True North | ARRIVAL — Episode 2

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:22]There's something special about Queenstown.

[00:00:30]Everyone you speak to who's ever been there absolutely loves it.

[00:00:33]>> This is insane. The world this real mix of natural beauty mixed with thrill, adventure, finesse and rawness. You can do anything there.

[00:00:47]That's why it's important to us there was a HQ there because it's an adventure capital of the world and connects I guess the concept. We want to be a global business. We we want to have experiences at every corner of the world, but there's something about Queenstown as a hub that we all gravitate to because you can do so much.

[00:01:13]>> How you been?

[00:01:14]>> I've been good.

[00:01:15]>> Yeah, >> been busy or something.

[00:01:18]>> I went to the Mold Dives. Um, >> this has to be one of the nicest places on the planet. this drive. A this is like the most scenic route ever.

[00:01:27]>> Everything's kind of falling into line.

[00:01:28]Like there's a >> absolutely shitload of work to do, but that's all right. You know, any suggestions you guys have got? Anything that you wanted to kind of >> get out of the next couple of days? Like stuff that you wanted to go through?

[00:01:40]It's all kind of slowly sort of coming together.

[00:01:42]>> Is it? Yeah, I think that guys have got some some stuff to show you boys about um you know like designs and whatnot and the kind the different sort of type of trips and it'll be good just to kind of >> getting real and it's good just to all be together in a room and like actually nuted out into zooms and whatever you can just like >> oh man get face to face so much better way better like we'll be able to tick off so much more in the next couple days just live and breathe on it for 3 days straight it'll be so The boys came down and we're all there together. That was the first time we'd actually all been together.

[00:02:21]We knew that experience down in Glenori would connect us all. We were meeting Doug, the owner of of the of the lodge because he's a character in that experience as well. We were sharing >> B.

[00:02:37]Top more of a middle sandwich.

[00:02:40]>> I reckon go share an experience far from the ning crowds. Leave your phone behind. You don't have to have a meeting at all, but you'll get to know a lot about each other.

[00:02:52]>> We barely knew the team, >> but then you spend a week with a team every day with people and you like it even makes or break you.

[00:03:02]>> Everyone there sitting there like >> drinking high tea. At least the boys dressed up like they normally do. I was like, I think he looked really good.

[00:03:12]>> Uh, my name is Bart or Base Camp Bart as the boys has called me after the first week of really meeting them.

[00:03:20]>> Bart, who's been part of my team for a number of years, has moved over to really focus on arrival. So, he's bringing a lot of the kind of creative through video and through content. It's also on the actual trips. And so building out these trips that are super unique.

[00:03:35]>> I got really sunburned the day before split boarding and Coroner Peak and I rocked up with a tomato phase and sunny's on. So ever since then they called me base camp bard. Hopefully doesn't stick but we'll see.

[00:03:46]>> What's um what's awesome about this opportunity is I look around the room and we all come around from from different walks of life, but there's one thing that really connects us all and that's our love of travel. Um, as we navigate through the week, I'm really excited to hear about what travel really means to you, but we also want to come out out of this with with some intent.

[00:04:05]And you guys might have different thoughts on what what you want out of this week. So, so I just wanted to throw to you guys. I love it cuz I feel like we're all so different, but we all balance each other out and blend trend.

[00:04:16]Like, he's into his wine, his food, he's deep. Gavin, he's across all the numbers and business and he's also deep. But then Quinton's like chilled. He's like a big chilled polar bear, but he he gets [ __ ] done.

[00:04:27]>> And also just on the product side, like just really nailing like especially at launch, like the products that we're going to launch with. Just >> Mike, he's English and he's got a backpacking background and Bart's got a snow mountaineering background. It's just all perfect. If we if we leave this week not been aligned, we're [ __ ] Like it we have to know that we are all making this same thing and we all need to believe in it otherwise we're [ __ ] And there's no judgment this whole week.

[00:04:52]Like >> like I was even saying to Bonnie like two nights ago, she had some great ideas. I'm like make sure you talk about it because you're not like just you don't have to be a [ __ ] a founder or anything to like have a good idea. Like any idea is a good idea, you know? And I and bad ideas are great cuz they can spark little things.

[00:05:06]>> I'm last. I should have something real profound to say, but I was like, "Oh, [ __ ] it."

[00:05:12]>> Well, yeah. Obviously the vision and stuff, but I guess also like maybe I'll say let's have fun as well. Let's throw some fun in there. And I think it's also like every time we've started something me and Jack like even the videos like it was never to make money. The beer was not to make money. It's like how cool would it be to make a [ __ ] beer company. Like that's I feel like and that's why it's sometimes works because it's for the love of it. It's not because oh let's go make [ __ ] millions of dollars. It's like no let's give people like an amazing experience that they have for life. That's what we want to give people. It's not like we don't want to make all this money. It's like we want to give people something that they just like talk about forever and something that they take. It's like a memory more than so and if you if you have >> the customer that that's just like we just want to give them a good time then everything else will work out. That's got to be the number one thing.

[00:06:02]>> Uh mine's mine's clarity and and alignment too. I I know we all have these exceptional ideas, but I think it's all about just rallying around that and and being aligned to it. And just just to summarize, we've got we want to be inspired. We want to have clarity and alignment. We want to bottle what makes us so unique. We want to have fun and we also want to make sure that we're we're doing the best we can for our customers.

[00:06:23]We're on a pretty exciting journey. So, I just wanted to recognize that. And cheers to arrival.

[00:06:28]>> Cheers to Can we just say a good team is the reason anything succeeds.

[00:06:34]>> Majority of why things work that we've found out. Good team.

