Meet The Office Team

Lisa Bolton

Although it had always been Lisa’s dream to be a ski instructor when she finished high school, her parents had other ideas and sent her off to Business College. Having developed a keen eye for detail and strong business acumen, Lisa’s entrepreneurial streak led into her starting her own knitwear business at the ripe age of 21.

After spending some time in Bangladesh and India, the passion for travel had taken hold and Lisa’s career took a different direction. While studying for a Degree in Economics and Resource Management, she began working for Qantas Airways, first as a Reservations Consultant, and then as Business Analyst for Qantas’ Business Travel division.

Having firmly set her sights on a career in travel, Lisa wanted to specialise in the cruise market, thus embarking on two years as a Project Manager with Carnival Australia (P&O Cruises). It was during this time that she was exposed to all aspects of the cruising industry and travel market at large.

Working her way up the ladder, Lisa developed an insight into multiple facets of the travel industry, whilst her experience with the world’s largest cruise company left her ideally equipped to take the helm as Aurora Expeditions Chief Executive Officer.

Most weekends Lisa can be found on Coogee Beach working as a Patrol Captain and volunteer lifesaver for the Coogee Surf Life Saving Club.

Cecily Milner

Cecily has worked for many years in the travel industry, starting in a retail agency, Turramurra Travel, before joining Aurora Expeditions in 1997. She has been fortunate enough to enjoy most of Aurora's expeditions and cites her journeys to the Antarctic Peninsula and the High Arctic as her favourites.

Keeping fit is high on her agenda with bushwalking, swimming and sailing and she enjoys relaxing with yoga, theatre, art gallery visits and an occasional good book!

Fiona Twyford

After graduating from University in Scotland in 1997, the travel bug took hold and Fiona embarked on 2 years at 'The University of Life' which included a ski season in France, driving along the South Eastern coast of Africa, backpacking throughout South East Asia and spending the best part of a year living in Sydney. Little did she know that fate would bring her back some 10 years later!

Back in London in time for the new millennium, Fiona began her Marketing career at Christies Auctioneers and has not looked back since. Having worked on a range of high end hospitality & travel brands since 2000, there is little Fiona does not know about travel marketing, PR & event management. She left her role as head of sales & marketing in a boutique travel firm in London in November 2008 to start a new life with her Aussie fiancé on the sunny side of the planet. Over the years Fiona has continued to travel as often as possible and is eagerly awaiting the chance to travel to Papua New Guinea - a childhood dream! A keen skier, Fiona is likely to be found hunting out the powder in Winter and honing her love of cooking and new world wine in the summer months. Being the resident POM in the office, we are treating her gently - until the next Ashes series that is!

Ingrid Kerr

After ten years in the corporate world, Ingrid decided to opt for a lifestyle change and foray into the world of travel. Recently arrived in Australia after a 6 year stint in London, Ingrid has travelled extensively through the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Backpacking in Cuba and travelling through east and southern Africa highlighted, for her, the importance of travel with integrity.

Ingrid is passionate about the environment and on weekends is never far from the sea. She has heart her set on learning to scuba-dive and sail in the coming months and has quickly learnt the benefits of travelling to Australia’s beautiful wine regions. As our token Kiwi we're enjoying some trans-Tasman rivalry around the office and are looking forward to this year's rugby season.

Jo Street

Jo works in the Aurora office in Sydney and looks after reservations for our Antarctic voyages. In addition to preparing pre-departure information, she also books flights and makes additional travel arrangements for our clients travelling in South America.

Living in Queensland for many years ignited Jo's passion for tourism, where she worked at resorts on Fraser Island and the Sunshine Coast. A wildlife enthusiast, Jo lived for two months aboard the Oceania Project's research vessel, Karma, conducting whale research in Hervey Bay. She loves a good glass of wine from her partners vineyard in Mudgee, where they are busy preparing to open a cellar door.

