When you travel on one of our New Zealand Small Group Escapes, your Kiwi Guide will be your best friend on the road. From morning till night, this is the person who is at your side helping make your trip one that you will remember for a very long time.
Our Kiwi Guides come from a wide range of backgrounds and life skills, we’re very proud of our team and they are some of the most experienced guides in New Zealand. What they all have in common is a passion for New Zealand’s regions, history, wildlife and landscapes and sharing their favourite spots and stories with guests.
Meet a few of the MoaTours guide team below, find out more about them, see some photos of them in action and hear what guests on recent trips have had to say.
Tim de Jong
Tim has more than 25 years experience both guiding and operating tours across New Zealand. After running his own business and working as a tour operations manager he is now back in his “happy place”, which is at the head of the pack out on the road guiding small group tours with MoaTours.
Originally from the South Island, Tim now lives in the Bay of Plenty where he’s close to his grandchildren.
Hear from recent guests of Tim’s
Tim de Jong was a perfect guide. He was patient, interesting in his comments, and a pleasure to have escorting our group on this tour.
Robyn Hynds, High Country Stations, Gardens & Goldfields
Helen Tait
Helen came to guiding after a career in the public service and over ten years in is loving every minute of it. She lives in Christchurch and loves everything the South Island has to offer: walking; cycling and skiing are her favourites. She’s guided all over New Zealand and internationally in Europe also and brings her love of exploring new places and cultures to every trip.
Hear what Helen’s guests had to say
Helen was GREAT, the standard has been set very high for any other MoaTours that we might do. She was well organised, had the day well planned and looked ahead to avoid any “hiccups”. Went out of her way to make sure we all had what we needed.
Ian & Lesley Jones, Molesworth Station, Abel Tasman & Golden Bay
Graeme Corlett
Before beginning his guiding life with MoaTrek Graeme worked as a geologist all over the world, so if geology is your thing then you’ll love travelling with Graeme. He even wrote his thesis on the volcanoes of Tongariro National Park! When he’s not out on the road leading MoaTours trips you’ll find him working on his property North of Auckland.
Hear what recent guests of Graeme’s say
Not enough words to express our gratitude to Graeme – friendly, obliging, patient, great driving, and good company. Full marks!
Marion & Bill Christie, Southern Odyssey
Sean McDonnell
Sean is a keen surfer and traveller, he loves the great outdoors and is passionate about the environment and you’ll feel this right away when you’re on a tour with him. He is also trained artist and graduate of Elam School of Fine Arts, so when you’re travelling with Sean you’re seeing landscapes in a unique light.
Hear from Sean’s guests
Sean was amazing. Young and energetic. He ran around after us and was a legend when we had a couple of mishaps on the first day. He took lots of photos and sent them to us each night. A wonderful tour leader Moa should be proud to have.
Susan Thelin, Otago Springtime Gardens & Victorian Fete
Gail Hapi
Gail is of Maori (Tainui and Ngati Haua) descent, she has a background in teaching and has also spent time in the army and worked as a vet. Her love of horses runs deep and her spare time is spent with horses on her property in Otorohanga and she also helps out on a farm property in the mountains of the South Island during the winter months.
Gail is an integral part of the MoaTrek Kiwi Guide team and we love the positive energy she brings to her tours.
Hear from Gail’s guests
Gail driver/ tour guide was the icing on the cake. She brought the places alive with her history lessons. You felt safe in her hands, she is the loveliest person, interesting and caring.
Lyn Mcgrath, Karamea & Wild West Coast Trails
Brian Cresswell
Originally from the North Island, Brian went to university in Christchurch and loved the South Island so much, he never left! Before joining us at MoaTrek, Brian guided cycle tours and is now enjoying leading our small group tours all over New Zealand.
His favourite places in New Zealand are Milford Sound and Aoraki/Mt Cook. “I love the way the mountains rise up out of the sea at Milford and being near Aoraki fills me with a sense of awe.”
When he’s not out guiding, you will find him exploring the mountains, out on his boat snorkeling or on the hunt for deer – always making the most of New Zealand’s great outdoors.
Hear from Brian’s guests
Brian was superb – great sense of humour, I loved his knowledge of the history of the areas we travelled through and he made a custom playlist that we had to submit songs for, and then guess who picked it – that was a great icebreaker and also a cool way to share music. He impressed us with his backing up skills with a trailer.
Hillary DePuy, East Cape Caper
Ali Frew
Ali is a real South Islander; she grew up on farms in Southland and now splits her time between Sumner Beach in Christchurch and Nelson. She studied psychology and counselling, then outdoor education, which led her into guiding hiking tours and to us at MoaTours.
Her favourite place in New Zealand is Golden Bay. When she’s not out guiding, she loves collecting memorabilia, growing her own food in her garden, exploring the high country and forests of the South Island or paddling our many beautiful inlets and rivers.
Hear from Ali’s guests
Ali was always relaxed and pleasant, highly organised, knowledgeable and a good communicator. She was very approachable and showed interest and concern for individual group members.
David Dwerryhouse, Southern Odyssey: Stewart Island & The Catlins
