In business there is an old adage: 'a company is only as good as the people working there'. Throughout our office the combined number of years in the travel industry is over 250 years! Even we could not believe it until we started to total up the years! The Travel Directors is very proud of the team members, who we believe are among the very finest travel professionals in Australia.

The Staff

Nia Carras
Nia is our office manager and has been involved with tour operations for more than 25 years. Having previously worked for Sundowners, Bench International and Adventure World, Nia is able to offer Travel Directors a vast array of wholesale, techniques and hands-on knowledge. She has travelled extensively, and is passionate about all of the Travel Directors' destinations, in particular Africa and Russia.


Dianne Kuhrer
Dianne has been working in the travel industry for over 10 years, 5 of which have been with the Travel Directors. Previously she has worked on cruise ships and has been able to travel extensively with them. Because of this first-hand knowledge, Dianne has been a great asset to Travel Directors cruise department. She is a very popular member of our team and her burning ambition is to complete every one of the Travel Directors tours.


Graeme Middleton
Graeme has been in the travel industry for a total of 28 years. In short, he is one of the top travel consultants in Australia and a consummate professional! Possessing a superb eye for detail, he is strong in every sphere of the industry. He has travelled vastly and regards Cambodia as among his favourite countries. For relaxation after hectic months at his travel desk, Graeme heads up to the beaches of Thailand.


Camilla Roswall
Originally from Sweden and fluent in French, German, Swedish and English, Camilla is the Travel Directors expert on all things Scandinavian! Having worked with us for over 4 years, Camilla deals with business and leisure travel. In addition she has been the mastermind behind our very successful High Arctic tour, which incorporates Iceland, Greenland and Denmark. She is extremely thorough, conscientious and a very valuable member of the team.


Sarah Butler
Sarah has travel in her blood. After completing her formal education she went on to achieve the highest accolades during her apprenticeship in travel. Since this time, she has gone on to win award after award in the industry. Sarah has been with the Travel Directors for over 10 years and is renowned for her speed, accuracy and general all-round knowledge of an industry she is passionate about. Like all of our team, she has travelled extensively, both independently and with Travel Directors tours.


Kymlee Seymour
In every office there is always an 'all rounder' and Kymlee is certainly that. During her long career she has worked in all areas of travel, including retail, wholesale and tours, marketing and training. She came to Travel Directors with a formidable reputation in the industry and her effervescent personality ensures that the Travel Directors office is never a dull place to work.

Tour Leaders

Tony Evans
Tony is General Manager of the Travel Directors and is one of the most experienced tour guides in Australia. He first travelled on the Trans-Siberian Railway in the 1980s and has now completed the journey more than 30 times. "I never tire of this wonderful trip," he says "I just love showing people this fantastic part of the world." With more than 25 years in the travel industry, working in the UK, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, Tony's experience is second to none.
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Jim Gill
As well as being one of our most experienced tour guides, Jim is also the Travel Directors' Marketing and Sales Director.Before becoming a partner in the company, Jim was a popular broadcaster and journalist and for three years co-presented ABC Radio's breakfast programme in Perth. He has travelled to more than 60 countries and, in addition to numerous Trans-Siberian tours, has also escorted Travel Directors' groups to Antarctica, Cuba and Mexico, Canada and Alaska and South America.
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Hans Koning
Hans is the newest member of our team and is a great traveller. As a client he has been on our Christmas Trans-Siberian and Essential South America tours.
We are now delighted to have recruited him as a tour leader because of his undoubted people and leadership skills. Welcome on board Hans!
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Tony Coulson
Tony is our marketing manager. He brings to the Travel Directors a wealth of experience in the industry. Previously he was the General Manager WA, of Thomas Cook travel and later, Harvey World travel. He is one of the most well known figures in the industry. His dream has always been to travel to remote destinations and escorting Travel Directors tours to these ‘far horizons’ is Tony’s long-held passion. Tony Coulson is a consummate travel professional.
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Carmel Smith
Carmel has had the travel bug since her school years. For many years she worked as a tour leader in central and eastern Europe, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Scandinavia, Russia and Australia. She has also worked on cruise ships and travelled by double decker bus from London to Kathmandu.
Carmel is a popular leader on our Trans-Siberian and Cuba/Mexico tours.
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Karina Tempone
Karina is our South America-based leader and our senior Buenos Aires tour guide. A linguistics graduate, she has lived in Spain, back-packed throughout Europe and the Americas, and has escorted tour groups to all parts of South and Central America over the past 10 years. Karina is also now a regular leader on our Trans-Siberian tours, when time permits. Her beautiful nature and famous sense of humour make her one of our most popular leaders.

