Meet The Office Team

Greg Mortimer

His many achievements in mountaineering include: the first ever ascent of the South face of Annapurna Two in 1983; the first Australian ascent of the North face of Mount Everest, without the use of supplementary oxygen, in 1984; the first Australian ascent of Vinson Massif, the highest mountain in Antarctica, in 1988; the first Australian ascent of K2, the second highest mountain in the world in 1990; and in 2002 an ascent of Mt Manaslu, the world's eighth highest mountain.

In 1988 Greg organised and led the Australian Bicentennial Antarctic Expedition. These journeys have been covered in two documentaries, which have been distributed worldwide - "The Loneliest Mountain", by Film Australia and "Everest - The Australian Assault", by the Australian Television Channel Nine Network.

Greg's remarkable accomplishments have been recognised by the Australian government with the Order of Australia Medal for mountaineering. He is also the recipient of three Australian Geographic Society medals.

Margaret Werner

She is extremely capable in dealing with the day to day matters on board expedition cruises and has an amazing ability to look after people. Her extensive expeditions include journeys such as the 1988 Australian Bicentennial Expedition to climb Mount Minto in Antarctica, sailing on board the Alan and Vi Thistlethwaite. This journey involved travelling in extremely difficult conditions and sometimes life-threatening circumstances for three months.

It is in difficult situations such as this where Margaret shows her true mettle - preparing three meals a day and boosting morale for all on board. Margaret has skied to the source of the Ganges in winter, and has led adventurers through Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan,Thailand and along the Silk Road

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!

Sue Werner

Back in Australia, she was employed as caterer and instructor for an outdoor executive training company, and was base camp manager and cook for the 1994 Australian Chongtar Expedition (China/Pakistan). In 1995 she headed to the mountains of New Zealand to climb and complete an intensive technical mountaineering course. Sue loves the mountains and colder climates and excels in winter activities.

In early 1996 she assisted on Aurora's first Climbers & Photographers voyage to the Antarctic Peninsula and spent 1996-97 as a ship-based shop manager, cruising to Antarctica, the Amazon and the High Arctic. In 1997, Sue joined the Aurora Expeditions office. In 2000 Sue and her partner Henrik Lovendahl took a well-earned break which they spent climbing, diving, trekking and exploring some of the world's adventure hot-spots, in the Himalayas, European Alps and Thailand. Sue is also a keen photographer and holds a wilderness first aid certificate.

Elaine Balsdon

A chance meeting with Tim McCartney-Snape on a walking trail above Namche Bazaar in Nepal planted the seed that she may be able to earn a living doing what she loved. Elaine started working as an adventure travel consultant 20 years ago.

Since having children, she has specialised in the financial side of the travel industry and has become the Aurora Expeditions 'money goddess'! On the weekends you will find her at folk festivals, clubs, pubs and private functions playing with the well-known Celtic folk band the "mothers of intention".

Dorothy Buck

Dorothy has been with Aurora part-time for two years working with Elaine on the accounts. Dorothy opted for a lifestyle change after over 25 years in the Banking industry.

Dorothy has always had a great interest in wildlife and the outdoors having spent many holidays camping since her early teens. She travelled to Europe in her early twenties and spent two years hitch hiking and working throughout Europe and the UK.

Dorothy loves bushwalking and travel and has undertaken several extended walks in Australian and NZ. Some of her memorable trips include hiking in a remote Kimberley region and travelling the full length of the Grand Canyon by dory boat on the Colorado River. Her interests also include golf, reading and gardening and anything that gets her outdoors.

David Mannix

David's passion for travel started early, spending part of his youth growing up in New York and Hong Kong. After staying put long enough to complete university in his native Sydney, the travel bug continued to bite and he has barely stopped since. This man seems to have been just about everywhere, travelling extensively to the far reaches of the planet.

David has worked in the travel industry for over five years and manages the day-to-day running of the Aurora office, overseeing our marketing, sales and reservations teams. He also looks after new product development and can often be found in the office staring intently at maps, researching new destinations for Aurora.

When not travelling, David can be found anywhere in the great outdoors - scuba diving in the sea, kayaking up a river, or on a golf course somewhere trying to work out what's wrong with his swing.

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.

Janine Ferguson

Janine developed her passion for travel at an early age, living in various places around Australia. She has enjoyed travelling throughout all Australian states and territories as well as further afield. Her adventures have been known to take on a life of their own, as she looks at the map and is tempted by going just a bit further to that next destination. In one instance, an 11-day circumnavigation of Spitsbergen grew into two months travelling in Scandinavia, Russia, the UK and France.

Her job as a sales consultant with Aurora now gives Janine the chance to talk about her passion for the polar regions each day. From her life-changing experience inside Mawson’s Hut in Antarctica, to adrenaline-charged encounters with polar bears on the Svalbard pack ice, she enjoys sharing her first hand experiences as a passenger with others.

Ben Alexander

Recently graduating from Queensland's University of Technology, Ben relocated to Sydney at the beginning of 2007, to further his career pursuits. Realising a love of travel at a young age, Ben was often taken to explore remote and exotic locations early in life. Having spent periods of time travelling through the Americas, South-East Asia and extensively through the South-Pacific Islands, Ben is now focused on building his knowledge and career within the Aurora Family.

Ben brings a great amount of enthusiasm to his new position within the marketing department at Aurora, and will be assisting David through facets of Aurora's marketing. When not immersed with Aurora's marketing, Ben will more than likely be found searching the coast for waves.

Stefania Giovanoli

From the idyllic Swiss Alps to the dry heat of Sydney Stefania’s experience of the world is one of opposites. Growing up in a village of 250 people in the mountains is a far cry from Sydney’s 4 Million inhabitants.

Her journey from Switzerland to Australia began with a Tourism Diploma, but became much more. Stefania has explored the isolated glaciers of Alaska, monitored whales in Canada, become fascinated by the flora of Costa Rica, connected with Caribbean culture, among other intriguing adventures.

She has over 10 years' experience in tourism. From luxury cruise ships to travel agencies and tour operators Stefania has an extensive background in reservations and customer service.

Through her passion for photography she has managed to capture interesting angles from over 40 different countries around the world, but it was in Antarctica that she gained a new perspective. Although Stefania lost a telephoto lens in the Southern Ocean waters, the natural beauty remained deeply imprinted in her mind. The ship she travelled on was "Marina Svetaeva", one of Aurora's own, and it was this trip that led her to work for Aurora Expeditions.

If you would like to speak to someone in English, Italian, French, German or perhaps Swiss German then Stefania is at the other end of the line.

Karl Ericson

Karl went on his first overseas trip when he was 13 and was sung by the travel bug at a very young age. Since then he has travel extensively through Asia, Africa and Europe.

4 years ago he decide to join the Travel Industry as a travel agent to share his knowledge of the world and passion for travel.

He now looks forward to sharing his passion for travel, nature and the environment by helping you with your travel plans to the far reaches of the world.

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.