Terms & Conditions

Please read the following terms and conditions carefully and ensure your understanding before booking. References to “us”, “we”, “our”, “Johnny H Nepean” and/or “Pure Traveller” in these booking terms and conditions shall mean Pure Traveller Pty Ltd ABN 27 158 560 206 or Johnny H Nepean Pty Ltd ABN 49 647 507 597, its officers, employees and agents.

The acceptances of all reservations are subject to these booking conditions which form a contractual relationship between Pure Traveller and/or Johnny H Nepean and its clients. It is important that clients understand these booking conditions before making a booking. Please read these carefully as they set out our respective rights and obligations. By asking us to process your booking, we are entitled to assume that you have had the opportunity to read and have read these booking conditions and agree to them.

During this period of coronavirus and appreciating that people want maximum flexibility and security with their money, we are keen to do our best to enable people to book with confidence. Our deposits are low and refundable (in accordance with our refund policy), and we are being very flexible with final payment dates on a case by case basis.

We do of course advocate getting insurance cover as soon as possible after booking (and all travel insurers are offering ‘covid terms’), but in the event of a cancellation due to COVID-19 then we will offer to either postpone the trip or pay a refund.

We want to reassure clients that any money which is paid to the company for a trip is kept in a client trust account and not touched until the trip is due to depart.

Please follow the procedure shown on our website or ask for an offline application form. The relevant application form needs to be completed by each person travelling. We will then issue a service agreement and deposit invoice for each traveller booked.

Where we have already confirmed the availability of your chosen arrangements and you book within any applicable time limit for doing so, your booking will be treated as firm and a contract between us will come into existence as soon as we receive your completed application form and return your signed Service Agreement and pay your deposit. We will then send you a receipt for all payments made and your balance invoice.

Where we have not confirmed availability, your booking will be treated as firm and a contract between us will come into existence when we despatch our invoice to you. Where you book through our website without prior confirmation of availability, any electronic acknowledgement of your booking is not a confirmation of it. Please check your invoice carefully as soon as you receive it. Contact us immediately if any information which appears on the invoice or any other document appears to be incorrect or incomplete.

A deposit invoice will be sent per travelling person which must accompany the booking. We also offer and encourage an instalment plan with 50% of the trip payment made by a minimum of 3 months prior to departure. In any case the full balance must be received by us by six weeks prior to departure. Bookings made within six weeks require immediate full payment of the Client Contribution invoice

If, for any reason, the balance (including any surcharge where applicable) is not received by the due date, we reserve the right to treat the booking as cancelled by you. If we do not cancel straight away because you have promised to make payment, you must pay the cancellation charges shown below depending on the date we reasonably treat your booking as cancelled.

The price quoted for any trip covers the cost of the planning, the organisation and carrying out of the trip, including group equipment, supplies, accommodation, administration and staff, except for the following, for which the you must be responsible: vaccination fees, travel insurance, cost of travel to and from the start / return point of your trip, cost of passport and visas, personal equipment and personal expenses while on the trip and any other expenses specifically excluded on the trip description and/or invoice.

We reserve the right to make changes to and correct errors in quoted prices at any time before your trip is confirmed. We will advise you of any error of which we are aware and of the then applicable price at the time of booking.

Once the price of your chosen trip has been confirmed at the time of booking, then subject to the correction of errors, we will only increase or decrease the price in the event of any change in our transportation costs or in dues, taxes or fees or in the exchange rates which have been used to calculate the cost of your trip.

A surcharge or refund (as applicable) will be payable, subject to the conditions set out in this clause. Even in the above cases, only if the amount of any increase in our costs exceeds 2% of the total cost of your trip will we levy a surcharge. If any surcharge is greater than 10% of the cost of your trip, you will be entitled to cancel your booking and receive a full refund of all monies you have paid to us or alternatively purchase another trip from us.

Where applicable, you have 14 days from the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice to tell us if you want to cancel. If you do not tell us that you wish to choose within this period of time, we are entitled to assume that you do not wish to do so and will pay the surcharge. Any surcharge must be paid with the balance of the cost of the trip or within 14 days of the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice, whichever is the later. A refund will only be payable if the decrease in our costs exceeds 2% of the total cost of your trip as set out above. Where a refund is due, we will pay you the full amount of the decrease in our costs. We promise not to levy a surcharge within 30 days of departure and no refund will be payable during this period either.

It is essential that you have adequate and appropriate cover for your trip. It is important to have adequate insurance which will cover cancellation costs from the date of booking as well as medical expenses (including evacuation and repatriation). If you travel against Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advice, the validity of your insurance policy may be affected. Please read your policy details carefully and take them with you on your trip. It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance cover you purchase is suitable and adequate for your particular needs.

Except as disclosed in your medical questionnaire (client profile form and additional surveys as requested), you are taken to confirm at the time of booking that you are in good health, physically capable of undertaking all aspects of the trip, and unaware of any reason why you may be unsuited to taking part or may be likely to suffer illness or injury during the trip, taking into account its challenges and purposes. If you are unable to give for this confirmation for any reason or have any medical condition or disability which may affect your trip, you must contact us before you submit your application form so that we can assist you in considering the suitability of the trip for you.

