Meet the team at EPIcURIOUS travel, who collaborate to provide a seamless, personalised service on each and every memorable journey.
Jennifer Wilkinson Owner / Director
Jennifer has a life-long passion for food, wine and travel. Following a successful career in economics and industrial relations, she left her profession to pursue her passions. After a year travelling and working in Europe, Jennifer returned to Australia and purchased a historic property in Beechworth, North East Victoria, which she turned into the highly acclaimed gourmet retreat, Finches of Beechworth. After 12 rewarding years at Finches she sold the business and established EPIcURIOUS travel, which combines Jennifer’s love for active travel with her expertise in providing great food, wine and hospitality. Jennifer is directly involved in her business, sometimes guiding and cooking on her Australian trips, as well as leading her tours in India, Italy, Spain, Bhutan, Chile and Peru. When she’s not travelling you will find Jennifer testing out new restaurants, finding the best local coffee and walking her dog Zephyr.
Meredith MacLennan – Manager & tour host
Meredith joined EPIcURIOUS in June 2016 initially to provide administrative support but has moved on to become involved in every aspect of our business. With a diverse career spent largely in the hotel and wholesale travel industries, Meredith brought with her the skills for organising seamless travel. Having travelled widely, both within Australia and internationally, in recent years Meredith has visited Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos, Norway & Russia, the USA and spent 3-months meandering from London to Rome. These journeys, both with family and as a solo traveller, have broadened Meredith’s perspective, whether as the service provider or the client. Garnering a deeper understanding of other cultures, different styles of travel and an appreciation for adding nuance to an itinerary have expanded Meredith’s love for travel and enable her to share her natural enthusiasm with our clients. Always dreaming of her next adventure, top of the list are southern Spain, Iceland, Costa Rica and Patagonia.
Michael Ryan – Japan
Michael Ryan is one of regional Australia’s most respected chefs. With partner Jeanette Henderson, he is the owner of Provenance Restaurant in Beechworth, north-east Victoria, which in 2013 won Best Regional restaurant with Michael named as Chef of the Year. Michael has travelled and lived in Japan where he developed a passion for the intricacies of Japanese cuisine and culture. Michael’s warm and engaging nature is perfectly suited to leading culinary journeys. He is described as “generously sharing his deep knowledge and passion for Japan.” His personal connections to prominent locals in the fast changing food and sake scene allow him to showcase the very best of Japan to guests.
Izumi Tamura – Japan
We first met Izumi in 2017 during a busy visit to Japan hosted by the Japanese Government. It was immediately clear that Izumi had a gift for this type of work along with many years of experience and study. With a gentle nature but a sharp intellect, Izumi was able to call on her 12-month high school exchange in Sydney to understand the many and at times impertinent questions of a group of Australians, and diplomatically respond in her seemingly effortless manner.
Since then Izumi has accompanied us on several of our tours, enhancing our experience of Japan with her deep knowledge and genuine interest.
Jim Hughes – Spain
Jim is Canadian born of Argentine parents and lives with his wife and two children in the beautiful city of Granada. Armed with an English Literature degree and a love of the Hispanic world, Jim left his native Canada to move to Spain and enter the world of tourism where he could enjoy his passions of walking and gastronomy.
Jonathan Lord – Spain & Portugal
Born within a stone’s throw of Hadrian’s Wall, in Northumberland, UK, Jonathan has spent the last two decades living in Andalusia, the lands from where that “Hadrian” – the 2nd century Roman emperor – originally came. Jonathan swapped life as a lawyer in the film business in London for work in guiding and tourism in southern Spain in 2002 and says “I’ve never looked back. Travel has always been a major passion of mine, and I get a lot of satisfaction from sharing my knowledge and insights on life as a foreigner in Spain and my varied travels throughout Spain and Portugal”.
Paloma Trillo – Spain
Paloma was born in a small fishing town near Finisterre, the Spanish land’s end, but now lives in Santiago de Compostela. With a love of travel and art history, Paloma has worked as a guide throughout Spain, and particularly Galicia, for 6 years, after living in Ireland, French Brittany and Cuba. Keen on hiking, music, animals, dancing and history, Paloma has walked the Camino several times and loves to help people make the most of this ancient pilgrimage.
Richard Rivera
Richard is a truly multicultural European: born in London, to a French mother and a Spanish father, he was raised in these three countries. He has a great passion for languages – of which he speaks seven – as well as issues of cultural heritage and diversity. A guide for over twenty years now, Richard has a deep-rooted love of nature which has involved him in tours to some of the “hidden corners” of his native Galicia, such as its remote and rocky Atlantic islands and trails through the dense woodlands of its interior
Clara Moreno – Spain
Born and raised in Madrid, Clara is an historian, leading outdoor adventure and cultural experience trips throughout Spain since the 1990s, being one of the pioneer tour leaders in soft adventure travel in Spain. Known for her sociable personality and positive energy, her passion for history, biking, and hiking have taken her on journeys far and wide throughout Europe.
She lives near Torrelaguna, a town located on the Camino Mendocino to Santiago, in the Sierra Norte near Madrid
The Office Director – The World is his oyster
The Epicurious travel office would positively fall apart without the continuous support and vigilance of ‘The Office Director’, aka Zephyr. Presiding over daily duties from his Director’s chair, Zephyr ensures new visitors are thoroughly vetted, boundaries are safe and secure and a sense of calm is maintained in the office by offering free tummy rubs and hugs. The Director’s other skills include recycling: shredding papers and tipping up bins to ensure no tasty morsels go to waste, conserving energy: sleeping – a lot, and looking generally pretty spunky. It’s a hard job, but somedoggy’s got to do it.