Meet our Kiwi Guide Team
- Last Updated: 4 Nov 2025
- Publish Date:
- Tanya
- About MoaTrek, Featured, Kiwi Tour Guides, Popular
When you travel on one of our New Zealand small group tours, your MoaTrek Kiwi Guide will be with you every day, your trusted travel companion on tour. 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 bring a wealth of life experience to their role. We’re very proud of our team, they’re among the most experienced guides in New Zealand. What they all have in common is a passion for New Zealand and a love for sharing its stories, landscapes, and culture with our travellers.
Meet the MoaTrek guide team, find out more about them, see some photos of them in action and hear what guests on recent trips had to say.
Tim de Jong
Tim has more than 25 years of experience both guiding and operating tours across New Zealand. Over that time he has led walking, cycling and adventure tours. 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 MoaTrek.
Originally from the South Island, Tim now lives in the Bay of Plenty close to his extended family.
What a recent traveller said about touring with Tim
“Tim was wonderful. Loved how he was so knowledgeable and provided touching and unique stories from his own life. He went out of his way to personalise the trip for me, suggesting extra walks and hikes wherever possible.”
Alison, Kakapo 21-day tour, January 2025.
Jan Kirkpatrick
Jan is a true Kiwi with a lifelong love of the great outdoors! Originally from Invercargill, she has explored both islands of New Zealand and spent nearly 40 years in the South Island before heading back up North to live in Waihi.
With a strong background in outdoor recreation, Jan spent two decades leading walking and cycling tours all over New Zealand. When she’s not guiding, you’ll find her outside – enjoying everything from biking and beach swims to gardening and, in winter, a bit of skiing.
How recent travellers enjoyed their tour with Jan
“Our Kiwi Guide Jan was the best! She was so knowledgeable about every aspect of your country. From the history, to geography, the plants, animals and the Maori people, Jan enlightened all of us. She handled everything like a pro and was the best problem solver! We were impressed with her excellent driving skills. On top of that, she was funny and shared so many stories about her own adventures. You are lucky to have her as a guide!”
Susan & Alan, Kakapo 21-day tour, February 2025.
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 snorkelling or on the hunt for deer – always making the most of New Zealand’s great outdoors.
What recent travellers said about Brian
“Brian was over-the-top amazing! We can’t imagine a better guide and representative of MoaTrek. He successfully took 18 strangers from 5 different countries and turned us into friends by the end of the trip through his hilarious stories, ice breakers, scavenger hunts, limerick writing contests and especially the endless variety of music where we texted songs to him and then we all had to guess who chose the song. So much fun! He has even kept in touch with the group after the end of our adventure to share photos of his new grandson, that we were eagerly awaiting while on tour with him.”
Joan & Rich, Kakapo 21-day tour, March 2025.
Sean McDonnell
Sean is a keen surfer, artist, musician, and traveller with a deep love for the outdoors and the environment, something you’ll sense straight away when you’re on a tour with him. He is a trained artist and graduate of the Elam School of Fine Arts, so when you’re travelling with Sean, you’re seeing New Zealand landscapes in a unique light.
From a recent traveller with Sean
“I have done a lot of small group trips like this, and Sean was the best guide I have ever had. My head was eventually bursting with interesting information about the history, culture, art, industry, flora and fauna of New Zealand, delivered in a witty style. Sean entertained us the whole way, he even sang an Irish song to us on St Patrick’s Day. It was a fantastic experience, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone.”
Susan, Kakapo 21-day tour, March 2025
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 MoaTrek.
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.
What a recent traveller said about travelling with Ali
“Ali is an absolute gem, knowledgeable, kind and infinitely patient. Schedule ran like clockwork. She made it a trip of a lifetime. Could not have asked for a better guide!”
Valentyna, Kakapo 21-day tour, Jan 2025.
Lindsay Thorpe
Lindsay is of Maori (Ngati Kahungunu) and Scottish/English descent, born in Otaki on the Kapiti Coast where he still lives today with his family.