If any information given in the application form or medical questionnaire is shown to be materially incorrect or incomplete, we reserve the right to cancel your booking or terminate your participation in the trip, depending on when we become aware of the true position. In this situation, cancellation charges as set out below will apply and we will not be responsible for any costs or expenses incurred as a result.

Details of any compulsory health requirements applicable for the trips we offer are shown on the relevant trip page on our website. It is your responsibility to ensure you are aware of all recommended vaccinations and health precautions in good time before departure.

Please advise us of any special requests prior to making your booking. Where possible, we will endeavour to meet or arrange for our suppliers to meet any such request. Confirmation that a special request has been noted or passed on to the supplier or the inclusion of the special request on your invoice or any other documentation is not confirmation that the request will be met. Unless and until specifically confirmed, all special requests are subject to availability. For your own protection, you should obtain confirmation in writing that a special request will be complied (where it is possible to give this) where it is important to you.

Subject to the Australian Consumer Law, cancellation charges for both you and your representative apply where a holiday is cancelled. Written notice of the cancellation must be given to Pure Traveller and/or Johnny H Nepean. The cancellation charges below are in addition to any payment made or owed to a third party travel service provider (eg airline, hotel, tour operator):

• 150 days or more prior to travel – loss of deposit

• 121-149 days prior to travel – 50% of total cost

• 120 days or less prior to travel – 100% of total cost

In the event that payment has been made to Pure Traveller Pty Ltd and/or Johnny H Nepean Pty Ltd by credit card, you agree that you will not seek to charge back your payment to Pure Traveller Pty Ltd and/or Johnny H Nepean Pty Ltd.

Depending on the reason for cancellation, you may be able to reclaim these cancellation charges (less any applicable excess) under the terms of your insurance policy. Claims must be made directly to the insurance company concerned. Where a part cancellation of a booking affects the basis on which the price was calculated, we will recalculate and re-invoice you accordingly.

You may transfer your place to someone else (introduced by you) if you are prevented from travelling, providing we are notified not less than 2 weeks before departure and subject to practicality of changing certain bookings made in your name. All costs and charges incurred by us and/or incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers as a result must be paid before the transfer can be effected. Any overdue balance payment must also be received.

The itinerary is a guide to which we will attempt to adhere, but it may be necessary to alter this at short notice as a result of circumstances or events outside our control such as adverse weather or road conditions or any of those amounting to force majeure, or due to the operating conditions imposed by owners and operators of accommodation, facilities and transport. Your itinerary will, however, be the same in content as far as is reasonably possible, unless circumstances beyond our control make this impossible. Should weather conditions involve you in extra costs such as accommodation, transportation and meals, these will be borne by mutual agreement between us.

As referred to above, we may have to make changes to and correct errors in advertised and confirmed details and also cancel confirmed bookings which we must reserve the right to do. Please note, our trips may require a minimum number of participants to enable us to operate them. If the minimum number of bookings required for a particular trip has not been received, we are entitled to cancel it. We will notify you of cancellation for this reason no less than 28 days prior to departure.

Most changes are minor. Occasionally, we have to make a “significant change”. A significant change is a change made before departure which we can reasonably be expected to have a major effect on your trip. If we have to make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible. If there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of the following options:-

1. (for significant changes) accepting the changed arrangements; or

2. purchasing an alternative trip from us, of a similar standard to that originally booked if available. We will offer you at least one alternative trip of equivalent or higher standard for which you will not be asked to pay any more than the price of the original trip. If this trip is in fact cheaper than the original one, we will refund the price difference. If you do not wish to accept the trip we specifically offer you, you may choose any of our other then available trips but you must pay the applicable price of any such trip. This will mean you paying more if it is more expensive or receiving a refund if it is cheaper;

Please note, the above options are not available where any change made is a minor one.

Very rarely, we may be forced by “force majeure” to change or terminate your trip after departure but before the scheduled end of your time away. If this situation does occur, we regret we will be unable to make any refunds (unless we obtain any refunds from our suppliers), pay you any compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur as a result.

In these booking conditions, “force majeure” means any event which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events may include, whether actual or threatened, war, riot, civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease at the travel destination, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar events outside our control. Except where otherwise expressly stated in these booking conditions, we regret we cannot accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our obligations under our contract with you is prevented or affected by or you otherwise suffer any damage, loss or expense of any nature as a result of “force majeure”.

We promise to make sure that the trip arrangements we have agreed to make, perform or provide as applicable as part of our contract with you are made, performed or provided with reasonable skill and care. This means that, subject to these booking conditions, we will accept responsibility if, for example, you suffer death or personal injury or your contracted trip arrangements are not provided as promised or prove deficient as a result of the failure of ourselves, our employees, agents or suppliers to use reasonable skill and care in making, performing or providing, as applicable, your contracted trip arrangements.

Please note, it is your responsibility to show that reasonable skill and care has not been used if you wish to make a claim against us. In addition, we will only be responsible for what our employees, agents and suppliers do or do not do if they were at the time acting within the course of their employment (for employees) or carrying out work we had asked them to do (for agents and suppliers).

