A group photo of our fabulous guiding team for the 2024/2025 season | Izzi Barton

About

Meet our team

Reliability is the key to our team

Whether you're talking to our office team, or our guides in the field, everyone at Adventure South NZ is committed to providing you with the best possible experience. All of our staff are keen travellers at heart - we know what you're seeking out of your experience - and we are here first and foremost to help you get the most out of your time in our wonderful wilderness of New Zealand.

We are very proud of the quality of our staff and the feedback from our guests confirm that they truly are the best in our business. We also think they are a pretty good looking bunch!

The Office Team

Philip Wyndham | General Manager Phil has been involved in the travel and adventure tourism industry for many years including guiding, sales, marketing, industry liaison and business management. He has a passion for trail running and mountain biking but is an all round outdoor guy. His enthusiasm for encouraging people to get out and be their best self in the outdoors is infectious.

Brett Leyden | Operations Manager With a background in Physical Education and Endurance Sport, Brett loves the opportunities for biking, hiking, and skiing in the South Island. Brett has guided cycling, hiking and kayaking tours for the last 3 years and is now fortunate to support an amazing team of guides as the Operations Manager at Adventure South NZ.

Sue Clark | Office Support A Kiwi for the past 25 years Sue is originally from the UK but is passionate about this country and loves to show it off to visitors, especially on a bike! Before guiding Sue had a lengthy indoor corporate career and has no regrets about heading outdoors and combining 3 of her favourite pastimes, cycling, exchanging stories with like-minded people and exploring. Now in the office, Sue supports our team with her wealth of expertise and knowledge.

Kaye Wilson | Finance Manager Kaye is the number cruncher of the team and she has a serious chocolate addiction. She processes all of our accounts, and she emails out the friendly reminders when the balance of a tour is due for your trips. Kaye also pays the Adventure South team - so we keep her well stocked with Whittakers chocolate.

Abram Mahoney | Depot Manager Abram grew up in New York State, building and racing bikes for as long as he can remember. His quest for epic mountain bike riding brought him to New Zealand in 2017. When not out riding, he loves creating all sorts of interesting food and cocktails, and playing and writing music.

Gill Scott-Douglas | Sales Manager Originally from the UK, Gill is a recent but welcome addition to our Sales team, bringing a wealth of experience and a love of the outdoors along with her!

Chelle Brouwer | Sales Support and Groups Coordinator Growing up on Auckland’s North Shore, Chelle was introduced to the outdoors through hiking in the Coromandel. Straight out of High School, she found herself working first as Coastguard NZ’s youngest ever female Senior Radio Operator then a Fire dispatcher, before stumbling into the Outdoor Education industry. She trained as an outdoor instructor and program manager before moving to Ōtautahi to pursue a Bachelor of Sustainability and Outdoor Education at Ara. Chelle is passionate about trail running with her dog, rock climbing, adult education, sharing the healing nature of the outdoors and bikepacking.

Izzi Barton | Sales Coordinator Izzi grew up skiing, hiking, biking, and swimming all over the Northeast of the US. After graduating she moved to Alaska and fell in love with the wilderness. Izzi spends every free second in the mountains, lakes and rivers. She has a unique passion for polar plunging after a backcountry ski or tramp. Izzi takes her camera everywhere with her and came to NZ to experience the wonders of the beautiful islands.

Louise Vargaya Conza | Reservations Manager Previously a guide, Louise brings her epic expertise alongside experience as a mum into her role as our Reservations Manager, handling every sticky situation around our accommodation needs with ease. We're ecstatic she's a part of our team!

Verena Pabst | Reservations Originally from Germany, Verena has been calling New Zealand home for the past 14 years. When she’s not in the office, you’ll find her out hiking and exploring the great outdoors. Or in the kitchen, trying new recipes or baking treats. Verena also enjoy a good movie, everything from blockbuster to obscure films.

Eric Fulton | Vehicle Preparation Eric loves the great outdoors. When he's not organising the trailers and vehicles for the adventure tour, Eric is probably on his road bike cycling around Port Hills. He also enjoys mountain biking, cross-training and tramping, and getting away in the motorhome, with the bikes on the back.

