Hi.. My name is Nicky Snoyink and I am a professional guide. Here is a bit of life story about me which I hope that you will find interesting or at the very least amusing!!
I was born in Darfield, Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand. Here I spent all of my school years (about 12 all up). Its not a bad place to grow up, on the Canterbury Plains surrounded by a vast patchwork of farmland, bordered by the great Waimakariri and Rakaia Rivers, Canterbury’s iconic braided beauties with the back drop of the foothills and the Southern Alps in the distance. Given the nature of this environment, my childhood recreational pursuits focused primarily on the mountains with many weekends and school holidays spent walking, tramping, camping and later skiing and a bit of a dabble in mountaineering!
Following high school(which evidently turned out to be a great place to eat lunch!!), the big question was, what to do? The obvious choice (since my parents owned a plant nursery) was to enrol in a horticulture course at Lincoln University. Here I found the study pretty tedious, boring and very uninspiring, but however the Uni had a great Alpine Club who organised many ski trips in winter and tramps in summer, which really touched a nerve in me to get back out there amoungst the wilderness.
Many of my counterparts on these midweek sojourns to the hills were enrolled in the Parks and Recreation Management Course and it was here I discovered where I should really be. I promptly enrolled in the Diploma of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management course for the following year and was ever so greatful to be selected into the programme!
Three years later feeling a bit like a Jill of all trades and specialist of nothing, I found myself working at the Mount Hutt ski area teaching skiing then on a merry go round of eternal winters between NZ and Europe for the next 3 or 4 years. Finally deciding to give summer a go, I found myself employed on a recreation management team at Arthur’s Pass National Park and spent the summer cruising round the National Park on foot or in a helicopter laden with paint, brushes and building supplies. The next few years I moved around different short term contracts in DOC in between travel adventures in the Himalayas, Alaska and the USA and South America.
During a stint at DOC in the early 90’s a colleague approached me and wondered if I might be interested in helping him out with a group of American visitors coming to the South Island on a walking tour later that summer. I thought why not give it a go. I was ready for a change! So off we went, he had his bus licence so he drove the bus, I had the microphone, so yes you guessed it, I had to talk! Here was the beginning of my career as a guide.
Since then I have run many walking tours in New Zealand mainly for one campany called Country Walkers, You may like to check them out. Country Walkers are the USA’s leading walking tour company, with a winning formula of great walks, culture, activity, a comfy bed and a delicious glass of wine in the evening all wrapped into one superb adventure!
Since that fateful beginning, working as a guide has taken me on a fabulous journey to some special places in the world including many corners of our very own New Zealand, India, Nepal, the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan,USA and most recently South West China and Tibet.
Today I am one of the Directors (there are 2 of us) of a small New Zealand based company called Outdoor Travel Logistics Ltd(2007). We specialise in tour operations for companies who want to include New Zealand as a destination on their lists of adventures. We are responsible for researching and developing new and existing products, operational stuff like finding exceptional local guides, organising transportation, DOC Concession requirements and generally ensuring that the guests have an unforgettably great experience during their stay here in New Zealand!
Given the nature of the tourism industry in New Zealand, that being, very seasonal, our clients invite us to take part in potential new projects overseas. The most recent project I have been working on is a new adventure in Yunnan and Tibet for a company called Boundless Journeys Inc. This project has been researched and developed and should be on their website soon, ready for the market!
On arriving back in home early June, I saw the position as lecturer specialising in tour guiding at the Otago Polytech advertised in the ODT and thought it sounded like something I could be interested in to diversify a little! So here I am and look forward to working with each and everyone of you over the next few months and hope to beable to share some stories about our experiences in the tourism industry!
Cheers! Nicky
