Mike Stearne
I've driven for a living, on and off, since 2002. Tour guiding, instructing, chauffeuring, and for seven years running my own tour business out of Wellington. Driving Forever is the thing I kept circling back to in between, and in 2026 it finally shipped.
On the record
2002 to 2004 Nomad Safaris, Queenstown. Guide. Led convoys of up to 28 vehicles, taught 4x4 driving to clients, trained new staff, and set up and ran the company's retail store.
2008 to 2010 Nomad Safaris again, as a guide and business development manager, looking after conference and incentive groups.
2010 to 2020 Guide for a Wellington tour company, part-time once my own business was running.
2013 to 2020 Stearne Limited, trading as MiketheGuide and later Obsidian New Zealand. Private tours across New Zealand with a licensed fleet: Lord of the Rings and custom general travel itineraries, inbound accounts, golf groups. The borders closed in 2020 and so did the business.
2017 Featured on Syfy: How one Lord of the Rings extra became New Zealand's tour guide for obsessed fans (archived copy).“…such an approachable, easy going guy … but also a bank of knowledge.” Ian Brodie, author of The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook, quoted in the piece.
2017 and 2019 Contributing writer, Fodor's New Zealand and Fodor's Essential New Zealand.
Along the way Defensive driving instructor. 4x4 guide and instructor. Chauffeur. Taxi and rideshare driver. Car sales. An extra in three films, including The Fellowship of the Ring.
The 2004 lap
In November 2004 I drove a lap of the South Island in a 1989 Honda Civic. Direction decided by a coin toss, 2,100 kilometres in about 33 hours, and I logged the whole thing by hand: every fill, the litres, the price, the odometer, the time. I spent most of that drive working out how you'd build a business around people who like doing this. I've kept records like that on most of the vehicles I've owned for the best part of twenty years.
The Civic is in my garage in the app now. The logbook on its card asks for the same things I was writing down on the passenger seat.
Why the app
When Syfy wrote about the tours in 2017, I told them I sell the personal thing first, it's me and you and we're hanging out in the car together. That's still the whole idea. The app started as a place to keep every car I've owned, first to last. Several I still regret selling, and some I never should have bought. Then it turned into a card for every car anyone has owned, and a garage to keep it in.
If you run a venue or a club and want to talk about hosting a drive, the Partners page is the place to start. If you just like cars, the app is free to download.
L’app
Une carte pour chaque voiture que tu as eue.
Le Code du Pilote
Ce que nous attendons les uns des autres sur la route.
À propos
Né en Nouvelle-Zélande, par des gens qui conduisent.
Partenaires
Les lieux, clubs et marques qui accueillent nos membres.