Nala | Interim Depot Boss and Mascot Her passion and love for the great outdoors is uncomparable to any other person in the office. When she's not delegating tasks to the depot team, Nala loves a good run with the bikes, playing fetch and demanding belly rubs. Her position is supported by Kosi and recent addition Tūī.

The Guide Crew (A-D)

Aaron Price

After growing up in the North Island, Aaron moved to Dunedin to study Adventure Tourism. After graduating back in 2006 he has since worked in the outdoors both here in New Zealand and overseas. For a long time, Aaron has been self-employed in the adventure tourism space, based in the stunning Marlborough Sounds. On his days off you will probably find him on his bike or in a kayak exploring all NZ has to offer.

Annie Lowerson

Born in Melbourne, Anne studied Physical Education/Outdoor Recreation and eventually made her way to NZ in 1996. She is an avid adventure racer and bike-packer and has spent a huge amount of time exploring, training and racing in NZ. She spent 25 years in the English teaching industry in which she was a teacher and later a Director of Studies. Anne decided life was too short to pass it by indoors, so turned to guiding to use her skills, experience, and passion for inspiring others.

Anouk Minnaar

Anouk’s passion for the outdoors unfolded when she left the Dutch mountains over 20 years ago. She loves riding the local trails in Christchurch and the sometimes less known rideable NZ routes whether it’s on her MTB, gravel or road bike. Bikepacking is definitely her new way of adventuring. When not guiding Anouk is translating her passion into getting more migrant women and children (via Bikes in Schools) riding bikes.

Bryan Prestidge

Bryan’s outdoor experiences started with tramping over 50 years ago and progressed into multi-sport. He completed the Coast to Coast five times in the late 1980's. After having a family, Bryan got back into road cycling and mountain biking. Racing gave way to bike packing for the 2016 Tour Aotearoa and he has been exploring the NZ trails and back roads since then. He managed to fit outdoor activities around a career as a Quantity Surveyor and celebrated reaching retirement age in 2024 with a 2.5-month cycle tour through the USA and Canada. Bryan loves encouraging people into the outdoors and to ride bikes.

Chris Cameron

Born and bred on a farm in the North Island, Chris trained in Physical Education and Spanish and taught for many years in secondary schools, making the switch to guiding 5 years ago. She has a real passion for nature, cycling, hiking, kayaking and skiing and loves sharing her adventures with travellers in our spectacular New Zealand.

Collie Courouble

Born in France then moving to Australia, Collie is now feeling at home in New Zealand, enjoying all the adventures the country has to offer; mountain biking, bike touring, climbing, skiing, hiking, kayaking. With a background in hospitality and outdoor education, it made sense for Collie to start guiding on bike tours and share her passion for bikepacking and food!

Dorz Howe

Born in Auckland, Dorz joined the NZ Police in 1996. She transferred to Christchurch and discovered a love for the outdoors - in particular hiking, sea kayaking and bike packing. After retiring from policing in 2022 she's been enjoying spending her free time outdoors and exploring as much as possible. She loves travelling, meeting like-minded people, and sharing adventures.

The Guide Crew (E–F)

Elaine Buckland

Elaine was born in the UK and has been adventuring in the outdoors since she was old enough to ride a bike. Elaine moved to New Zealand back in 2001, and fell in love with the adventure industry here. Working in many roles, from gear advisor in outdoor stores through to graphic designer for a trail running company. Elaine retrained as an outdoor hiking/mountain biking guide in 2019 and hasn't looked back. She loves taking people on big and small adventures in both New Zealand and Australia. When not hiking or biking, you can find Elaine making wooden furnature or out on the water.

Erin Greene

Growing up in Dunedin racing my mountain bike since high school I’ve done a lot of awesome events all over the world. 24hr mountain bike races, mountain bike stage races, multisport events, Southern Traverse and Godzone events. Working winters ski patrolling and guiding in summer it’s just a perfect life getting to show off our little corner of the world.

