wine sales and marketing while working as international export manager for Corban's wines.
Well-read, intelligent, articulate and infectiously enthusiastic, Dave also has very wide and deep contacts in the wine industry. Dave has accepted to assist our clients with specialist...
Andy MacKay - Helicopter Guide
Andy owns Heliflight, an Auckland helicopter company specialising in tourism and training. Over the last few years, Andy has undertaken substantial touring work with us and we have built some considerable combined expertise. Through this Andy has discovered a passion for tourism, an interest in our clients, and a penchant for guiding.
Although primarily a helicopter-based guide, Andy also undertakes some ground-based guiding either by 4WD or by...
Brigid Ormond - Hawke's Bay
Brigid has developed and owns the top luxury guiding outfit in the Hawkes Bay region. In addition to using her services when our clients are in Hawkes Bay, we have found her so excellent that we have twisted her arm to take our clients beyond that lovely area. Originally from the South Island, then from the Wairarapa/Hawkes Bay, Brigid brings a dry, humorous and well-connected perspective to New Zealand. I have never seen Brigid lose her cool, and she has always...
Mike Yates - Hunter and Fisherman
Mike Yates has lived on the West Coast of the South Island for many years. As usual with the people we find interesting he has had a colourful past - former professional hunter, professional fisherman, jetboater, whitebaiter, glacier guide - he has had a life made up of the experiences he now shares with our clients.
Mike and his wife Sue own and run Silver Pine Lodge, one of our favourite lodges in the country. The lodge is mainly Sue's domain while we have...
Mike Lester - Motorcycler
Our main motorcycle guide, with his own motorcycle tourism company based in Christchurch, Mike brings a depth of technical expertise, a breadth of tourism experience in New Zealand, and a lifetime of looking after people as a firefighter in the UK. The latter meaning that he is very highly qualified in case of any sort of motorcycling emergency.
Mike is a highly trained member of the Institute of Advanced Motorcycling in the UK, knows many of the country's roads...
Keven Reily - Outdoors and Security
Keven Reily is an outdoor man par excellence. One of the most highly trained outdoorsmen I know, his past includes work as a Royal New Zealand Navy Diver, commercial saturation diver, scuba instructor, firefighter, security specialist and expert in "rescue from confined spaces", where he has written the national qualification. In the past he has helped us with abseiling our national rugby team, the All Blacks, from Sky Tower in Auckland, with diving to collect...
Lydia Bradey - Mountaineer
Lydia Bradey is the first female as well as the first New Zealander to make it to the summit of Mount Everest with no additional oxygen. As one can imagine, this is quite a breathtaking feat! In developing her expertise, Lydia has been fortunate in growing up in the mountains of New Zealand's South Island which she got to know very well while refining her skills. She recently put together a wonderful helicopter day for us where she and a lady pilot took a group of ladies...
