Ariana Williams

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Ariana Williams

Ariana is a proud Māori woman from New Zealand, with experience across youth work, travel, medical admin & team leadership. Ari brings a smile, humour, colour-coded organisation, & altruistic care to every group she supports.

Her strong professional grounding, bold, bubbly personality, and genuine warmth make her a passionate Groups Co-ordinator for Small World Journeys.

Ari’s background as a Travel Agent with Flight Centre gave her extensive experience coordinating complex travel arrangements around the world, building strong relationships with clients and delivering safe, seamless travel experiences. Her administrative experience has further strengthened her ability to manage multiple moving parts, deadlines and detailed logistics.

Before entering the travel industry, Ari worked as a Residential Youth Worker throughout Cairns and the FNQ region, supporting vulnerable young people aged 1–18 with complex needs across diverse communities and environments. Her studies in Child, Youth & Family Intervention, Community Services Work, and the Hope-and-Healing model, combined with hands-on experience and a strong understanding of Child Safety guidelines, have strengthened her knowledge of culturally appropriate, trauma-informed practice. This experience has shaped her strong focus on creating safe, supportive environments while helping young people discover new experiences, build confidence, and gain new perspectives through outdoor and environmental education.

Ari is an animal lover & nature enthusiast, her love for the natural world is deeply personal from growing up in the pristine countryside of New Zealand. Outside of work she enjoys exploring creeks, beaches, chasing waterfalls and getting lost in rainforests searching for wildlife & treasures. She is passionate about connecting young people with the oldest rainforest in the world, The Daintree, and of course our Great Barrier Reef.

Creating meaningful, educational experiences that inspire curiosity, confidence and a deeper appreciation for our environment, and how to protect it.

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How Your Trip Makes The World A Better Place

We’re not talking rainbows and unicorns. We’re talking about how we have put significant thought into how to make our student tours as safe as they possibly can be while still being fun; encouraging students to learn about and contribute to the community they are travelling in; and teaching them what “sustainability” really means.

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Sustainability

OUR COMMITMENT: OUR COMMITMENT: We are determined to operate as sustainably as possible. That’s why our office runs on renewable energy, we make annual contributions to climate‑focused initiatives, and we uphold our policy of donating at least 5% of our annual net profits to local environmental and community organisations and charities. Here’s what else we are doing:

HELPING THE REEF: For every group that visits the reef, we make a donation to the Reef Restoration Foundation (now re-named Resilient Reefs) to support their "Care for a Coral" program. The coral propagation work led by Resilient Reefs is groundbreaking and recognised as a major initiative in efforts to help restore the reef. Each group receives a "Care for a Coral" certificate from Resilient Reefs as a token of our contribution and commitment to reef conservation.


ADOPTING A RAINFOREST PLOT IN YOUR NAME: For each group that visits the rainforest, we contribute to the not-for-profit organisation Reforest to support the planting and nurturing of a tree, helping to regenerate the endangered Mabi rainforest. As part of your excursion, your group will receive a certificate recognising this meaningful gift to the environment...

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CREATIVE WASTE REDUCTION: We give you your own water bottle and cloth shopping bag to eliminate the need for disposable bottles and plastic bags (and saves them from going in landfills!) We also recycle BOTH our hard plastics and soft plastics (through RedCycle) and have transitioned into NO WASTE snacks and NO WASTE lunches. Our food scraps get composted and put into our community garden, our bin liners are paper (not plastic) and we even wipe our bums with Who Gives a Crap 100% recycled toilet paper!

Community

SUPPORTING OUR INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY: It is our policy to include a talk or an activity with an Aboriginal person on every trip we offer. By taking this trip, you are supporting grassroots Indigenous tourism ventures and encouraging Aboriginal pride in culture.Additionally, our student community service project involves students in making “Moon Sick Care Bags” which supply re-usable sanitary products to Aboriginal women in remote communities — this helps both Indigenous women AND the environment! (Ask us how your group can do this on their tour)

SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESSES: It is our policy to use locally owned suppliers and businesses unless their standards are not up to par (for example, if they have a bad environmental record).

VOLUNTEERING IN OUR COMMUNITY: Small World staff are incentivised to volunteer in the community...


and are given time to do so during work hours. As a team, we also clean up our local mangroves once a quarter, recognising their importance at the nursery to the Great Barrier Reef.

Safety

SUPERB SAFETY RECORD: Small World Journeys has safely hosted thousands of Australian high school students on educational excursions across Australia. We are proud of our excellent safety record and are happy to provide teacher references specifically addressing student safety and risk management on request.

RISK ASSESSMENT FOR EVERY TRIP: A comprehensive risk assessment is completed for every school excursion and provided to the organising teacher prior to departure. All activities operate under documented safety protocols outlined in our Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Manual, supported by a detailed Crisis Management Plan. In addition, all students receive a mandatory safety briefing during orientation, addressing regional hazards, environmental risks, and expected behaviours relevant to Far North Queensland.

SAFE BUSES: All vehicles used on our student excursions are fitted with seatbelts for every passenger, exceeding Queensland legal requirements because student safety is our priority. Our guides conduct daily vehicle safety checks, and all buses undergo Department of Transport safety inspections every 12 months, ensuring compliance with national transport standards.

students are given a safety briefing during orientation that addresses hazards and risks for this region.


SAFE GUIDES: All Small World Journeys guides hold current Senior First Aid and CPR certification, valid Driver’s Authority (where applicable), and a Working With Children Check (Blue Card) following comprehensive background screening. Our guides are experienced in school group supervision, duty of care, and risk-aware outdoor leadership, providing teachers and schools with confidence throughout the excursion. For more information on our guides, see About Us.

We do custom trips!

Still haven’t found exactly what you are looking for? All our tours are fully customisable and can be catered to suit your time-frame, student interests and budget. A geography excursion to the Great Barrier Reef? A biology excursion to the Daintree Rainforest? An Aboriginal culture excursion? Our educational trips in Queensland and New South Wales are hand-crafted for those who cannot find exactly what they want from the inflexible set itineraries of large tour operators.

If you are looking for a science trip, ecology trip, Aboriginal culture, or just a sample of the best of Australia – we can help.

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