Emma Holdaway

Emma was born into a backpack and shown the world as a baby before growing up in Aotearoa New Zealand. Since then, her sense of home is in the outdoors. She trained as an Outward Bound instructor in Washington USA, and loves to connect people to the power of the environment. She spends her pass time planning bike and hike trips to find old historic huts off the beaten trail, and to soak in naturally occurring hot springs around New Zealand.

Emma Udy

Emma grew up in the South Island of New Zealand and spent her childhood out in the mountians with her friends and family. She volunteered for years with school children all around the South Island taking them hiking and biking to show them what their backyard can offer. She took this love for guiding and put it into her full-time work. She now spends her time guiding for Adventure South! Emma resides in the beautiful alpine village of Hanmer Springs where she spends her time running, biking, and hiking in the surrounding mountains.

Fiona MacDonald

Fiona grew up on a farm in Hawkes Bay where she developed an early appreciation for the outdoors. After travelling extensively overseas in her youth, she became a travel agent, and helped others explore the world. Fiona moved to Taupo 15 years ago where she started her guiding career on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. She loves to share her passion and swap stories with others.

The Guide Crew (H)

Harry Caspian

A passionate cyclist for over 20 years, Harry feels most at home on two wheels. Whether pedalling his regular commute or bike-packing across continents, Harry amassed a wealth of facts, tips, and tales to add that extra spark to your Adventure South experience. Plus, hailing from Britain, he'll always find you time for that extra cup of tea.

Hana Black

Hana’s frequent forays into the mountains and wilderness – both backpacking and bikepacking – influenced her career in outdoor clothing design for well known New Zealand brands. On the bike she has participated in many of New Zealand's ultra-distance cycling events including Tour Aotearoa and Tour Te Waipounamu, as well as tramping nearly 1000km of Te Araroa trail. Cycle touring has taken her through 28 countries: from China to Indonesia, and more recently from Alaska to Ushuaia – a tour of four years covering 51,500km. This ride inspired a change of focus: instead of gearing people up for the outdoors she will now be getting people into gear on the trails.

Heather Gallagher

Heather is a 5th generation kiwi from Christchurch and grew up on the family farm enjoying the foothills, lakes & Southern Alps of the South Island. She enjoys all of the outdoor activities Kiwis love, including skiing, hiking, biking, boating and horse riding. Heather loves sharing her backyard with like minded people.

Howie Barnes

Born and raised in NW England, Howie fell in love with the great outdoors whilst attending an Outward Bound course aged 17. After leaving school he followed his childhood dream of joining the army and served for 18½ years. Since emigrating to NZ in 2006 Howie has worked in the agricultural and outdoor sectors. He has led eighteen World Challenge expeditions to the developing world and guided throughout Aotearoa.

The Guide Crew (I-L)

Ian Ogilvy

While having a background in the military and more recently as a registered Nurse, Iain is keen to go anywhere and do anything outdoors. This includes hiking, biking, sailing, diving, and fishing. Having worked in many areas of rural NZ, including nursing on the Chathams, Iain enjoys getting off the beaten track and showing off NZ

John Kirk-Anderson

John started exploring the South Island's wild places as a schoolboy, before joining the army where he saw more of it while carrying lots of heavy gear! Over time, climbing and tramping transitioned into mountain running, mountain biking and multisport, before sea kayaking became all consuming. After three decades as a full-time photojournalist and part-time outdoor instructor, he now works as a contract instructor and guide. John has worked in places as diverse as the Subantarctic islands, Alaska, and Siberia. But he rates New Zealand's outdoors as his favorite place to be. A proud Kiwi, John loves showing visitors our special places

Jude Fieldhouse

Jude owned two Pita Pit stores in Palmerston North for 10 years and sold them in 2021 to pursue her passion for the outdoors. She has biked the Camino de santiago, Vietnam, the Netherlands and most of the NZ Cycle Trails. Jude purchased a Camper Van in 2021 and travelled NZ for 12 months. In 2022 Jude biked Cape Reinga to Bluff to raise funds for Diabetes NZ.

