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 the 2021 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 here in 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 tours. 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
On a scale of 1-10, Tim was a 12! He was a great driver, very personable, helpful and knowledgable. Everything you could hope for in a tour guide. The best guide ever!
Ralph Theroux, Southern Beauty
Andre Booth
Andre’s field of expertise is botany and ecology, and after studying this at university he worked as a park ranger and gardener before becoming a full time guide. Ten years on he is loving life out on the road showing the best corners of New Zealand to visitors, especially on our garden tours, where he’s right in his element. You can tell Andre’s a true Kiwi because whenever you see a photo of him he’s wearing shorts, regardless of the weather!
Hear what guests of Andre have to say
We appreciated Andre’s knowledgeable commentary on the bus and he showed genuine concern for looking after us. His botanical background and interest in plants was a bonus as we walked around the gardens. He made our trip extremely pleasant and enjoyable. Highly recommend him.
Alistair & Bevlyn Biddy, Canterbury Spring Gardens
Helen Tait
Helen came to guiding after a career in the public service and 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
Nigel Murray
Nigel’s home is in Tauranga in the North Island and when he’s not guiding you’ll find him out on the harbour in his boat. He has many years experience guiding in both New Zealand and Australia and his early career included time in the military, so when he says you’re leaving at a certain time we notice everyone tends to show up. Nigel’s forte is adding personal touches like his famous Kiwi Barbeque on the beach at Punakaiki on our West Coast trips!
Hear what recent guests of Nigel’s say
Nigel was absolutely fantastic. Very personable and fun to travel with. Very caring to all of us and extremely helpful in terms of pointing us in the right direction to get the most out of our stops.
Heather Reeves, Southern Odyssey
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
Andrew Millson
Originally from the UK, New Zealand is now Andrew’s home. When he’s not out on tour you’ll find him with his sleeves rolled up working on his properties in Christchurch, where he lives now, or perhaps unwinding at the Yoga studio! Andrew was been a professional tour guide since 2015 and loves being out on the road sharing is favourite spots and stories with guests.
Hear what recent guests of Andrew’s say
Our guide, Andrew, was outstanding and provided the background and context to our tour that meant we gained far more from our holiday than we would have done if we had decided to self guide. He was knowledgeable, well organised, flexible and excellent company. He really enhanced our experience.
Julie Taylor, Southern Beauty
Richard Gallagher
Richard is a born and bred South Islander, he grew up on a high country station in Canterbury so is right at home in the great outdoors. His background is in off shore drilling and has some great stories to tell from his time in far flung places like outback Australia and Antarctica. When he’s not guiding or spending time with his family he loves exploring the South Island on his beloved BMW motorcycle.
Hear what Richard’s guests say
Richard was great, so knowledgeable about every area. Nothing was too much trouble for him to deal with, and always with a smile. Even when the weather turned, he still kept trying to make things better for us. Thoroughly enjoyed it all, recommend to all, over too soon.
Sandy Turner, Christmas in Marlborough
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 one of the best guides I have experienced on tours. A nice very caring young man.
Charmaine James, Christmas in Northland
Andrew Wells
Andrew started his guiding life on the Routeburn Track in the late 1990s and in the decades since has led trips to every corner of New Zealand, from Cape Reinga to Stewart Island. A keen student of New Zealand history and genealogy, he loves sharing stories of early explorers and his own family who arrived here in the 1860s.
Hear from guests on Andrew’s tours
Our tour guide Andrew was a careful driver, very caring and considerate to our group and very well researched regarding where we went. If he didn’t know the answers he would find out and be back to us the next day. We hope we get him again our next trip.
Tony & Christine Peek, High Country Stations, Gardens & Goldfields
Brent de Jongh
Brent is a proud Aucklander who was destined to work on the tourism front line showing travellers around our beautiful country. Brent started his guiding life in 2003 and is still going strong, he has also worked in the safety audit side of tourism too so knows how important all the back end systems are to keep everything running smoothly on tour. In his own words “I have what some say, an unhealthy love affair with New Zealand, an obsession for great service and a penchant for cheese scones!” You can’t argue with that!
What Brent’s tour guests have to say
Brent was the best! He gave us so much interesting information about the locality and history of the places we were travelling through. He kept us informed of the routine for the day, the times to be here and there, arranged plenty of comfort stops and lots of laughs. His driving is superb and we all felt so safe and secure. He never stopped “caring” for us and really made the tour just so good. He is a natural. We were all happy campers. Thank you Brent.
Patricia Ives, Christmas in the Bay