[00:06:44]So the initial idea was just let's get everyone together. Let's go to Queenstown because it does reflect what Arrival is going to do and let's just get together and and and brainstorm everything that we want to do. Let's showcase everything that we've been working on so far and make sure that everyone's on track.

[00:07:00]>> That was the first time that we had all kind of been in the same room and we' taken it from concept which has been bubbling away in the background to now [ __ ] we got to actually get this done.

[00:07:10]We got to execute it. So this was the first time we were presenting. All right, this is how we we're going to do it. And >> there's been a lot of research and a lot of work.

[00:07:18]>> Look how big 70% massive.

[00:07:20]>> We've looked at different demographics.

[00:07:21]We've looked at where people are traveling. We've looked at how they want to travel.

[00:07:25]>> Jungle Stay, again, super cultural. If you want to extend it, you extend it.

[00:07:28]Have a option.

[00:07:30]>> I just want I just >> we always have our audience at front of mind. Like they've given us this life, so we always want to make sure that they're happy.

[00:07:39]But but if you've saved up for a year to go on a >> we know what they're going to like and what not and we want to do everything that's going to benefit them when we're in the office together working together and overcoming things and like >> the language needs to be so perfect all like starting to align on the vision and everyone was just vibing off each other in the office and we know we're making something special.

[00:08:02]>> I'd trust you with my heart if I saw your red face with white eyes. I know this guy's seen the world.

[00:08:08]>> The team had been working tirelessly to make sure like we were we were presenting really really good work >> as we were presenting. It was like you know what this isn't an idea anymore.

[00:08:18]This is this is real.

[00:08:21]>> Well done guys.

[00:08:24]Usually when we work with before or like you know doing our own stuff they always present stuff and I never love it from the get go and this then I was like that's exactly what I want but better.

[00:08:35]which never happens, >> which never happens. Ever.

[00:08:38]>> We're good.

[00:08:39]>> We're never fully satisfied after a first deck or presentation. That was bang on.

[00:08:44]>> That's what we like to hear.

[00:08:45]>> We jumped a hurdle of trust with the team. And I could see the boys almost a sense of relief that, >> hey, we're in pretty good hands here.

[00:08:56]And everything that we've been cooking away is now kind of starting to come together.

[00:09:08]That week we wanted to kind of weave in and out the different experiences and different styles of travel. Food and wine, nature, skiing, thrill, wellness, cuz they all make up what arrival really is. So, we went into that week knowing that, hey, we're going to do some good work here together, but what better way to do it than kind of experiencing our own style of travel and the things that we all love. And we we'll actually go out for lunches and stuff and be like, "Wait, Jack and I like we need to get back in the office. Like we need to like >> we got more to do.

[00:09:36]>> We got more to do. This is fun. This is also great." And I'm loving this. But being in the office working with with everyone was [ __ ] >> Haven't time off, mate.

[00:09:48]>> It's actually pretty That's good. I usually don't like white wine, but Cheers. Cheers.

[00:09:53]>> Cheers. Cheers.

[00:09:54]>> Cheers, guys.

[00:09:57]>> Good clean. Hey, >> talk about the viscosity of wine.

[00:10:01]>> Viscosity. The thickness of it cream. I tell you what, >> good viscosity.

[00:10:10]>> I don't know if you can say that word.

[00:10:12]>> Bit of a surprise for you. You're not afraid of heights, are you?

[00:10:18]>> A little bit.

[00:10:20]>> Little bit. A little bit high.

[00:10:22]>> Little bit of liquid courage because we got a uh a bridge to jump off in a moment. So, uh enjoy. There you go.

[00:10:28]>> See, I've never bungee jumped. I'm like I can skydive. This is I've never bungee jump. It freaks me out.

[00:10:34]>> I think it's I think I'll be all right.

[00:10:35]I think it's scarier than skydiving.

[00:10:42]>> It was unexpected how the week was going to go. We had all these amazing surprises. We were going to get them jumping off bridges and that all was a part of our makeup. You got to walk the walk. If you're going to have a travel business, you got to be able to pull that out of your back pocket.

[00:10:58]>> WHAT THE HELL?

[00:11:00]>> WHERE AM I GOING?

[00:11:01]>> HERE WE GO.

[00:11:02]>> AM I?

[00:11:03]>> [ __ ] >> 3 2 >> Oh my god.

[00:11:18]Why do I'm going to get you?

[00:11:19]>> As we navigate through the week, I'm really excited to hear about what travel really means to you.

[00:11:24]>> This is what arrival is about. This is everything.

[00:11:28]>> Just this pure happiness. Traveling.

[00:11:29]Pure happiness.

[00:11:31]>> Being with like mates or people you don't really even know.

[00:11:36]doing new things that you don't usually do on your date, your 9 to5.

[00:11:47]Are you kidding me?

[00:11:49]>> The best part about that arrival week was every day.

[00:12:00]>> So sick. Not bad.

[00:12:03]>> So weird. You don't know where you are on the wave.

[00:12:06]>> Full blank canvas up. You just ride wherever you want.

[00:12:09]>> So remember this moment because we're going to be applying that to global trips all around the world. So what other what other cool [ __ ] can we do?

[00:12:16]This is epic.

[00:12:17]>> And so if we've got this team like all going in the same direction, everybody with different skills, >> different but amazing.

[00:12:28]>> It made you so much more confident in this whole idea and Yeah, exactly. more secure and more like actually we got the right people >> and I feel like we were just all closer.

[00:12:41]>> Everyone's super stoked about the journey that we're on. Everyone's in agreement that we're heading towards the right into the right direction. But then when everyone left, I think especially the Queenstown team had a bit of a comedown because we're like, "Oh, that was so good. All right, done." But that was only the beginning.