We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss (including loss of possessions and loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, cost or other sum or claim of any description whatsoever which results from any of the following:

• your act(s) and/or omission(s); or

• the act(s) and/or omission(s) of a third party not connected with the provision of your trip and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable; or

• ‘force majeure’ as defined in paragraph 13 above

We cannot accept responsibility for any services which do not form part of our contract. This includes, for example, any additional services which any supplier (including any of the regional Adventure Alternative companies – see below) agrees to provide or arrange for you where we have not agreed to provide or arrange these services as part of our contract. Such additional services will include any activities which do not form part of your contracted trip arrangements which a supplier agrees to provide or arrange for you while you are away.

In addition, regardless of any wording used by us on our website, in any advertising material or elsewhere, we only promise to use reasonable skill and care as set out above and we do not have any greater or different liability to you. Many of your trip arrangements are provided by regional companies such as Pure Traveller Pty Ltd,  Johnny H Gold Coast Pty Ltd and Johnny H Nepean Pty Ltd. These companies share our name by virtue of shared standards and branding and due to our investment in them, but they are separate legal entities and are not subsidiaries of or otherwise legally connected with us other than as suppliers of services included in your trip. They operate entirely independently and have their own terms and conditions.

The promises we make to you about the services we have agreed to provide or arrange as part of our contract – and the laws and regulations of the country in which your claim occurred – will be used as the basis for deciding whether the services in question had been properly provided. If the particular services which gave rise to the claim or complaint complied with local laws and regulations applicable to those services at the time, the services will be treated as having been properly provided. This will be the case even if the services did not comply with the laws and regulations of Aus which would have applied had those services been provided in the Aus. The exception to this is where the claim concerns the absence of a safety feature which might lead a reasonable participant to refuse to take the trip in question.

While the trip is in progress, all decisions are made by Johnny H staff or staff employed by our regional companies and you must act in accordance with all reasonable instructions you are given. The team leader, trip guide or other member of our staff or staff employed by our regional companies may withdraw you from the trip at any time if they are of the reasonable opinion that your continued presence is prejudicing or is likely to prejudice the good order, discipline, safety or successful operation of the trip or the safety or wellbeing of any individual participant(s) or other third party or if you break any law or regulation of any country where the trip takes place.

We expect all clients to have consideration for other people. If in our reasonable opinion or in the reasonable opinion of any other person in authority, you behave in such a way as to cause or be likely to cause danger, upset or distress to our staff or to any third party or damage to property, we are entitled, without prior notice, to terminate your trip.

We or staff employed by the regional Johnny H companies are entitled to withdraw you from a trip in the above circumstances where the information provided on your application form or medical questionnaire proves to be materially inaccurate or incomplete. Where you are withdrawn, you will be required to leave the trip immediately and we will have no further responsibility towards you. No refunds will be made and we will not pay any expenses or costs incurred as a result of the withdrawal. You will in addition have to indemnify us against any loss or expense that may be incurred as a result of your actions.

You accept responsibility for any damage or loss caused by you. Full payment for any such damage or loss (reasonably estimated if not precisely known) must be made direct to the accommodation owner or manager or other supplier or to us as soon as possible. If the actual cost of the loss or damage exceeds the amount paid where estimated, you must pay the difference once known. If the actual cost is less than the amount paid, the difference will be refunded. You will also be responsible for meeting any claims subsequently made against us and all costs incurred by us (including our own and the other party’s full legal costs) as a result of your actions. You should ensure you have appropriate travel insurance to protect you if this situation arises.

The passport and visa requirements for the trips we offer are shown on the relevant page on our website but requirements may change and you must check the up to date position in good time before departure. A full Australian passport presently takes approximately 4 to 10 weeks to obtain. If you are 16 or over and haven’t yet got a passport, you should apply for one at least 3 months before departure. The Australian Passport Service has to confirm your identity before issuing your first passport. If you are not a Australian citizen or hold a non Australian passport, you must check passport and visa requirements with the embassy or consulate of the country(ies) to or through which you are intending to travel.

You must ensure you are in possession of all necessary travel and health documents before departure. All costs incurred in obtaining such documentation must be paid by you. We regret we cannot accept any liability if you are refused entry onto any transport or into any country due to failure on your part to carry all required documentation. If failure to have any necessary travel or other documents results in fines, surcharges or other financial penalty being imposed on us, you will be responsible for reimbursing us accordingly.

We both agree that Australian law (and no other) will apply to your contract and to any dispute, claim or other matter of any description which arises between us (“claim”) except as set out below. We both also agree that any claim (and whether or not involving any personal injury) which arises between us must be dealt with by the courts of Australia only.

The information contained in our website and in our other advertising material is believed correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. However, errors may occasionally occur and information may subsequently change. You must therefore ensure you check all details of your chosen trip (including the price) with us at the time of booking.

It is the requirements and standards of the country in which any services which make up your trip are provided which apply to those services and not those of Australia. As a general rule, these requirements and standards will not be the same as the Australia and may often be lower.