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Geared to backpackers and adventurers traveling In New Zealand, Australia and the UK, Nell Geddes' and Mike Warren's Kiwi Experience is going places
WHEN SUZANNE TOWNSEND, 24, from England, bought her Kiwi Experience "Funky Chicken" pass, she in tended to travel around New Zealand in the minimum time of 21 days. Instead, she jumped off the circuit and spent another 10 days in places like Taupo ("the skydiving was absolutely incredible"), River Valley ("the white water rafting was excellent"), Franz Josef ("I fell off the glacier. It was fab"), and Queenstown ("A drunken haze"). Townsend took advantage of her pass' flexibility. She could get off and on wherever and whenever she wanted for up to six months. "I got off because I met some really cool people. And the driver, Royal, was an absolute nutcase. I loved it." I met Townsend at a Kiwi Experience birthday bash at a downtown bar in Auckland last October 29, nine years to the day of the first Kiwi Experience departure. Their website (www.ozex.com.au) describes Kiwi Experience as "an alternative way to get into our country we're not into tours or service buses but trips designed specifically for backpackers and adventurers. We run scheduled services over adventure biased routes throughout New Zealand."
They have also expanded into Australia and the UK. Company directors, Neil Geddes and Mike Warren, say their success comes from their staff, that means: "The drivers, the office-workers - the whole kit and caboodle - they are the legends of this business. We just steer it in the best way to keep it going."
The whole kit and caboodle are 10 office workers based in Parnell and 50 drivers. They keep 21 leased coaches moving 3.5 million kilometres a year. They carry 15,000 passengers, generating $8 million turnover.
OZ EXPERIENCE leases 26 coaches that also carry 15,000 passengers annually and generates $7 million turnover. The Stray Travellers Network, in the UK, moves 5000 passengers a year on six leased coaches and will generate an expected $2.4 million turnover in its first year.
And England is where the concept of Kiwi Experience was born. Geddes was working for a travel club that dealt with Kiwis and Australians who arrived in the UK and he noticed...