Lindsay had several careers before settling into guiding 15 years ago and also works as an expedition leader in Antarctica. He loves bringing groups through his home town of Otaki and has even been known to pop into his house with a group for lunch! When he’s not guiding, he is usually travelling with his wife.
Hear from recent travellers with Lindsay
“We have travelled to all continents, and Lindsay rates as the best guide we’ve ever had. Knowledgeable, excellent communications, courteous, and always ensured his guests were safe and taken care of well. We were the “old codgers” of the trip, yet Lindsay took extra care of us in the most polite and special ways, which was much appreciated. He taught us so much, we will have a special place in our hearts for him forever.”
Bob & Jan, Kakapo 21-day tour, April 2025.
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.
From a recent traveller with Gail
“Gail Hapi is amazing and a terrific guide. Her ability to be a great driver, to organize the group and to agree to both group and individual needs was phenomenal. She really went out of her way to make sure every group member had the vacation they wanted. This included building in additional and more challenging hikes because we had a group full of avid hikers. Gail is incredibly personable, entertaining, humorous and knowledgeable. She is by far the best guide I have ever had while traveling.”
Marcy, Kakapo 21-day tour, February 2025.
Dermot Hall
Dermot lives in Christchurch’s port town of Lyttelton, where his balcony overlooks the harbour and working port which is the busiest in the South Island.
Before guiding, Dermot was a teacher but has been a guide for many years, leading cruise ship and educational tours. When he’s not leading tours you’ll find him travelling for pleasure or visiting his children in New Zealand and Canada
What recent travellers with Dermot had to say
“Our guide, Dermot Hall, was excellent! His knowledge of the country, history and people, are amazing. Dermot had GREAT material to work with (New Zealand!), and he drew upon his years of teaching experience to communicate that so well. Dermot also exemplified great compassion and decision making. We were in great hands with Dermot.
We would highly recommend MoaTrek and this tour to anyone traveling to New Zealand who wants to really discover New Zealand. This was a trip of a lifetime and MoaTrek made it so enjoyable we are already thinking of planning another trip. Thank you MoaTrek and Dermot Hall.”
Bob & Mary, Kakapo 21-day tour, Jan 2025.
Graeme Corlett
Before beginning his guiding life with MoaTrek Graeme worked as a geologist all over the world, so if geology is your thing, you’ll love being on tour with Graeme. He even wrote his thesis on the volcanoes of Tongariro National Park! In addition to his geological expertise, Graeme brings a wealth of life experience and a passion for sharing New Zealand’s natural wonders with visitors. When he’s not out guiding, you’ll find him working on his property north of Auckland.
What a recent traveller said about Graeme
“I cannot say enough about Graeme. We all became fast friends with him. He was our guide but a member of our group as well. You need to clone him! A fantastic person. Knowledgeable. Great driver. Great sense of humour. Impossible to say enough good things about him. If we come back to New Zealand for another tour, we will schedule around him!”
Michael, Kakapo 21-day tour, March 2025.
MoaTrek Small Group Guided Tours
Our Kiwi Guides are such a big part of our tours and travellers always tell us how much their guide made their trip so memorable.
Our guides all love New Zealand and meeting visitors to our country, and leading tours with MoaTrek combines these two passions perfectly.
Discover New Zealand with MoaTrek
At MoaTrek, we’ve been showing visitors around New Zealand on our small group guided tours since the 1970s.
We started off pitching tents and cooking out under the stars, but nowadays our tours are designed for travellers aged 50+, offering plenty of comfort, hand-picked accommodation, small friendly groups, delicious food and wine, and, of course, our expert Kiwi Guides to take care of you every step of the way.
Find out more about our New Zealand small group tours here.
Talk to one of our friendly team now to start planning your New Zealand “Trip of a Lifetime”.
- Tanya
- About MoaTrek, Featured, Kiwi Tour Guides, Popular
