Talk to Real People that have been there, done that!

Our Travel Consultants have personally dived & fished the sites, skied the slopes, and stayed in the accommodation we recommend, right throughout the world. They are dedicated to giving great service, and their expertise is second to none. Not to mention the fact that they are passionate about what they do, so you benefit from their first hand experience.

Ron & Christine Blake, Directors & Consultants

Ron and Christine have personally visited, skied, fished and dived at every location we sell, plus quite a few others we don't sell because they don’t meet our standards.

As company directors, they have the job along with the rest of the team of checking out products so they can honestly give you a first hand opinion of the best places to go. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it!

They have both skied Whistler/Blackcomb, Sun Peaks, Big White, Silver Star, Apex, Red Mountain, Fernie, Kimberley, Panorama, Kicking Horse, Lake Louise and Sunshine Village in Canada. In the USA they’ve skied Heavenly Tahoe, Vail Resorts, Copper Mountain, Steamboat, Aspen, Snowmass.

As for diving, they have dived in practically every dive destination in the South Pacific plus many in Australia, Micronesia, Asia, Central and South America and the Caribbean. Together they’ve logged a combined 12,000 Dives over 28 countries and 36 years of diving experience.

Steve Dive & Fish Consultant

Steve is our Senior Dive Consultant and also handles fishing bookings. He has a diploma in IATA - UFTAA as well as a NZ Certificate in Commerce. He has worked in the NZ travel industry for over 20 years.

Steve has dived or fished in many South Pacific destinations including Tonga, Fiji, Niue, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands. One of his favourite trips was to Sipadan in the Sabah region of Malaysian Borneo, where he was really impressed by the fantastic range of diving and the very high service standards.

One of his last trips was on the MV Bilikiki, a dive liveaboard in the Solomon Islands, and he highly recommends liveaboards as a way to experience the full underwater potential of a destination. One of the highlights of this trip was diving with a saltwater crocodile.

He is a keen hunter/gatherer and fisherman and likes to be out in the Hauraki Gulf and around the Hen and Chicken Islands. His best fishing memory was tagging his first Marlin in Vanuatu.

Mike Dive Consultant

Mike joined Dive Fish Snow in December 2004. He has completed two part-time dive courses and is now a qualified Open Water Instructor. His overseas diving experience includes the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea - Australia, Port Vila - Vanuatu, Beqa Lagoon, Coral Coast, and Tokoriki Island - Fiji, and Vava'u Islands - Tonga and Rottnest Island (WA Australia).

Mikes most memorable dive thus far was the Shark Encounter dive at Fiji's Beqa Lagoon! His greatest ambition is to dive with large schools of pelagic sharks, manta rays and schooling fish. Mike’s Diploma in Travel and Tourism opened doors into the tourism industry, in which he worked for four years before leading to his current position at Dive Fish Snow Travel. Mike’s PADI Open Water Instructor course provided great experiences under water while providing an opportunity to learning more about diving!

Phil Snow and Dive consultant

Phil has been in the travel industry for the last 10 years in roles varying from guiding in Morocco and Nepal to working as a consultant in NZ's biggest corporate agency looking after travel for goverment ministers and trade delegations. Phil has a Commerce degree as well as an Iata diploma of tourism and travel and is also a qualified sailing instructor. Phil is a keen telemarker (when his legs hold out) and alpine skiier and after 3 seasons in France he has moved onto discovering the resorts of North America and Canada. After Europe he is enjoying the wide open spaces and lack of lift queues found in Canada and has skiied in Canada extensively. Phil is also a keen diver and after getting his Padi open water in Thailand in 1999 Phil has dived Thailand , Red Sea, Fiji, Australia and all over New Zealand. One of Phils favourite memories was telemarking in thigh deep powder with Al Raine from Sun Peaks 2 weeks after the last snowfall. Trust the locals to find a good spot on the mountain.

Bernadette Snow Consultant

Bernadette has worked in the travel and hospitality industry for several years, both here in New Zealand and during her 8.5 year OE; living in various parts of Ireland, England, Scotland and France, while travelling extensively throughout the UK and European continent.

Her qualifications include an Advanced Diploma in Travel, Tourism and Business, as well as IATA Certification.  Bernadette previously specialised in Product Management of the UK and Europe as a destination, for one of the largest privately owned and operated company’s in New Zealand, bringing her valuable experiences, including her ski hosting and guiding knowledge to Dive Fish Snow Travel, where she has quickly become a top ski travel consultant.  