Roger Goring
Roger has been travelling overseas since the age of 14 and shows no sign of slowing down! He is another former client-turned tour leader and is now a regular fixture on our tours. Superbly organised, he is also an experienced bus and truck driver and mechanic. Thankfully he hasn't yet needed to demonstrate these latter skills on any of our tours!

Olga Mescheryakova
Olga is our delightful St Petersburg-based leader. Her infectious laugh and sense of humour have made her one of our most popular leaders. She regularly leads our Silk Road tour through China, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, as well as the Cossack Capers tour from Vladivostok to Helsinki. Outside of these journeys she also regularly leads our trips into the Himalaya and South America.When Olga is in St Petersburg she guides as the Travel Directors local expert in her city. Indeed with her consummate language skills, she is among the very best guides in Russia.

Juan Carlos Yanez
Juan Carlos was born in the Inca capital city of Cusco. He first worked with the Travel Directors in 2001 and continues to lead our tours throughout South America.
Acknowledged as a foremost Inca authority in the world, Juan Carlos was invited to Yale University to conduct lectures there in 2007. In September of the same year he escorted our Trans Siberian tour across Russia. He is an integral part of our South American operations and is a hugely popular member of the Travel Directors family.

Manny Yanez
Manny is the older brother of Juan Carlos. He was also born in Cusco and his knowledge of the Inca and Tiwanaku civilisations is simply phenomenal! Manny’s larrikin sense of humour and his gentle and caring nature make him a real hit with all our South American travellers.

Roxanne Garner
Roxanne has been leading tours for more than 20 years and is without doubt one of our most experienced leaders. She has led our tours across the Himalaya, Trans-Siberian and Africa. She is always fun, yet possesses an abundance of common sense. Roxanne, in short, is one of the most valuable guides working with the Travel Directors.

Chris Downey
Chris came to the Travel Directors from an aviation background. He first travelled the Trans-Siberian route as a passenger of the company. We quickly realised his potential and since that time, he has been very busy! Since his training trips he has escorted our tours to Africa, Trans-Siberian, Canada/Alaska and Egypt and Jordan. Chris is now a very successful and popular member of the Travel Directors team.

Helen Power
Rather surprisingly, Helen comes from a media and political background. She first travelled the Trans Siberian with her sister in 2000. Since then she has escorted this great adventure many times, as well as the Himalaya tour. She brings to the Travel Directors great experience in the area of adventure travel and her sense of humour and caring nature, makes her a hit among our tour leaders and travellers alike.

Sylvia Tomasi
Another travel professional, Sylvia has worked for 20 years in the travel industry in Australia. Starting from a retail perspective with Flight Centre, she quickly moved on to the wholesale and group department of Adventure World. Since then she has escorted our Cuba/Mexico and Himalaya tours. Her extraordinary eye for detail and her massive travel knowledge make her a valuable member of our team.

Karen Brooks
Karen has worked for many years in adventure travel. Although new to the Travel Directors she has been an instant success as she escorted our Himalaya tour in 2007. Karen is now firmly hooked on escorting for the Travel Directors and we welcome Karen’s vast experience to the company.