happynova
A small team that takes your annual leave seriously
happynova started in a Rosebery garage in 2017 with one map, one phone and a stubborn belief: Australians deserve travel planning that treats their two weeks off like the precious thing they are.
From garage map to 1,200+ trips
Our founder got tired of watching friends come home from cookie-cutter package tours saying "it was fine, I guess". Fine isn't good enough when you've saved all year for it. So we started planning trips properly — driving routes first, sleeping in the hotels, arguing about which reef boat is actually worth it.
2017 — the garage years
First fifty trips planned off a wall map and a spreadsheet. Every single client from word of mouth.
2019 — proper routes
Hit 100 trips and formalised our route-testing rule: nobody sells a trip they haven't done.
2021 — grown-up add-ons
Launched our casino hotels and events desk after clients kept asking for weekend packages.
2023 — traveller #1,000
A family of five off to Uluru. They still send us a postcard every Christmas.
Today — still small on purpose
Eleven people, one office in Rosebery, and a rule that no planner ever carries more than a dozen trips at once.
Three rules we don't bend
Every decision in the office gets run past these. They've survived nine years, a pandemic and one very stubborn accountant.
Honesty over commission
If the famous hotel is a tourist trap, we say so and show you the better one two streets over. We make money when you rebook, not when you overspend.
Tested, not googled
Routes, hotels, restaurants, tour operators — a planner walks it before you fly it. Our "we haven't checked this yet" list is public to clients.
Leave it better
We favour Indigenous-led experiences, family-run stays and low-impact routing. Travel should give back to the places it visits.
"Plan it like you're sending your own mum. If you wouldn't put her on that bus tour, don't put a client on it."
— Maya's first office rule, still on the wall
Numbers we're quietly proud of
Not vanity metrics — each one is a promise kept. The rebooking rate especially: that's the number that tells us the trips actually worked.
The humans behind your itinerary
Maya Okafor
Founder & head planner
Has driven the Nullarbor four times and still cries at Uluru. Answers emails at 6am because she genuinely can't help it.
Jack Thompson
Outback & NT specialist
Ex-tour guide from Alice Springs. Knows every fuel stop between Adelaide and Darwin and most of the people who run them.
Lena Fischer
Queensland & reef lead
Marine biology dropout turned reef-trip perfectionist. Will talk you out of the wrong boat tour with genuine passion.
Sam Reid
Groups & events lead
Runs the casino hotels and event-nights desk. Bucks' weekends, corporate dos, gala nights — the logistics nobody else wants.
Projects and programs we're known for
Beyond one-off trips — these are the ongoing programs our clients come back to.
Flagship program
The Grand Australia Loop
Our 21-day signature: Sydney to Perth by rail, reef and road with a dedicated planner travelling remotely with you. Run four times a year, capped at 16 travellers.
Research & education
Reef Citizen-Science Weeks
Trips where travellers help marine researchers log coral health data on the outer reef. Holiday meets field trip — and the data is real, published, and cited.
Corporate
Executive Retreats Collection
Off-sites that people don't secretly dread: Tasmanian lodges, Hunter Valley estates and yes, the occasional casino resort buyout. Full AV, full privacy, full catering.
Romance
The Proposal & Honeymoon Desk
Secret-planning specialists: hidden picnic setups, photographer-on-standby proposals and honeymoons that skip the clichés. 100% yes-rate so far — no pressure, lads.
Why people keep coming back
“Fourth trip with happynova and they've never once phoned it in. The team's institutional memory is unreal — they remembered my kids' names and that my wife hates early flights. It's not a booking service, it's a relationship.”
What we can and can't do
- Plan & book trips anywhere in Australia
- Groups, events and corporate travel
- 18+ casino stays and event nights
- International flights — we partner with specialists for that
- Last-minute miracles (though we do try)
Come say hi — or just send the brief
We're at 115/151 Dunning Ave, Rosebery if you're local. Otherwise the contact page reaches a planner directly.