Bernadette is passionate about her skiing, having skied several French, Italian and Slovenian ski resorts, including almost every ski resort within both British Columbia and Alberta, i.e: Apex, Banff Mt Norquay, Big White, Fernie, Kicking Horse, Kimberley, Lake Louise, Panorama, Red Mountain, Silver Star, Sun Peaks, Sunshine Village, Whistler and Whitewater.  

During the 2008/2009 Winter season, Bernadette plans on checking out virtually all of the major ski resorts within Colorado, followed by a second familiarization trip, to visit the main Hokkaido ski resorts of Japan!

Bernadette rates one of her best ski moments, as racing Al Raine down the double black diamond runs of Sun Peaks in 2008.  

Bernadette looks forward to sharing her snow holiday knowledge and experiences with fellow skiers and boarders, assisting them with making their ski holiday dreams a reality! 

Jason Snow Consultant

Jason’s travel industry experience includes 5 ½ years with airlines in NZ,  a year with a tour company in London,  8 months with a hotel in UK, and 8 months working for a retail travel agency in Hamilton.

Jason joined Dive Fish Snow Travel in March 2008 as a ski travel consultant. A keen snow boarder, he has boarded across the NZ skifields, and in Canada at both Whistler and Red Mountain. He is looking forward to visiting  more Canadian ski resorts in 2009, and sharing his experiences with his clients.

Jason also loves all watersports, and is fanatical about his golf.

Markus Fishing Consultant

Markus joined Dive Fish Snow in a sales support role in Feb 2007 after completing his Advanced Travel and Tourism Certificate. He is a mad keen fisherman and an advanced diver, spending as much time as he can on and in the water. He has logged hundreds of dives in New Zealand and has also dived at Kadavu in Fiji and Vava'u in Tonga. Markus's most memorable holiday experience was snorkelling with humpback whales in Vava'u, "The sheer size and grace of these creatures is amazing!!!"

His biggest goal is to start wreck diving and aims to get to the Solomon Islands in the near future to experience the abundance of WWII wrecks, not to mention the warm clear water.

Travel Support Team

Julia Sales Support

Julia joined our Snow Team in 2007.

After qualifying at AUT with a Certificate of Travel & Tourism, she explored Europe for 2 months in 2004 with friends in a Ford transit van, which was an amazing experience. She has also travelled to many places in Australia, plus Fiji, Cook Islands & Samoa.

Julia has been snowboarding for 4 years and is really looking forward to checking out the North American powder snow soon.

She’s a bit of a “water baby” ; she has been diving for nearly 2yrs and considers herself still a beginner at this sport! She’s also a synchronized swimmer and was a NZ Coach of Synchronised Swimming 2004/05/06.

She is really interested in photography, especially underwater photography, so expect to see some of her diving photos on our website one day!

Admin Team

Lynda Accounts and Admin

Started in the travel industry 14 years ago. She has extensive knowledge of travel accounting and has worked both in wholesale and retail offices. Loves fishing, (but can't ski or dive).

Alison Reception/Admin Support

Alison joined Dive Fish Snow in 2007. Passionate about travelling and skiing, Alison has skied in Colorado at most of the major resorts and in Utah at Snowbird and Alta. Almost a "local" in Ohakune during Mt Ruapehu's ski season, Alison also enjoys trips to the South Island resorts and has been Heliskiing in the Harris Mountains. Her ultimate ski trip would be Heliskiing in Canada in untracked powder then ending the day relaxing by the fire with a nice glass of mulled wine.

Alison loves the client interaction at Dive Fish Snow and enjoys hearing about our clients' adventures.

Kathy Back Office Support

31 years travel industry experience, 9 of which have been at Dive Fish Snow Travel, albeit part time to fit in with the Kids Club she operates. Involved mostly in the promotional side of the business, production of information packs, advertising and information for Anndie to put on the website. She’s also a keen skier, and having discovered the joys of skiing in Canada last year, can’t wait to  get back there.

Anndie Web/Graphic Designer

Anndie came to Dive Fish Snow Travel in November 2004 with a solid background in web design. Since then he has completely rebuilt our website, giving it a far more professional, exciting and informative look. The website is a "work in progress" as we are constantly adding more products, so Anndie is very busy keeping up with the constant demands.

Anndie is also responsible for all graphic requirements within the office. Logos, stationery, advertising and promotional material, posters, flyers... it's all produced in house by Anndie.

And being a techno whizz, he is in high demand when anything technical breaks down in the office, especially the computers.