Carole Smethurst

Carole is the owner of Bicton Travel and Cruisefinder.com.au. She moved to Australia from the UK more than 25 years ago and established Bicton Travel after working as a consultant with Traveland Spearwood. She specialized in cruising and is recognized as one of the foremost cruise experts in Australia. She has cruised the world extensively and 3 years ago established Cruisefinder.com.au as an online cruise agency to cater for the ever growing internet market. She has recently added Bicton Travel Premium office to the stable catering for the luxury traveller.

Phil Smethurst

After several years as the manager of Bicton Travel and also the Luxury Travel Manager in the office, Phil has now established Bicton Travel Premium a new arm of Bicton Travel creating bespoke travel experiences for the luxury traveller. Phil has immense knowledge of the world’s airlines, luxury cruise ships and exotic destinations and specialises in tailor-made itineraries to Italy. Phil also handles space bookings on Virgin Galactic. Bicton Travel has won numerous national awards under his leadership.

Michael Middleton

Michael’s talents were honed in the UK where he spent 9 years with one of the UK’s top cruise only specialists. He then moved to New Zealand where he successfully ran his own agency in Auckland for 5 years before taking up an appointment as the product and marketing manager for New Zealand’s leading cruise wholesaler. He joined Bicton Travel in 2010 and is in charge of business development.

Fiona Armaro

Fiona began her career in Travel as a reservation consultant with a major Australian Wholesaler and joined Bicton Travel in 2002. She is now manager of the Cruisefinder office. She has travelled to Europe, USA, Mexico, Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand, Mauritius, Maldives and extensively in Asia and lists Borneo as one of her favourite destinations. She has developed a love and passion for cruising.

Matt Clements

Matt joined our team in 2007 with many years experience in the travel industry. He has gained extensive knowledge from cruising on a variety of ships, these include cruising the Mediterranean onboard Seabourn Legend, Silver Whisper & Spirit of Adventure, The Viking Century Sky on the Yangtze River in China, the Sun Princess through Asia from Fremantle, Australia cruising with P&O Pacific Dawn, Pacific Sun & Reef Endeavour and on a small luxury Catamaran in Tahiti with Haumana.

Julie Hogben

Julie grew up in Perth and has travelled Australia in the last few years, living in Broome and then Melbourne. Julie has landed back in Perth and is now a part of the team at the number one cruising office where her passion lies. Julie holds a master cruise certificate and also Commodore status with Princess Cruises and has been involved in the travel industry for over 27 years.

Tracy Hillier

Tracy joined Bicton Travel in April, 2010. She has 11 years experience as a travel consultant and has lived for short periods in Greece and Canada. Tracy specializes in Asia and her favourite destination is Vietnam where she especially recommends Hoi An and Nam Hai.

Terry Graham

Terry has more than 25 years in the travel industry from assistant cruise director to an international tour guide. Working with the Blue Funnel Lines and P& O, she has coordinated small to large group packages and has travelled extensively through South-East Asia, the British Isles, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Larissa Campbell

Larissa worked in retail travel for 2 years & Asian wholesale for 7 years. She has travelled extensively in Asia including Bali, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore & Vietnam as well as Europe, South Africa and Mauritius.

Jessica Da Luz

Jess worked for a Perth based travel wholesaler in reservations for 4 ½ years selling Asia, Africa, Mauritius, Dubai and Oman as well as cruising. She has travelled extensively through Asia. Her favourite destination is Hawaii. She is looking forward to cruising on Celebrity Century and touring Europe.

Val Burman

Val has been in travel for more than 40 years and spent 14 years as a cruise consultant in the UK. She has travelled extensively in Africa, the Caribbean, Far East and the Pacific region. She has vast cruise experience and specializes in the luxury cruise lines such as Silversea, Crystal and Seabourn. Her favourite holiday destination is the Caribbean especially the Grenadines but she has a fantastic knowledge of European destinations.

Maggie Stark

Maggie left the UK for Australia as young girl and returned for a two year spell before returning to make Australia home. She has 30 years experience as a travel consultant and has travelled extensively in the United States, Canada and South Africa. Her favourite holiday destination is Canada.

Connie La Macchia

Connie has been in the travel industry for more than 20 years. She likes the big cities and rates New York her favourite, although she likes to discover more remote destinations and was very impressed by the Azores on a recent cruise. She speaks Italian fluently.

Lauren Joseph

Lauren joined Bicton Travel from New Horizons and she has taken over the reins as receptionist in the Bicton Travel office. Lauren has experienced life in Japan on an exchange program and has travelled in Bali and Singapore. With a real passion for travel Lauren has set her sights farther afield with Rome, Paris and New York on her wish list.

Niki Stothard

Niki Started her travel career as a Bali Specialist for a travel wholesaler for 2 years and joined Bicton Travel in 2011. She has travelled all through Europe, America, the Caribbean, Bali & Papua New Guinea. She is the receptionist at cruisefinder and also personal assistant to Phil Smethurst and Michael Middleton

Staff Profiles