The perfect team to deliver your guests the best travel experiences there is in the Asia Pacific region. We have local partners and representatives in every area where we offer services.

Justin Friend, Operations Manager

Justin has spent his whole working life involved in one aspect of tourism or another. He was also bitten by the travel bug very early in life and has spent at least 8 months a year for the last 10 years travelling the globe, particularly the Asia-Pacific. Justin cut his teeth working on the Great Barrier Reef, which eventually lead to being Expedition Leader and Trip Director for the now defunct Coral Princess Cruises in both the reef and the Kimberley. Justin has traveled extensively through Papua New Guinea and has even been inaugurated as a genuine village chief.

Before creating Austronesian Expedition Services, Justin spent 9 years developing and managing the expedition programs for Australia's award winning and highly acclaimed Orion Expeditions, prior to their 2013 acquisition by another operator. 

It is this extensive knowledge and experience that drives Austronesian Expeditions today. 

STANDBY FOR NEW UPDATES TO OUR LOCAL PARTNER TEAM

 COMING IN OCTOBER 2022 - AFTER THE PANDEMIC SHUTDOWN MORE PEOPLE ARE TRAVELLING ON EXPEDITION SHIPS THAN EVER BEFORE. AS WE CONTINUE TO EXPAND OUR OPERATIONS ACROSS THE ASIA PACIFIC SO TOO WE ARE EXPANDING OUR TEAM OF LOCAL PARTNERS. THIS PAGE WILL UPDATED SOON!

Manny Napoleon, Local Partner - TIMOR LESTE

Manny is a native born Timorese, who like many Timorese of his era grew up in Australia as civil war raged in his homeland. Regularly making the arduous and often dangerous trek back to Timor via Bali during the occupation years Manny longed for the day peace would be restored in his homeland. That day finally came in 1999 and Manny returned home and turned his efforts to showcasing the newly independent nation of Timor Leste to the world.

Timor Leste is primed to be the next great destination, recently listed by Outside Magazine as the up and coming destination to watch. Austronesian Expeditions together with our local associates like Manny, can provide your operation with everything you need to give your guests the ultimate experience in Timor Leste. 

Abraham Cameron, Local Partner - THE TROBRIANDS

Abraham is the grandson of the legendary Cyril Cameron, or as he is better known King Cameron. The self proclaimed monarch of the Trobriand island of Kitava, who arrived on the island around 1912 and never left until his dying days. Setting up a plantation and a trade store King Cameron was there at the time Malinowski was writing his great anthropological works about Trobriand culture. Generations later Abraham carries both the traditions of his late grandfather and of the chiefly clans of the Trobriands. 

With direct links to the Paramount Chief of the Trobriands, together with Austronesian Expeditions, Abraham and our team can develop, implement and manage any number of diverse experiences in the Trobriands and other island groups of the area. Nobody else has the unprecedented access to the traditional areas, peoples and cultures of the region like we do.