Kim Briggs

Kim, a New Zealand native, is a pasionate outdoor enthusiast. With a background in skiing, biking, hiking, and more, she's explored the world, including living in Hawaii and California. Returning home, she embarked on challenging hikes like Dusky Track. Her love for nature led her to work for the Department of Conservation and guide on Tiritiri Matangi Island. Kim enjoys sharing her passion for the outdoors with others.

Kim Shaw

New Zealand born, Kim has a foot in the Arts and a foot in the Outdoors. She has travelled extensively overseas and lived abroad in a number of countries. Apart from being a visual artist, she has spent many years trekking, running, cycling, competing, guiding and exploring. Variety and a good challenge are the spices of life!

Lea Kilgenstein

Born and raised in Germany, Lea spent a few years travelling around the world before moving to New Zealand where she studied Adventure Tourism and Guiding. She has spent the last six years working as an outdoor instructor. Lea spends her winters skiing and snowboarding and her summers kayaking, hiking, and biking. She loves New Zealand's great outdoors and sharing her passion for this beautiful spot with people from all over the world!

Lewis Brindley

Lewis is originally from the UK and after a few years backpacking around the world, he settled in New Zealand for the last 13 years. With a keen interest in biking, climbing and mountaineering Lewis switched from working as a chef to guiding for the last few years. He has ridden the length of New Zealand, and now goes back to ride his favourite trails again. Currently living in Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park this is Lewis's 4th National Park he's called home as well as Fiordland, Westland Tai Poutini and Abel Tasman.

The Guide Crew (M-P)

Mike Revell

Having ridden bikes for over 50 years, Mike has completed most of the many bike trails that now exist in NZ. He is keen to share with others his passion for exploring the back country of NZ by mountain bike, road bike or hiking and if you have a question about the weather, ask Mike - he spent 40 years studying it at MetService and Niwa.

Nicki Evans

Nicki grew up in Auckland however her passion for the outdoors and exploring lured her to the South Island. She loves getting off the beaten track on her bike, hiking or skiing to discover amazing scenery, nature and wildlife. She has a background in professional theatre and teaching with a Degree in Art History. Nicki loves sharing the delights of NZ with others.

Nicole Davenport

From the US, Nicole origionally came to New Zealand on a working holiday, looking for adventure and ended up finding career. She's worked in the outdoors as both an instructor and guide for the last five years and is excited to be a part of the Adventure South team. Nicole loves the view from the handlebars and sharing her passion for New Zealand flora and fauna with her clients.

Nicole Mulcahy

Nicole is a born and bred kiwi from Timaru. Her passion is guiding people through New Zealand and giving them a unique experience of her beautiful backyard. She enjoys guiding trips for Adventure South NZ in New Zealand and spending the winter guiding in Central Australia. Her passions are whitewater kayaking, hiking, rugby, cycling and enjoying the wonderful outdoors.

Paul Gardener

Born and raised in the UK, Paul's love for adventure began during his travels across Europe, India, and Australia in his younger years. After working as an electritian in both the UK and New Zealand, he switched rolls in 2023 to join the adventure tourism industry. Now, Paul enjoys sharing the natural beauty of Aotearoa with others. Outside of work, he's often found kayaking the Able Tasman coastline or exploring the outdoors with his two sons.

Pete Stills

Born and raised in the South Island of New Zealand. Pete has a love of the outdoors whether it be riding his mountain bike in cross country races, camping, hiking, or tramping on tracks across New Zealand. Family and travel feature highly and Pete loves to explore anywhere in the world by bike or on foot. He served with the NZ Police for 42 years and now fulfils a dream of adventure guiding. He loves showing off his country and sharing in the pleasure others get from safe adventure experiences.

The Guide Crew (R)

Rich Mortiboys

After leaving university, Richard began a career in the outdoors by organising trail running events along the coastline of the South West of England before becoming a road cycling guide in Europe. Richard is constantly thinking about food, so you’ll be in good hands when it comes to snacks on the trail.

