Thomas Bywater is a Travel Journalist and Multimedia Producer for New Zealand's Herald, specialising in New Zealand adventure travel and Antarctic tourism
I’m Thomas Bywater, Travel Writer and Digital Producer for the NZ Herald. Traversing ice fields in Patagonia and diving the Great Barrier Reef in an electric submarine - there have been a few life-changing trips since joining the NZ Herald in 2018. I graduated with a degree in English from the University of Aberdeen in 2012, which has taken me to a variety of places including a stint working as a digital editor for The Sunday Times in London. I got into travel writing in a roundabout way. After roles with a radio station in Leipzig, theatre restorations and film productions in Prague and Jaipur - it was clear, I don’t stand still for long. Since 2021, I’ve been based out of Christchurch and a bit closer to New Zealand’s Antarctic Gateway. It’s an adventurous part of the world, which I love, and an endless inspiration for stories. Its influences have fed into my podcast Detour: Antarctica, for which I interviewed the first person born on the continent and explorers who were victims of a prank involving two 500-year-old arrowheads. Adventures for your earbuds, go check it out!