WHO ARE RUNAWAY TOURS?
SYDNEY PRIVATE TOURS SPECIALISTS!
Runaway Tours is a dynamic local family owned and operated Australian business with over 25 years in the tourism industry. Since 2006, with our pool of over 20 English speaking and foreign language guides, luxury vehicles and vast tourism experience, we have become Sydney Private Tours specialists.
The owners are husband and wife, dynamic duo, Steve Arnerich, originally from New Zealand, and Mandy Stewart, originally from Tasmania. Steve, our Operations Manager, cut his teeth on 3 day camping trips to the Blue Mountains way back in 1996 and has been leading tour groups there for over 25 years. He now has a rich knowledge of the Sydney Tourism industry and a wealth of customer focused expertise and can answer all of your questions and help you find the best of our Sydney Private Tours to suit your occasion.
Mandy provides a custom consultancy service for our clients and will help you plan exactly the tour you want. She runs the engine room of the business and, as Tours Manager, will handle all of your enquiries with the speed and efficiency of a fighter jet!
WHY CHOOSE US?
Runaway Tours are very happy to work with you to get the personalised experience you want. From first contact to final drop off, we are focused on providing you with expert advice and professional guides, to ensure that you get the very best experience while visiting Sydney.
It is important to us that you have an enjoyable and rewarding time on our tours. We love Sydney and the surrounding region is a beautiful and exciting part of the world. We are excited to show it off to our national and international visitors!
We can also provide a specialised service for our foreign language visitors that makes us stand out from the rest. Runaway Tours has over 20 local guides who speak English, Italian, German, Polish, Korean, Chinese, Mandarin and more.
MEET OUR FLEET
“SYLVIE”
For our small groups we use “Sylvie”, our luxury VW Caravelle. With seating for up to 8 passengers, you will travel in comfort on custom leather seats and be protected from the Australian sun with tinted windows and air conditioning.
“MIA”
For our small groups of 2 or 3 people, we use “Mia”, our luxury fitted SUV Kia Sorento Sports Plus. With all leather interior and superb comfort, you will tour in style in our newest vehicle to the fleet. With a third row of seats, this is perfect for families, or they fold down to provide ample luggage storage for your Airport or Cruise Port pickup.
“RENEE”
For slightly larger groups, or for extra luggage space, we use “Renee” our Renault Master Bus. With seating for up to 11 people, you can relax on reclining seats and enjoy the convenience of personal USB ports and curtains to keep the hot Aussie sun out. With all the mod cons this is taking the mini bus to a whole new level!
For midsize groups we use deluxe midi buses with 24 or 28 seats. We can also cater to large groups with luxury 5 star coaches.
MEET SOME OF OUR TEAM
Runaway Tours specialist tour guides ensure that your Sydney Private Tours are an enjoyable, relaxing and fun experience. Take a minute to meet some of our specialist tour guides:
GLENN
English speaking guide
Born and raised in Essex, England, Glenn is an English aficionado and, despite his birthplace, a true English gent!
Started in Sydney tourism in 2011 and ran his own one-man-band tour company for 7 years.
Glenn has travelled to over 50 countries on all continents (except Antarctica, but it’s on the bucket list). He spent 6 years working as an English language teacher in Asia before settling in Sydney.
His academic studies in England and Australia include criminal justice, international development and history – all disciplines intrinsic to Sydney and its convict past.
Despite growing up in a country notorious for bad food, Glenn is a serious food and wine (and beer) fan and looks forward to pursuing this interest with more vigour once his mortgage is paid off. Circa 2057.
High profile clients in Australia include CEO’s, world-class international Actors, Musicians and Artists.
Specialties
Sydney, Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley, South Coast, Southern Highlands
ANDREW
English, French and German Tour Guide
Born and raised in Sydney
Started in Sydney tourism in 2011.
High profile clients in Australia include: 2 princes and a princess, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and many major international CEO’s
Andrew taught French and German for 22 years in Sydney and in the UK in some of the most prestigious schools. He has conducted exchanges to Europe from both countries as a teacher and has led nine tours to Europe.
Andrew has used his exceptional language skill to conduct translation work at Sydney University (where he also tutored) and interpreting work for a Berlin orchestra and even assisted with Angela Merkel’s visit to the NSW Parliament before she was the German Chancellor.
