How to celebrate what the last 16 years of Hidden Secrets Tours means would never have been easy to express, but even more so as our team is all in different places, nor are we with clients or out in the city we love.
In 2004 we began, taking our first paying customer out on May 20th of that year.
It was a time of change, just as today. Looking back, we have all seen so much change in in the last sixteen years.
In 2004:
- The TV show Friends aired its last episode
- Mary became a Princess
- Australia’s population was 20 million
- The Facebook college site had just started
- Jetstar launched
- The Ghan passenger train took its inaugural trip
- The clay animation short film, Harvie Krumpet, won an Oscar at the Academy Awards
- Our present Office Manager, Rachael, finished high school
In Melbourne, the first Winter Masterpieces happened. Eureka Tower had not even broken ground, King Street passed under Flinders Street, and icons like Dame Edna Place and AC/DC Lane had not yet been thought of. It is funny how far we have now come.
Hidden Secrets Tours has been privileged to see so many changes in this city, and we can’t wait to see its next iteration.
Over the last sixteen years we have employed 40 people, including two interns, (you can see some of us here). We have seen hundreds of businesses that shared in our pedestrian path open and close, whilst yet more have come into our radar of collaboration.
We would like to take this moment to thank you all of our supporters, our alumni, and amazing clients. We really have had such a fabulous time, and we just can’t wait to be out on the streets and laneways again soon.
Stay safe, and look for the glimpses of yellow in our glorious city: It may be us with our yellow umbrellas, or perhaps just some of the corners that inspire us to keep looking!
We will be launching new tours in June, so please do join our mailing list to be kept in the loop, and so we can share and offer our loyal customers priority pricing for when we’re underway. You can sign up to out mailing list here.
We don’t have a team photo for this wonderful milestone, but there will be room and time for many more.
Hope you have a great time dreaming, getting ready for whats next in these adventurous time!
With love from Melbourne, Australia,
Fiona, the Hidden Secrets team and alumni
xx
