Meet the Team
John Paul Whelan
Your Creator of Stress Free Adventure
Expert Trip Planner | Founder
Tina "Turtle"
Plastic Free & Palm Oil Free Expert
Social Media Extraordinaire
Founder of earthturtle.com.au
OUR VALUES
At the core of everything we do is our values. We pride ourselves on working with our clients to create their once in a lifetime adventures, while giving back to nature by partnering with respected and trusted conservation organisations.
TRUST
HONESTY
GENUINENESS
FRIENDSHIP
PASSION
CARE
John Paul Whelan
Your Creator of Stress Free Adventure
Expert Trip Planner | Founder
With a passion for travelling, wildlife and adventure, in 2005 John ditched the nine to five in his home country of Wales and never looked back.
With 5 years of solid world travel taking him trekking, diving and surviving six of the worlds seven continents. John uses his wealth of travel experience to help fellow travellers create stress free adventures!
Australia became his new home and he has spent 10 years working in adventure tourism and exploring this extraordinary country.
"So, I started Tree Hugger to be a business for good, to meaningfully give back to nature, and most importantly, to give travellers exactly what they deserve; honesty and epic adventures."
What are your Best Travel Experiences?
The Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda has to be up there along with Scuba Diving Raja Ampat. I absolutely loved the Galapagos Islands but spending a couple of months in the Amazon region was a life changer. From the wildlife to the indigenous shamens was out of this world.
Give us your Top 3 in Australia?
I love diving and nature so I settled in Cairns. It is my favourite. But to pin down 3 more epic destinations for me then the Daintree Rainforest, Whitsunday Islands and Wilson’s Promontory.
What made you create Tree Hugger Travel?
It was the lack of independent travel advice and the focus on money and sales by the majority of travel agencies. They forgot about the person in front of them, the traveller.
So, I started Tree Hugger to be a business for good, to meaningfully give back to nature, and most importantly, to give travellers exactly what they deserve; honesty and epic adventures.
Tina "Turtle" Satch
Plastic Free & Palm Oil Free Expert
Social Media Extraordinaire
Founder of earthturtle.com.au
Nature, Wildlife & Adventure – Tina has always had a passion for animals & our planet.
Watching documentaries featuring unusual animals and incredible places such as the Great Barrier Reef made Tina realise she had to get out into the world and see these things for herself.
In 2006 Tina left her hometown of Nottingham UK and began her travels. She has since explored many Countries in Europe & Asia and lived & travelled in New Zealand & Australia for over 9 years.
During the Covid pandemic Tina seen an opportunity to do good and founded Earth Turtle Australia, bringing the very best plastic free and palm oil free products to North Queensland with a goal of working with small business suppliers Australia wide.
Earth Turtle has gone from strength to strength and now promotes the only certified palm oil free and natural reef safe sunscreen in the world which also supports Sea Shepherd Australia and Orangutan Foundation International.
"The first one is definitely the Great Barrier Reef. I loved it so much, I decided to work on a dive boat and became a Certified Dive Master."
What are your Best Travel Experiences?
That is a tough question, but living in Queenstown for a year was incredible! Snowboarding, Skydiving & Bungy Jumping!
Snorkelling with Minke Whales in Port Douglas, plus swimming with Dolphins and Seals in Melbourne are memories that will stay with me forever.
Give us your Top 3 destinations in Australia?
The first one is definitely the Great Barrier Reef. I loved it so much, I decided to work on a dive boat and became a Certified Dive Master.
Snorkelling the lesser known Ningaloo Reef and observing nesting sea turtles at Mon Repos Beach was unbelievable.