Meet the Kiwi Behind Your Journey
Updated: Oct 7
Kia ora! I'm Luke.
I’m a Kiwi through and through.
I was born and grew up in the Waikato, studied in Auckland, and started my travel career with Air New Zealand, first in Auckland and then in Queenstown. Since then, I’ve lived in Wellington, the Wairarapa and now Christchurch, and travelled to more than 40 countries along the way.
But my love of exploring New Zealand started much earlier.
As a kid, I was Dad’s chief map navigator on family road trips around the country. I took the job seriously. Mum usually had a favourite destination in mind – often Mount Maunganui – and Dad and I worked out how to get there.
I didn’t know it at the time, but those trips were teaching me something that has stayed with me ever since:
The journey matters just as much as the destination.
A Kiwi way of seeing things
New Zealand isn’t just a collection of places to visit.
It’s people, landscapes, stories, food, history and the connections between them. It’s the small-town café you weren’t expecting to find, the road you take because it looks interesting, and the extra night you realise you should have stayed.
Living and travelling in Aotearoa has also given me a deep appreciation for ideas that sit at the heart of this country – whanaungatanga, the importance of connection and relationships; manaakitanga, the care and generosity we show others; and kaitiakitanga, our responsibility to look after the places we share.
They influence how I think about travel. Not as simply moving from one attraction to the next, but as an opportunity to connect with people and place, travel thoughtfully, and leave room for the unexpected.
That’s part of what I mean when I say See New Zealand Through Kiwi Eyes.
Why Great Kiwi Trips?
After years working in travel, I realised that one of the things I enjoy most is taking someone’s vague idea of a New Zealand holiday and working out what would actually make it a great trip for them.
Because there isn’t one right way to see New Zealand.
Some people want the big landscapes and iconic sights. Others would rather find a great little town, spend longer over lunch, follow a coastal road or get away from the crowds.
Usually, it’s a bit of all of those things.
That’s what Great Kiwi Trips is about: taking what interests you and turning it into a journey that makes sense.
The places that stay with you
One of the places that really made me stop and appreciate New Zealand was the Marlborough Sounds.
The stillness, the hidden coves and the way the light changes across the water caught me completely off guard. It wasn’t just somewhere to visit. It was somewhere that made you want to slow down.
I’ve had plenty of moments like that around New Zealand since.
And they’re often the moments I remember most.
Not necessarily the biggest attraction or the place everyone told me I had to see, but the unexpected view, the quiet road, the conversation in a small-town café or the decision to stay somewhere an extra night.
What I bring to your trip
I know New Zealand as a Kiwi who lives here, but I also know it as someone who has spent a career helping people travel.
That means looking beyond a list of places and thinking about how the whole journey fits together.
How long should you really spend somewhere? Is that drive worth doing in one go? Where would an extra night make a difference? Which experiences are likely to suit you – and which ones probably aren’t worth your time?
Those are the details I enjoy working out.
And sometimes the best advice is simply:
Don’t rush it.
Travel your way
Great Kiwi Trips is for independent travellers who want the freedom of their own journey without having to spend months figuring out all the details themselves.
You bring the interests, the ideas and the things you want to experience.
I bring the Kiwi perspective, the travel knowledge and a pretty good collection of maps in my head.
Together, we can turn that into a New Zealand trip that’s genuinely yours.
Start with an idea
You don’t need to know exactly where you want to go.
Maybe you’ve got three weeks and a rough list of places. Maybe you’ve been to New Zealand before and want to see a different side of it. Or maybe you’ve simply looked at a map and thought,
I’d love to go there.
That’s enough to start.