After travelling extensively, Andrew has a great knowledge of France (and her vineyards), Germany, Switzerland, Austria and has dabbled in a little taste of Italy. Andrew also worked in fine wines so is somewhat of an aficionado when it comes to our wine tours.
Specialties
Sydney, the city and its unique history, the Opera House as a guide and even an opera singer once, National Parks (especially the Blue Mountains) and the vineyards of the Hunter Valley and Southern Highlands.
BETTINA
English, German, Dutch speaking guide
Born in Germany, Bettina spent 3 years in Dublin before heading to the Netherlands and received a tourism diploma. With a love for travel, she travelled the world looking for the whitest beach in the Seychelles, diving in Turks and Caicos, going on safari in Zimbabwe and looking for that Triangle in Bermuda!
Bettina moved to Australia in 2005 and completed a Masters in Tourism Management and began guiding in 2013. She loved it so much, she also teaches Travel/Tourism and was awarded Best Travel and Tourism Trainer in 2023.
Bettina says she loves the diversity of all the tours she leads and a special highlight is the interaction with customers and seeing their excited smiles at the end of each tour.
Specialties
Sydney City Sights, Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley, South Coast, Southern Highlands
VIC
English speaking guide
Vic has been guiding in Sydney and around Australia since 1999 and he has laughingly referred to himself as a vintage quality tour guide!
Vic loves to to share the beauty of our country with international visitors and his special area of expertise are Sydney City Sights tours. From the harbour front and Bondi beach to his own home turf of Manly and the northern suburbs, Vic loves to showcase the colourful, eclectic and vibrant beating heart of our harbour city.
A truly generous guy, Vic treats every traveller like a VIP. He recalls a visiting English family who asked him for help to track down the “inscribed name” of their ‘Ten Pound Pom’ Grandmother, which is on the Welcome Wall outside the Maritime Museum. When they found her name there, the family teared up, embraced in a group hug and one of them read a letter that their Granny had written as a teen recalling her first impressions of Sydney. Vic says this was a true joy to witness such a beautiful moment.
Specialties
Sydney City Sights, Northern Suburbs, Northern Beach and Ku-ring-gai NP
JEN
English speaking guide
Born and bred Australian – descendant from a First Fleet mariner and a Second Fleet convict.
Working in Tourism since 2014
Loves Sydney and thinks it is “The Bees Knees”
High Profile clients include: Judy Davis, Rachel Perkins, Dick Smith, Aaron Pederson.
Jen has been involved in hospitality since birth, coming from a line of publicans in South Australia. She knows her way around wine, having spent time in the wine regions of the Barossa Valley, Clare Valley and Adelaide Hills regions and their award winning wineries.
Jen became involved with tourism because of her love of history and learning. She considers Australians very lucky to have a relatively short European history, and so have a unique documentation of our society from day one. She feels this allows us to put human faces on our historical figures.
Jen also spent 7 months living in the Purnululu National Park as a Tour Guide in 2017. She took tours to the Bungle Bungles in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia and trained indigenous guides. She has gained a keen insight into the culture and history of the Aboriginal people, the traditional owners in both urban and regional areas.
Jen is also a Western Australian tourism award winner for a tour she designed and implemented.
Specialties
Blue Mountains, Sydney City Sights
ROGER
Mandarin speaking Tour Guide
Roger has been working for Runaway Tours since 2016 and is a real asset to our business. He is very friendly and has a great sense of humour.
Living in Australia since 1990 after coming here from Shanghai
Started in Sydney tourism in 1997.
Companies/Organizations dealt with include Destination NSW , Tourism Australia.
Roger enjoys educating his guests about wine tasting and wine appreciation.
Specialties
Blue Mountains, Sydney City Sights, Hunter Valley and the Southern Highlands
Take a Private Sydney Day Tour and you too will be jumping for joy!
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Sustainability
We’re playing our part to make a positive difference to the planet. Our office is 100% powered by solar panels, our water bottles are 100% bio degradable, we also recycle all of our water bottles and supplies, our office is paperless, we bank with Bank Australia, one of the few Australian banks that does not finance fossil fuel companies and we strive to emphasise the importance of minimal impact on the places we travel.