Recurring series
Reef Week expeditions
A twice-yearly Cairns residency where travellers join marine researchers for a week of surveys, snorkels and very good beach barbecues.
214 travellers since 2022
About us
A travel agency run like a mate's group chat
Good Vibes Adventure started in a Chippendale share house with a whiteboard, a beat-up LandCruiser and a stubborn belief that Australian trips deserve better planning. Nine years on, same attitude — bigger van.
The story so far
From one borrowed van to 4,200 travellers
We've never had a grand business plan — just a habit of fixing whatever annoyed us on our own trips.
2017
The share-house era
Dan runs weekend surf trips for friends-of-friends out of a borrowed LandCruiser. The "office" is a kitchen table in Chippendale — we're still eight minutes from it.
2019
First real season
Registered as a proper company, hired our first guide, and learned the hard way that wet-season Cairns needs a plan B. It does now.
2021
The quiet years
Travel stopped; we didn't. We spent lockdowns scouting routes and renegotiating with suppliers — most of our best rates come from that period.
2023
Casino partnerships
Added vetted casino hotel stays and event nights after clients kept asking for "a proper night out" on city trips.
Today
Eleven people, five regions
A small team across Sydney, Cairns and Melbourne running 38 routes — and still answering the phone ourselves.
How we think
Three rules we don't bend
Every route, stay and event on this site passed these tests. If something doesn't, we quietly drop it.
Scout it first
Nothing gets listed until someone from the team has done it in person — the room, the road, the rainy-day version.
Small or nothing
Twelve people max on group trips. Big enough for new mates, small enough to actually hear the guide.
Honest pricing
The quote is the price. If a supplier adds a fee, we eat it or we tell you before you book — your call either way.
Receipts
A few numbers we're quietly proud of
4,216
Trips completed
4.9/5
Average rating
63%
Rebook or refer
2
Tourism award noms
NSW Tourism Awards — finalist, 2024
Shortlisted for adventure tourism operator of the year. We lost to a skydiving mob — fair enough, honestly.
Featured in Traveller & Broadsheet
Our Chippendale food crawl and the reef liveaboard both made "weekend edit" lists last year.
The crew
The people who'll answer your message
No call centre, no scripts. Whoever picks up has done the trip you're asking about.
Daniel Mercer
Founder & route scout
Has driven every route we sell at least twice. Terrible at poker, great at itineraries.
Mia Okafor
Head of trips
Ex-tour guide in Cairns. Knows the reef like a local fish and negotiates like a lawyer.
Jack Brodie
Events & nightlife
Runs the casino events calendar. Will tell you the dress code twice so you don't learn it at the door.
Sofia Lane
Guest support
The 24/7 voice on the on-trip line. Has rerouted a honeymoon around a cyclone — successfully.
Field work
Projects we're still talking about
Side quests and experiments that turned into regular fixtures — proof the scouting budget is well spent.
Recurring series
Research collab
Desert Sky nights
Stargazing program near Uluru run with an astrophysicist mate — the Milky Way with actual context instead of a phone app.
Now on every outback route
Home turf
Chippendale food crawl
Our neighbourhood tour that outgrew the neighbourhood. Six stops, one local chef, zero tourist menus.
Free add-on to Sydney trips
63% come back
Why it works
"It felt like a friend planned it" — the review we aim for
"I've used big-name agencies before and always felt like a booking number. Good Vibes felt like a mate who happens to be extremely organised. The difference shows up in a hundred small things."
Georgia M. · Three trips and counting
Answered in hours, not days
Real guides, not scripts
Fixed when things break
Come say hi
Now you know us — tell us about your trip
Whether it's a reef week, a city break or a casino night, the first conversation costs nothing.