News

Moving into the less busy season, it's of course time to put together new product.  Our reputation hinges not only on flawless logistics and accommodation recommendations but very much on innovative days which connect our travellers with our country in a high quality, unique, complex and enjoyable way.  Jetboats have long been one of our favourites and we have put together many... > Read more

And another one for the new season - a chance to see and understand a part of the country not normally open to visitors.  The high country sheep stations of the South Dunstan Range.  This is a 9,000 acre high country station (or ranch) which offers an interesting insight again into unique history, geography and culture.  Just north of the driest part of the country, farming is a... > Read more

I took that photo on a fine day earlier this summer, driving home from the excellent Silver Pine Lodge. It serves to remind me that the weather can't have been all that bad, although those days between Christmas and mid-January seem to blend into a morass of weather calls, helicopter cancellations and disgruntled travellers trying hard not to blame us for the weather, and failing. In one... > Read more

TRENZ is taking place in Queenstown this year, at the end of May.  This is the major New Zealand travel show which brings together hands-on outbounders from other countries and tourism suppliers from New Zealand. As a hands-on inbounder which makes use of a lot of non-standard product, TRENZ really isn't the place for us and we will not be attending, except perhaps for a browse at one... > Read more

As part of our series picking out lesser known suppliers who deserve to be better known it's time to mention Cornwall Park Restaurant.  Most Aucklanders will think of this as a staid place to take their mothers for tea and scones.  No no no no no.  Since Dean Johnson took over a few years ago we have put a number of high-end event here.  From Irish themed events before a U2... > Read more

We've now had 'feedback enabled' on our newsletters, allowing you to comment directly either in support or otherwise.  or alerting us to something we did not know.  We'll be running it as an experiment over the next few months.  Hopefully it will end up as a useful and positive interactive tool! (grins nervously) > Read more

One of the things which attracts many people to New Zealand is idealism.  Originally set up to be a "Better Britain", we've led the world in a number of areas such as giving women the vote etc.  A side effect of this is that there is quite a residue of socialist thinking in the country, aided by the export of high achievers to countries with better business... > Read more

Please note that any resemblance to any international sporting competition, past, present or future is purely coincidental.  The fact that our CEO is alumni rep in New Zealand of Rugby School is fortuitous and we hope will not lead to any legal action against us - as we have nothing to do with RWC 2011, are not a sponsor, are not an accredited agent.  We are taking advice from our... > Read more

For many years our secret weapon in Waitomo has been Kyle Barnes.  With the popularity of Waitomo as a destination and the absolute lack of luxury services there we were very keen early on to do something about the area for our clients.  Kyle was able to supply us with guides and with after-hours entrance to excellent caves, thus ensuring a quality experience for clients used to... > Read more

People often ask me why I give out our "secrets" as competitors can just pick them up and attempt to duplicate our services, or at least say they can do the same as us.  So I started thinking about this and the answer, as with so much which just "feels right", is really quite sensible. Firstly, we have a two-way relationship with our suppliers where we like to see... > Read more