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Meet the Team

Liz Anderson

Managing Director

After teaching in Japan more than ten years ago I decided to travel across Asia, overland to the UK to visit the places that I had studied during my degree which focused on Russian history. My research led me to Sundowners Overland and I spent many hours planning my route back in detail. I had little idea then that my desire to explore regions I had long read and dreamt about would change the course of my life. After that trip my fascination for the region grew and, giving up the world of consultancy, I returned to Sundowners Overland to travel our routes extensively - accompanying our journeys as a Tour Leader, for hands on liaison with current partners and to research and source new routes and local partners. This remains key to my role today and I consider it essential in ensuring that we are delivering the best possible experiences to our clients.

Today I enjoy that our destinations are constantly evolving and changing; there is always another border to open or a region to explore and sharing those experiences with our team and clients remains an important part of what I do today. Listening to the stories that have inspired our clients to travel and, on their return, the anecdotes from the road are what make each and every one of group journeys and independent adventures special and unique. These stories also continue to convince me that through travel to our destinations, and by taking the time to interact and engage with both the people and the environment of our destinations presents an opportunity to experience something new and have a whole lot of fun on the way in some still relatively unknown and unexplored regions.

Sundowners Overland is also constantly evolving as we have created new products to meet the ever changing needs of our clients, be it through our Vodkatrain programme aimed at 18-35 year olds, breaking new ground in the creation of our Premium journeys or through our Experience Tours which provide just the right combination of alternative sightseeing and independent travel on the trains. I feel that we have an option that should cater for everyone be they young or old, with only a couple of weeks to spare or for those who are planning more protracted globetrotting. I am constantly amazed by what draws people to our regions, be it special interest groups, honeymooners or travel enthusiasts; being able to adapt our itineraries to meet all our clients’ needs is what I believe our team do best.


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Meri Brdarovska

Finance and Administration Support

Currently studying under the faculty of business and law, at Victoria University majoring in accounting, Meri has joined Sundowners Overland as part of her university's co-op opportunities.


Meri's love of travelling, be it in Australia or overseas lead her into the travel industry to focus on her field of study.

The variety of experience that she gets from working with a company with international operations is something that Meri particularly enjoys. 

Working with operators in many different countries and currencies is very different from other companies she has experienced and she relishes the challenge. Having such a multicultural office environment also adds to this experience.

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Virginia Devlin

Virginia joined the team at Sundowners Overland in 2000 when she returned home to Melbourne after 18 months of travelling and working through Europe and UK. She began working as a Travel Advisor and during this time had an opportunity to travel on a number of our journeys. She fell in love with Central Asia and Mongolia. She particularly admired the scenery, architecture, markets and the people. Virginia believes that the planning of a trip is when the journey really begins and she enjoyed being able to experience the excitement of this with so many of our clients. Virginia now has 2 beautiful children who keep her pretty busy at home but she still enjoys coming into the office part time to immerse herself in the world of overland travel. 


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Helder Esteves

Travel Advisor Asia Overland

Various cultures and faraway countries fascinated Helder since childhood. He enjoyed discovering unique traditions of countries that were on the other side of the world from his home in Portugal. A degree in Tourism Management and working abroad including some time on the cruise ships reaching far flung places brought Helder to Australia where he is now a part of Sundowners Overland Customer Operations Team. Helder particularly likes working with Sundowners Overland unique and changing product and creating customised itineraries for clients. He also likes to hear about their travels when they return!
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Joanna Eveleigh-Whitford

Product Coordinator

Joanna’s longing for travel to faraway destinations started from an early age when her father brought exotic gifts from his trips abroad. When the school years were over Joanna set off for a year of independent travel and returned home with the resolve to leave again as soon as funds allowed. The next trip soon followed and this time Joanna’s thirst for adventure took her around the Indian Sub-continent and South East Asia where she cooked her way around these countries and spent much time visiting food markets and local sellers. Since returning to Australia it has been Sundowners Overland’s tours that have captured Joanna’s passion for travel and discovery and she joined the Operations team to create adventurous and cultural travel itineraries for like-minded travellers. Joanna finds that the most fascinating aspect of her position with Sundowners Overland is the communication responsibilities she has with our diverse group of local partners as well as the creative aspect of planning unique itineraries that link up various train routes for our clients to make their trips unforgettable for all the right reasons.   


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Lachlan Grey

Operations Manager

“Travel to places less travelled” is Lachy’s motto when he hits the road. He loves meeting people from different backgrounds and immersing himself in local culture when given the opportunity. That is why Sundowners Overland appeals to Lachy so much. With operations and management experience in the entertainment and events industries in Australia and overseas, ranging from personal security work in the UK to events administration in Doha and Qatar, extensive independent travel experience and two full seasons of group leading, Lachy has the answers for all of those tricky questions that come up on the road. Lachy enjoys the great team environment and helping people travel to interesting, dynamic locations off the beaten track.

