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!
DoC approves decade-long Ruapehu deal to save ski season 'for years to come'
DoC gives the local Ohakune business collective the green light for the 2024 ski season.
Battle of the Baches: NZ's 10 best holiday homes revealed
There are 12,000 properties on Bookabach - here are this year's top 10.
Backpackers are back: Company to revive 13 hostel sites this summer
1800 hostel rooms set to open in an ambitious four-month project.
DoC starts voluntary booking system for New Zealand's busiest day walk
DoC urges trampers to book ahead this summer, to protect the popular national park.
Ruapehu the winner of school holidays ski forecast as Aussies end disastrous season early
Skiers are heading to the slopes for the start of the September holidays. Will the snow?
White Island survivor achieving goal she once thought was impossible
'This trip is something my old self would have jumped at.'
End of an era: Royal favourite Huka Lodge to close for 8-month refurb
The favourite lodge of rock stars and royalty is to take its last guests in April.
Ruapehu ends extraordinary lift pass sale after rocky start to NZ ski season
Season pass holders to be far fewer following last-minute doorstep sale.
Tongariro Great Walk opens for booking: Is DoC's IT system back on track?
Great Walk bookings reopen four months after “incredibly frustrating” IT meltdown.
Ruapehu’s late ski sale a ‘shot in the dark’
'The move from despair to elation was so fast'.
Ruapehu to open tomorrow, after last-minute snow and Govt grant
Winter is back on at Ruapehu after a flurry of snow and an eleventh-hour government grant.
Vote with your feet: The search for NZ's best ski field is on
We're searching for New Zealand's best ski field.
Ruapehu ski passes on sale as soon as next week following $1 bid for mountain
Lift passes could be on sale as early as next week under the new ownership.
DoC ups licence fees on ‘world's finest trout fishing’
The department is increasing fees for trout fishing sites that are among the world's best.
Aviator Jean Batten disappears from Auckland Airport
Famous aviator's statue removed 40 years after her mysterious disappearance.
DoC warns visitors to avoid Ruapehu's Crater Lake
The recommendation area does not affect any tracks or facilities.
End of an era: YHA NZ closes all eleven NZ hostels
The cornerstone of New Zealand backpacking will not reopen in 2022.
Kiwi town boasts two of the world's 'best adventure activities'
Queenstown might be the world's adventure capital, but another city is hot on its heels.
Bus-loads of skiers turned away as slopes fill up under level 2
Skiers have been left out in the cold after level 2 caps were reached on snowfields.