Sweet As Tours is a small tour company that has been formed by a Kiwi born, fun-loving, talented, young lady by the name of Miss Susan (Sue) Hughes and here’s her story….

Kia Ora (this means hello in Maori)

I was brought up on a small farmlet in the renowned ‘River City’, Wanganui. Having the typical country kid upbringing, I have fond memories of running through warm soft cow pats on the inter-school cross country events and in spring raising a pet lamb for show day.

At the age of 13 I began my working life at my Nana’s local fish’n’chip shop; Seahorse Takeaways. It’s funny how today the retired owner of the shop comments on how I always strived to achieve anything that I put my mind too.

McDonald’s was my next job, by the time I graduated College in 1999 I had made my way up the golden arches ladder and I was one of the crew’s managers. From flipping burgers and serving customers in under a minute I had proven skills that lead me with the desire to enrol in a two year course in Hospitality and Cookery. The tutors soon discovered that I had a flare for working front of house sending me to national competitions and coming home with a laden of medals up my arm. I was also lucky enough to be gifted a six week exchange to Switzerland that gave me the taste for travelling abroad.

By 2005 the need for travel and exploration of the big wide world was in order. I based myself in the UK for three and a half years discovering many great countries and nationalities before returning home.

I decided that I needed a new direction in life and with the love for the Great Kiwi Outdoors I studied a Diploma in Outdoor Recreation & Leadership and landed a job locally in the Tongariro National Park. Three years of hiking one of the world’s best one day walks made me incredibly fit and toned however it was time to explore my own country for once. I scored my dream job driving and guiding overseas tourists around the beautiful New Zealand’s soils. It was with Stray NZ I was nickname ‘Chase’ as I hated my tourists being late for their Adventures. After a number of years under my belt with the mighty orange backpacker bus I have now branched out on my own and I am committing myself into giving you the most fantastic holiday in Aotearoa.  

So ‘Your Adventure Awaits’, Plan it – Book it – Do it! Call Chase now to plan your Ultimate Adventure.