Roaring 40°s Kayaking has a dedicated team of professional staff and guides whom return each summer to share their passion for Tasmania. You can expect highly skilled and knowledgeable guides that are also, of course, friendly and approachable.
TORY STEWART
Owner | Operations Manager
Tory has been a lead expedition sea kayak guide for almost a decade. Her passion for sharing Tasmania’s wild places, facilitating experiences, her knowledge of place, its’ weather, and her ability to deal with complex outdoor adventure logistics is exceptional.
As a Paddle Australia Sea Kayaking Instructor, Tory has been involved for many years in Outdoor Education programs around Australia, as well as international guiding, including sea kayak guiding in Antarctica. Tory is thrilled to be continuing this journey as a Tourism Operator alongside her partner Luuk, and maintaining the company’s exceptional reputation as an Australian multi award-winning, sustainable adventure tourism business.
LUUK VELTKAMP
Owner | Business Manager
Luuk has made a career as a pilot in Tasmania, most recently as Chief Pilot for Par Avion Wilderness Tours. Luuk has been flying Roaring 40s guests in and out of Tasmania’s Southwest for over a decade. He has a great knowledge of tourism and business management, Tasmania’s wild places and weather extremes!
Luuk is also a passionate bushwalker and paddler, having completed many challenging walking and pack rafting routes in Tassie. He is a strong advocate for the conservation of Tasmanian Wilderness and is excited to operate this sustainable tourism business with his partner Tory.
Tom Keith
Expedition Guide | Multi-dabbler
Tom has worked with Roaring 40s Kayaking since 2015, and has experienced “perfect” weather on every occasion. Tom loves the weather diversity in Tasmania and enjoys the challenge of crafting beautiful experiences and expeditions around the ever changing and sometimes testing weather conditions.
Tom is a self-confessed multi-dabbler with an abstract and varied work history, and in his free time he enjoys mountain biking, bushwalking, kayaking, surfing, building and tinkering, sometimes all in the one day!
Josh Moreton
Expedition Guide | Kayak Instructor
Josh is a semi-converted Kiwi who is now calls Tasmania home. Kayaking, bushwalking and biking have always been high on his agenda, leading to a career in outdoor guiding, instruction and education. A deep appreciation for the natural environment developed with professional and personal immersion into wild places. He confesses he is rapidly falling in love with 'the adventure playground that is Tasmania'. Josh holds a degree in outdoor education and is working towards a post-grad qualification in conservation land management.
Kevin Ucci
Expedition Guide | Traveller
Canadian who calls Australia home, Kevin brings with him a decade of sea kayak guiding experience. Kevin has paddled in Canada, New Zealand, and South America, and rates Tasmania as one of the world’s best-kayaking destinations. One of his favourite area is the Southwest. “There is nowhere quite like it. Once you step off the plane and paddle away from Melaleuca, you are truly on your own.” Kevin was immediately drawn to how unique and diverse Tasmania is, from the rugged mountains and tannin-stained waters of Port Davey to the clear blue water and white sand beaches of Flinders. On each trip he undertakes, Kevin’s main focus is to learn and he finds that there is no better place to do this than the Tasmanian wilderness.
Damian (Damo) Cruise
Sea Kayak Guide | Outdoor Educator | Frother
Damo is a Tassie local who finds it difficult to be contained indoors. This coming season will be Damo's 8th guiding for Roaring 40s; he reckons his office is hard to beat! He also works as an Outdoor Education Instructor for local schools; he loves teaching skills but more importantly sharing his froth for the amazing places Tassie has. His favourite kayaking destination is the Tasman Peninsula. "It's world class paddling and it's pretty close to home. There's heaps of amazing wildlife, massive sea caves and huge cliffs! We are very lucky."
Jen Cooper
She’s happiest when she is outside and since moving to tassie nearly five years ago she has probably explored more of this wild state than her home island of the UK. She has been sea kayak guiding for nearly four years, works in outdoor Ed and also as a ranger in Tasmania’s south west world heritage area. Alpine flowers have become a recent passion of hers and when she’s not sniffing around the mountains she loves to have her face as close to kelp as she can get it. One of her favourite places in the world is the Bathurst harbour/port Davey area. She wishes one day to paddle off from melaleuca and live like the Tasmania First Nations people did. For now though, guiding tours down there and the occasional bush walk will have to do. A lover of the natural environment and all its creatures, Jen is a real believer in being a human animal, living with seasons, thriving in the outdoors and embracing what nature has to offer. Laugh into the wind, dance in the rain and embrace the darkness of the night. All really useful tips for a multi day adventure in tassie too!
Mischa Cushing
Expedition Guide | Outdoor Educator
Having grown up exploring the wilderness of Tasmania, Mischa is most at home on the water, in a forest or in the mountains. Mischa has been paddling with us since 2017 and he is currently in his final year of an Outdoor Education and Environmental Science degree. When he is not studying or paddling, Mischa loves a good bushwalk or a bike ride through the forest. Mischa is passionate about his home state of Tasmania and its natural places and loves sharing any knowledge he picks up about the state's wild places and its flora and fauna.