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David

David Hicks

Travel Advisor Asia Overland

David has gained his travel experience living and working on three different continents. When school years were over David set off on a 2,5 year trip around Europe and Middle East having made the UK his base. Then “diagnosed” with the travel bug David travelled through Central America and worked in Canada. Having returned home in Australia he still travels regularly exploring his home country. He really enjoys hearing the great feedback from our clients who have done something not many other travellers can say they have done, and how they would love to do it again… and again!
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Alison Hoctor

Alison grew up here at Sundowners Overland. She joined the company as a young single 22 year old with lots of ambition and now enjoys her part time role which gives her work/ life balance to enjoy her husband and two beautiful daughters.
During her time with Sundowners Overland Alison has enjoyed involvement in many different areas of the business which had given her a wealth of knowledge and experience which Alison happily shares through staff training. As part of her Sundowners Overland travel experiences Alison have travelled on the Trans Manchurian and Trans Mongolian Railways, Vietnam, Central America and Egypt. Alison has experienced many different roles at Sundowners, having grown within a company from a Sales Consultant to Sales and Reservations Manager.
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Simon Maddison

Executive Chairman

Simon has always enjoyed travelling to remote and challenging destinations and the personal challenges that overland travel presents. He believes that Sundowners Overland is an ideal company to encounter these travel experiences with. Simon joined Sundowners Overland following 10 years of leading a nomadic lifestyle that included hitch hiking across Africa, working in Nigeria, crewing on a boat in the Mediterranean, picking grapes, gathering walnuts and managing a campsite in France before joining Encounter Overland as an expedition Leader/Driver in Africa and Asia. It suits Simon’s adventurous nature to be involved in creating and bringing to life unique and adventurous journeys that allow travellers to step beyond their travel ‘comfort zone’ to experience new and exciting destinations.
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Peter Ostroff

Travel Advisor Asia Overland

Peter has always held a strong interest for travel but It wasn’t until he ate his way through Europe & Asia that he decided to join the travel industry so he could share his experiences with other like minded travellers. Food has always been a big focus for Peter while he travels, so he couldn’t be happier when he can mix a new dish with a new destination. While Peter is studying International Development he is also part of the Customer Operations Team at Sundowners while creating itineraries through our unique destinations.
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Campbell Price

Campbell Price

Marketing and Communications Manager

Campbell was brought up with the advice that if you enjoy what you are doing, you’ll never work a day in your life and while he figured out early that marketing was something that he really enjoyed, it wasn’t until recently that he has decided to take the plunge and change industries to work with products that he is truly passionate about. He now considers himself lucky to be working for a market leader, in an industry that truly changes people’s lives.

Since finishing his degree Campbell has have lived, worked and travelled throughout the world, relishing the challenges that different cultures bring. Bringing this experience to Sundowners Overland, along with a strong background in marketing and communications, his goal is to increase engagement with clients, helping to ensure that their entire Sundowners Overland experience exceeds their expectations. He is especially looking forward to improving relationships with clients through online channels.
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Gabriela Rogati

Business Development Manager UK & Europe

Gabriela had always known that her life will be connected with tourism. It all started from helping her parents to run a family-run guesthouse nearby Bucharest, Romania. She studied Tourism and Hospitality at school and her latest achievement is a Master’s in Strategic Tourism Management. After working in the industry, Gabriela has found Sundowners Overland to be a good fit; a specialist company that allows her to broaden her horizons and learn more about Asia.
Gabriela’s role as Business Development Manager is a combination of all her interests both work related and personal. She enjoys to have the daily involvement with agents, networking, maintaining relationships at industry level, marketing and advertising, and is passionate about building brand awareness. Gabriela sees her role as a lifestyle more than a job, that it’s part of her wherever she goes and whoever she talks to.
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Sveta Selivanova

Sveta is from Irkutsk (Russia) and escorted clients from east to west and in-between for Sundowners Overland for 4 years. Her interest in tourism started from reading fascinating books and seeing colourful images of cities and landscapes, and this developed further in 2004 when she conducted her first excursion as a local guide around Lake Baikal and then dog sledding in Siberia. Extensive product knowledge and interest in the travel industry led to taking the next step and settle for the office life in Melbourne – getting experience in many areas of Sundowners Overland, and to learn different aspects of the travel industry while sharing her diverse destination knowledge built from leading.
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Amanda

Amanda Williams

Sales Representative NSW

Amanda travelled half the world before she joined Sundowners Overland. It was an obvious choice for her as she has always dreamt of travelling the famous Trans Siberian Railway. Now Amanda has experienced the regions for herself and loves sharing her passion with both agents and clients as our NSW Sales Representative. The most rewarding part of Amanda’s job is to see people’s faces light up when they realise just how amazing these journeys are and how many options they have to make it the trip of their dreams.
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