New Zealand’s leading small group tour operator
MoaTrek is a family business offering small group New Zealand tours, founded in 1971, and still owned by the same family today.
All Kiwis know there are so many absolutely magical spots all over the country, so back in 1971 we decided to share our favourite places with visitors by starting guided tours. In those days MoaTrek focused on backpacker trips and our first ever tour welcomed a group of Aussie travellers keen to explore New Zealand.
As we continued running backpacker tours, pretty soon we knew everyone all around the country, and our tours became super popular.
Fast forward to today, we still visit the same amazing places but these days our guests can happily rest in comfort at the end of each day in hotels instead of pitching a tent and pumping up an air mattress! While our tours have matured, our love for sharing our favourite New Zealand holiday spots with visitors remains. We still visit lots of places today that we did in the 1970s!
It’s the unforgettable magic that happens on every trip – when a group of travellers comes together to share a once in a lifetime experience – that keeps us inspired and coming back for more, year after year.
MoaTrek turned 50 in 2021!
The year 2021 was a special one for MoaTrek, marking half a century since our first small group tour.
Take a trip back in time with MoaTrek
Here’s the original MoaTrek video from the 1970s!
MoaTrek brochures over the years
These days, our brochure is online, but in years gone by it was printed and posted to people who wanted to find out more about our tours.
Here’s what they looked like over the years.
MoaTrek today
Fifty plus years on, MoaTrek is proud to be the leading small group tour operator in New Zealand, offering sell-out tours and earning multiple Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards.
Our highly experienced office team is based in Auckland, while our passionate Kiwi Guides are spread throughout the country, ready to share their love for Aotearoa New Zealand with travellers from around the world.
What’s a Moa?
Unique to New Zealand, Moa lived for 60 million years in a lush, peaceful and primeval landscape until the end of the 13th century. Like the Kiwi, Moa couldn’t fly – instead, they walked everywhere.
Unfortunately, they were no match for the Maori, the new migrants to New Zealand, who saw them as a tasty, easy-to-catch resource and didn’t hesitate to put them on the menu and make cloaks from their feathers. Now extinct, these birds once came in several sizes – from small (1.3m tall) to very big (2m tall and weighing 250kgs).