Jai McKay
Kayak Guide | Sydney to Hobart yacht racer
Jai is another Tassie water baby and grew up in Huon Channel area. He has been guiding in Tasmania for over 5 years and is a keen kayaker, bushwalker, skier and sailor. Recent achievements include completing the Sydney to Hobart yacht race and skiing down Mt Ossa (Tassie’s highest mountain). In his spare time he is studying Marine and Antarctic Science at UTAS.
Arron Slack
Arron grew up in Canada ,After graduating from North Island College with a certificate in adventure guiding in 2016, he then applied his paddling skills to the complex waterways of the north pacific and New Zealand. Arron is coming into his 10th season as a guide still in love with his job, never wanting to be anywhere else than in the present. Arron has made a name for himself as a calm, capable navigator, with the best interests of his group at heart. In his spare time, he enjoys surfing, fishing, and working on his van.
Jonah Wiltshire
Kayak Guide | Maatsyker Island Volunteer | Author
Growing up in Tassie Jonah has spent his time bushwalking and mountain biking and has recently discovered life on the water. As a 7 year old he had an amazing adventure living on remote Maatsuyker Island! Together with his sister and mum he published a book called "The lighthouse kids of Maatsuker Island : a true Tasmanian Adventure". He still loves spending time on Maatsuker and is involved in the weed eradication program on the island. From his time on Maatsuyker and other remote locations around lutruwita (Tasmania), Jonah’s built an appreciation and amazement for the natural environment. With his creative and physical thinking, Jonah likes to make and fix a few things in his spare time too - and is the one to call for any kayak repairs. After completing the TasTAFE Guiding course and meeting Reg and Tom in early 2021 he’s keen to get paddling!
Ben Driessen
Kayak Guide | Surfer | Outdoor Educator Assistant
Ben grew up in Tassie at Kingston Beach, spending his holidays surfing up in the Bay of Fires area. Slowly through different Outdoor Education programs, which he thoroughly enjoyed at school, he became interested in a variety of adventure outdoor activities, most recently White Water Kayaking. Ben spreads his time working in retailer Mountain Creek Outdoors, across multiple Tasmanian Outdoor Ed Programs as well as kayaking with Roaring 40s Kayaking. When he’s not working, you can find him out Surfing, Climbing, Trail running, Mountain biking or Kayaking.
Dan Patman
Kayak Guide |Expecting Dad
When Daniel’s not out exploring the rivers and coastlines of Southern Tassie, you'll find him walking or running in the mountains. He loves gardening and lives in an old apple orchard in the Huon Valley with his partner and son - and there’s another baby on the way! This is Daniel’s fourth season guiding with Roaring 40s Kayaking after spending many years working in Tasmania's conservation movement. There are a few past/present engineers in the team and this is also another of his skills.
Catherine Chung
Kayak Guide | Yoga Teacher | Nursing Student
Catherine has loved the water since she was young, whether it be racing in the pool or to the bathtub. At school she participated on a kayaking trip guided by the Roaring 40s team and that’s where her passion for paddling began. Since then she has completed the TasTAFE guiding course and is now studying nursing at UTAS. On her days off you’ll find her tinkering on the piano, holding child’s pose, or somewhere amongst the cushion plants and misty mountains.
Jon Langford
Kayak Guide | Bushwalking Guide
Jon grew up in London’s suburbia dreaming of a life on the water and exotic lands far, far away. Never one to rush a decision, it was 30 years, a young family and a career in design management later, before he finally emigrated to Tasmania. A chance meeting with Reg led to the TasTAFE Guiding course where he was taught by Roaring 40s own Reg, Tom, Pip and Josh in what he now describes as 'the longest job interview ever’! Jon is a passionate advocate for Tasmania’s wild places and is living the dream in his first season as a qualified Tasmanian bush walking and sea kayak guide.
Grace Furness
Operations Assistant | Outdoor Educator Assistant | Wilderness Seeker
Grace grew up in Tassie next to the ocean, and has been in and around the water since she was young. She loves being in wild places, and is a keen bushwalker, kayaker, skier and mountain biker. Time spent observing the natural world has fostered Grace’s interest in botany and ecology, and led her to complete a Bachelor of Marine & Antarctic Science at UTAS. Grace has 3 years’ experience as an assistant guide with school Outdoor Ed programs, and is keen to translate her knowledge to the Roaring 40s team.
Mad
Kayak Guide | Bushwalking Guide
Originally from Melbourne, Madeleine (Mads) was first inspired to become a tour guide when she walked Tasmania’s Overland Track in 2005. Instead, she became an Architect. No experience is wasted and she is now delighted to show you Hobart’s cityscape from the water. Mads has a Cert IV in Outdoor Recreation and has guided multi-day bushwalks on Tasmania’s Central Plateau and in the Northern Territory. She has kayaked off the coasts of Martinique and New Caledonia and was an enthusiastic member of the Central Desert Canoe Polo Club while living in Alice Springs.