Our Company - Who we are, what we do and how we do it....

As a relatively new company on the market - with an inexhaustible passion for New Zealand - we believe that our overland tours have the best itineraries available in New Zealand.

Our Overland NZ tours are a new concept in New Zealand travel and tourism; they are small in number, are fully guided/led, virtually all inclusive with many stops and points of interest only offered by Overland NZ.

We built Overland NZ to offer people a differerent way of seeing New Zealand. We do not operate hop-on hop-off tours and we are not a backpacking operation. We do not operate coach tours - we operate Overland tours. After many years of Overlanding in Africa and South America, we wanted to bring the concept to NZ. The vehicle you will travel in is an Overland truck. Your driver/guide is with you the entire duration of your tour. He/she will be sitting around the camp fire with you at night, and will also be there (if you want) for a night out in town. We do not stay in luxury hotels - but we do stay in some amazing camp gounds. Most of these campgrounds have 'chalet' accommodation you can opt to upgrade to if you wish (upon availability of course...), otherwise camp in our 3 person dome tents and very comfortable sleeping mats. We use hostels in most cities - but we do not use dorm rooms unless we really have to. We also stay in some pretty special lodges and farmstays in the South Island. All meals as per itineray are included - and you get fed very well indeed. We buy fresh food on an almost daily basis and we try to source all product locally and we can cater for any type of dietary requirement. We have mountain bikes that you can use - for free - whenever you want - and a well stocked library on board. The truck also has a couple of tables for those days when you would like to wrote a postcard or play cards.

For more more information click through HERE to our Q and A page for answers to any queries you may have.

 

About us....

Overland NZ is owned by Rian Alexander and Jemma Wilson who both share a passion for New Zealand, overlanding and adventure. With many years of experience gained from working for some leading names in the Adventure Travel business we are strengthened further with the addition of crew and staff with bundles of energy, ideas, drive and enthusiasm for New Zealand. Between us all we’re a relatively well-travelled group and have led tours all over the world.

Rian has a background in Overlanding dating back many years with time spent mostly in Africa and South America.  These travels bought about many great experiences with both local communities and outdoor adventure activities. His love of Overlanding (and New Zealand) prompted a move back to Aotearoa to develop Overland NZ – the only Overland company in NZ.  What he doesn't know about putting together itineraries in New Zealand probably isn't worth knowing.

Jemma also has a long history in Travel and Tourism.  She has travelled and guided extensively in South and Central America, and has also spent time in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. She is now 100% hands on with Overland NZ, office wise, and occasionally gets out and about for a quick run in the truck to keep in touch with what is happening on the ground.

Jason joined Overland NZ in 2007 as a Driver/Guide, and occasional Marketing Guru. Guiding our trips allows him to do the things he enjoys full-time ie travel and meet people, and of course to share some amazing experiences in stunning places with other travellers from all around the world.

We support responsible travel, sustainable tourism and carbon offsetting.

After many combined years of travel we have seen first-hand a rapidly changing world. Everyone in our team cares with a mad passion for the future of our planet, its wildlife and its people. As an ethical organisation we fully support the values of responsible and sustainable travel. We recognise that our responsibility extends to not only to our passengers but also local communities, this country, its wildlife and nature ie a commitment to environmental and social responsibilities. We feel that travellers should be aware of the impacts, negative or positive, that their journeys around the world have.

All of us at Overland NZ make a marked effort to recycle as much plastic, cans, paper, bottles, cardboard, printer cartridges and batteries as possible. We use scrap paper for making written notes and printing, and we do strive for as paperless a working environment as possible. Where possible we send our doucuments, vouchers and invoices via email to reduce paper usage. We turn off our monitors at night to conserve electricity. Our mantra has become one of waste minimisation, reuse and recycling.

New Zealand is a beautiful country, so we ask all our passengers to help keep our towns, cities, parks, beaches and native bush free from pollution and waste. We also ask everyone who travels with us to respect our unique flora and fauna. A healthy environment is vital to the success of New Zealand's tourism industry so travellers should leave the environment and community better than when they found it.

How you can be eco-wise when traveling in New Zealand:

How you can offset your carbon emissions:

Check out www.climatecare.org. This is a great website where you can actually calculate your flying miles ie from London Heathrow to Auckland for example, and it gives you ideas on how you can offset your carbon emissions. It can even help you calculate all household emissions. Other sites are: www.co2balance.com and for New Zealand: www.carbonzero.co.nz.

 

Click HERE to read more about Carbon Neutrality and Carbon Offsetting. 

 

These are all just a few examples of how we can help to sustain our environment. We would love to hear any further ideas and suggestions. Please email us on info@overlandnz.com.  We would be more than happy to put them our site.

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