From left: Bay Tours and Charters owners Ken and Kerren Withington celebrate passenger Deneice Marshall's 500th tour. Photo / Paul Taylor
From left: Bay Tours and Charters owners Ken and Kerren Withington celebrate passenger Deneice Marshall's 500th tour. Photo / Paul Taylor
Napier woman Deneice Marshall has been on 500 different trips around New Zealand, all with one Hawke's Bay charter company.
What makes that feat even more impressive is that Marshall isn't even a good traveller - she usually gets motion sickness.
Marshall, 72, has been taking trips with Bay Tours and Charters for 12 years, and remembers her very first on March 25, 2006 - an evening out at a Thai restaurant in Napier.
"I was widowed and I was lonely and although I belonged to a lot of organisations, I just wanted to get out and about," Marshall said.
"A friend from the Widowers Club suggested I join Bay Tours and trip one I was hooked.
"Some of the trips are just local, visiting restaurants and businesses, basically seeing what we've got on the inside of Hawke's Bay."
Bay Tours has a variety of adventures, some of which are based in the region, but owners Kerren and Ken Withington take passengers all over New Zealand and even overseas.
"We do a few tours in our own back yard, local shows in Auckland and Wellington. We do destination tours, the South Island, Waiheke Island. We've got four overseas trips this year," Kerren Withington said.
Marshall celebrated her 500th tour watching Disney's spellbinding live show, Aladdin.
It was the friendly and hospitable staff that hooked Marshall on what would be an ongoing adventure, not to mention the kindred spirits she's met along the way.
"When I say friends, we become actual friends, not just 'a friend', we exchange birthday cards and gifts, we phone each other up and have a chat.
"It's an amazing company because everything is arranged and that's a big drawcard for me."
Name any place in New Zealand and Marshall's been there, from Kāpiti Island to Wellington, to the wild shores of the Chatham Islands, to New Zealand's only active marine volcano, White Island.
A dream come true for Deneice Marshall (third front from right) as she finally visits NZ's only active marine volcano White Island. Photo / Supplied
"It was always my dream to go there. The fact that we walked on the crater floor and all around the island was incredible. We were based in Rotorua and took a helicopter over."
Kerren Withington said each tour was unique and they made trips easy for their passengers by including all necessities.
"I love the like-minded people that we get to meet like Deneice," she said.
The adventure continues for Marshall who has already booked plenty of trips with the tour company in 2019.
"I've pretty much been to every Cirque Du Soleil but I'm going again this year and I've also got a mystery trip coming up too.