Robbie Marchant | <i>Robbie Marchant</i>

Robbie Marchant
Robbie was brought up on a sheep and cattle farm South of Auckland and grew up spending her weekends outdoors building huts and catching eels. She spent nearly 30 years in the clothing industry and has travelled the world extensively. Robbie competed and crewed in multi-sport and adventure races. She really embraced a love of cycling over the last 15 years travelling within NZ and overseas on numerous occasions to race, ride, guide, bike-pack and explore what is on offer.

Rob Pieper
Rob was born in the Netherlands and has always had an interest in the relationship between humans and the natural world. He holds a BSc in Agriculture, a Diploma in Horticulture, and has worked in dairy farming to which he applied principles of sustainability and organics. He has an Advanced Certificate in Leadership and Guiding and in addition to guiding with Adventure South, has also worked as a guide at Fox Glacier. Rob has built his own home and currently lives off the grid on a small farm.

The Guide Crew (S)

Sean Mulvany

Born in the UK, raised in Germany with Irish heritage, Seán was always likely to end up living somewhere else. His Kiwi partner made the decision simple and the Marlborough Sounds is now definitely home. From military background, Seán has also worked in outdoor education and spends his winters working locally in the ski industry.

Shantel Thilman

Shantel was born in the USA and enjoyed her first long distance bike trip riding from Alaska to Mexico. She moved to NZ in 2019, but had traveled here previously throughout the years. Shantel has explored NZ as a backpacker, a van goer, and a cycle tourist. Shantel rode from Cape Reinga to Bluff on the Tour Aotearoa and also enjoys having some good bush time- I love New Zealand and cycling and sharing this joy with others.

Steffan Rolfe

Originally from the South Island, Steffan decided to change tack and has spent the last 6 years working in tourism, as a guide and boat driver. Steffan has guided in Mt Cook and Fiordland, and around the wider South Island. Sadly, due to COVID, he has returned to office work - but enjoys getting out on tours to guide people around when he can. When not working Steffan enjoys getting out and exploring the outdoors – hiking, kayaking, biking, climbing

Steven Franklin

A proud kiwi, lucky to call the pristine waters and alluring habitat of Abel Tasman my backyard! My passion for the outdoors inspired me to study adventure tourism. Since, I have had the pleasure to work in both New Zealand and Norway as a kayak and hiking guide. I thrive in challenging environments, meeting new people, and making them smile.

Sue Clark

A Kiwi for the past 25 years Sue is originally from the UK but is passionate about this country and loves to show it off to visitors, especially on a bike! Before guiding Sue had a lengthy indoor corporate career and has no regrets about heading outdoors and combining 3 of her favourite pastimes, cycling, exchanging stories with like-minded people and exploring.

The Guide Crew (T-Z)

Tereza Unzeitigova

Born in Czech Republic and spending the majority of her time outside - Snowboarding in winter, climbing and biking in summer, Tereza ended up studying Outdoor Ed in Czech and the UK - Lake District. Her love for travel and adventure brought her all the way to NZ, where she lived on a sailing yacht for the last 13 years. Tereza’s passion for the outdoors, and curiosity about NZ culture and history, led her to work as a guide all over New Zealand.

Will Turner

After managing a bike store in Auckland for 8 years Will took a career change into adventure tourism, starting work as a guide in 2018. In guiding he found a true passion in helping to create amazing experiences for his guests. Will currently resides in Japan where he works together with his wife, running tours and helping to develop adventure tourism in the region where they live. He returns to NZ in the summer to guide, adventure and get his fix of fish n chips!

Jake Rowse

Ollie Trump

Ruth Young

Kia ora, my name is Ruth. I'm from Ōtautahi/Christchurch and usually work as a neonatal nurse, but have also done a stint of emergency nursing in Greymouth. I love spending time in nature, and usually fill it by tramping, camping, and more recently mountain biking and climbing. Some of my favourite trips have been the Paparoa Track, Avalanche Peak, and the Copland Track. I'm excited to adventure with you!