In 2005, Jo joined Polar Pioneer in the Arctic, completing a Circumnavigation of Spitsbergen. Highlights of her voyage include some very up close and personal encounters with polar bears and peaceful days kayaking among the brilliant blue ice of the Svalbard Archipelago.

Jo is a keen photographer and has studied the subject at TAFE, specialising in portraits and dark room techniques. Her travels to the High Arctic & Scandinavia has left her craving more of these wild places to photograph and explore.

Veronica Farris

Nerida Joice

Nerida's addiction to travel has seen her set foot on every continent and having been to both the Antarctic and Arctic, she cites polar bears and glaciers as special favourites. One of her favourite adventures was taking part in volunteer work with Earthwatch and the University of Hawaii on scientific studies of dolphin comprehension abilities and Humpback whale behaviour. The research she helped out with has been instrumental in formulating the minimum approach distance rules that Aurora follows on our expeditions.

It seems the next big travel project is never too far away, with the exploration of the Alaskan wilds and seeing the Aurora Borealis next on the cards. An avid sports fan, Nerida likes to relax with a good book and a glass of wine in between cheering for the Aussies in the rugby, tennis and cricket.

Leani Gray

Her first job in the industry was with tour company Globus/Cosmos, where she spent five years honing her skills as part of the reservations team. During this time she traveled extensively; exploring Western Europe, Asia and the Pacific islands.

When not busy helping our passengers with their additional travel arrangements, Leani can be found, worshiping the sun at the beach, shopping or relaxing back with a mudpack watching the latest comedy release.

Ania Hart

Ania was born in Poland but after her first visit to Australia in 2000, her love for the country appeared to be so strong that she decided to move here in 2004. Whilst, still in Poland Ania developed a passion for Russian culture and pursued this through studying Russian Philology.

Ania has just returned from Aurora’s voyage to Kamchatka and Commander Islands where her appreciation of Russia deepened further. Ania joins Aurora as part of our reservations team, where she’ll help you with your bookings to the Russian Far East and Antarctica.

She has travelled extensively through Europe and joined Aurora with a wealth of experience in travel and consultancy on Scandinavia, Russia and Baltic States. In her spare time Ania enjoys planning new trips, skiing, cooking; attending oriental cooking classes and fishing.

Jane Bell

Jane started her accounting career in Property Management but soon developed a love of travel when she traveled throughout Canada and the USA. She stopped working for a while to have her 3 gorgeous children but soon felt the need to rejoin the ranks of the workers. She was offered a casual position helping out at Aurora and was such an enthusiastic worker with a great eye for detail that she was offered a permanent part time position in the busy accounts department. Jane can't wait until her children are old enough to stay at home while she indulges in her passion for travel. She loves bears and is busting to get to the Arctic or the Russian Far East.

Philippa Hurley

Philippa works in the Sydney office in Sales, she has in the past worked in retail, wholesale and group travel and loves remote and wild destinations! Growing up in Sydney in her early twenties she decided to explore the world and has since lived and worked in California, Whistler and the UK. In 2005 she lived for close to a year in Aberdeen, Scotland, the granite city and surrounds made an impression as did the icey winds of the north and she loved her time there working with her Scottish co workers and travelling to places such as the Isle of Skye and The Orkney Islands.

Before coming to work at Aurora Expeditions Philippa most recently worked as a Groups Consultant booking and developing special interest tour group travel to destinations such as France, England, Iran, Germany, Egypt and Spain. She also recently escorted a tour group from Barcelona through the south of France to Paris last year which was a fantastic experience, Barcelona now being her favourite city in the world.

Philippa has travelled to a variety of countries including North America, Canada, Cambodia, Thailand, Central Europe, Russia and Mongolia, one of her travel highlights being the four month overland rail journey she did with her partner, starting in Budapest, Hungary and travelling through Russia, Mongolia and China this is an adventure she'll never forget! She is very excited at the opportunity of joining a company such as Aurora Expeditions with their strong commitment to travelling to new destinations and expedition style travel.