About

Justin Meneguzzi Bio

I’m an award-winning freelance journalist, photographer and content strategist from Australia.

I’ve worked with National Geographic, BBC, The Independent, Travel + Leisure, National Geographic Traveller Magazine (UK), Australian Geographic, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald Sun, The Herald Sun, The Independent, Signature Luxury & Style Magazine, Get Lost Magazine, news.com.au, Wellbeing Magazine and Peregrine Wanderer Magazine among others.

As a travel journalist, I advocate for more sustainable forms of travel and I’m interested in how tourism can be used to address wider issues such as poverty, gender inequality and environmental conservation.

Background

I have had a winding path in my career, which has helped me gather skills that have proven useful in my journalism work.

At University of Melbourne, I studied a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Criminology, which is where I found my interest in crime, social policy and environmental conservation.

I then completed my Juris Doctor at University of Melbourne, and practised as a litigation lawyer investigating personal injuries and occupational health and safety breaches on behalf of the state regulatory body: WorkSafe Victoria. 

A career change saw me establish my own media company, Local Eyes Media, which published a digital travel and lifestyle publication and delivered creative services for clients. Later, I joined Intrepid Travel as Global Content Manager and led the rapid growth of the company’s content marketing program.

In 2018, I was awarded the Rising Star Award by the Australian Society of Travel Writers.

I’m a member of the Australian Geographic Society, and an ambassador for the Australian Society of Travel Writers.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter.

Awards

  • Best Australian Road Trip Story – Australian Society of Travel Writers (ASTW) Awards for Excellence 2021

  • Top 20 Content Marketing Brands: Intrepid Travel – NewsCred 2019

  • Rising Star Award – Australian Society of Travel Writers (ASTW) Awards for Excellence 2018

  • Marketing Services and Innovation Excellence Award – Intrepid Group Company Awards 2018

  • Best Company Blog: The Journal by Intrepid Travel – PR News' Corporate Social Responsibility Awards 2018

Nominations

  • Best International Story (Under 1000 words) – Australian Society of Travel Writers (ASTW) Awards for Excellence 2023

  • Travel Photographer of the Year – Australian Society of Travel Writers (ASTW) Awards for Excellence 2022

  • Best Nature & Wildlife Story – Australian Society of Travel Writers (ASTW) Awards for Excellence 2022

  • Best International Story (Under 1000 words) – Australian Society of Travel Writers (ASTW) Awards for Excellence 2022

  • Best Instagram Photo – Australian Society of Travel Writers (ASTW) Awards for Excellence 2020

  • Marketing Campaign of the Year: Uncharted Expedition – The Travel Awards 2019

  • Best Use of Content Marketing – Mumbrella Travel Marketing Awards 2019

Testimonials

‘He is one of the best in the biz’

– Natalie Placko – GM Global Brand Strategy | Intrepid Travel

‘Justin’s attention to detail and creative thinking has allowed us to continually innovate and find ways to engage with audiences.’

– Stew Miles – Head of Global Design & Creative | Intrepid Travel

‘His words are equally as impactful as his incredible eye for photography. Highly recommended.’

– Mark Guy – marketing executive | cruise & maritime voyages

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It's Arctic Sea Ice Day today! So here is a photo of a polar bear navigating the sea ice in the middle of the Greenland Sea, more than 150kms away from the closest land mass. He's using the ice as a platform to hunt for his favourite meal, ringed sea
I was backing up my hard drives and realised I'd completely forgotten about my photos from Portugal, my last trip overseas in October 2019, that was a whirlwind of midnight pasteis de nata, soul-stirring fado, meandering walks through higgledy piggle
I'm assembling a special team 😎 But seriously, I think the heist was on us judging by the number of monkeys waiting to pounce on our unguarded backpacks just off camera 🙊 Special memories working on a project with @intrepidtravel, waking up well b
I've always wondered what the most northerly tip of Australia looked like. Turns out it looks like this. After a long flight to Cape York, a bumpy drive on ochre roads and a short hike along one final, craggy finger of ancient volcanic rock, @liamf
This is one of my favourite outtakes while road tripping up the Sapphire Coast for @natgeotraveluk. @zookeeper_chad was swarmed by a family of friendly giraffes the moment they knew the feed was opened, which made such a great opportunity for some fu
"Mountain ranges bristling with pine and eucalpt fold back on themselves over and over, undulating forever towards a smoky blue horizon." Those were the first words I wrote when I saw the Victorian Alps last year, just weeks after being fr
I'm loving this illustration from Phil Constantinesco of a healthy koala being returned to its habitat in East Gippsland. It accompanied my story in Zoos Victoria Magazine about the amazing vets and nurses who rescued and rehabilitated dozens of inju
Still reminiscing about my first assignment as a travel writer, which was to Alice Springs and Uluru. Such an incredible icon, and one every Australian should visit while they #HolidayHereThisYear #Australia #NatGeo #NorthernTerritory #NGTUK #ASTW_
This morning I'm looking back on past adventures exploring the Northern Territory's West Macdonnell Ranges – diving into cool waters at Ellery Creek, drinking VBs at a desert camp, and pretending not to look while @patvincentoneill captures tot
Well then, call me a geek 🤓 I’ll be joining @natgeotraveluk ’s panel of travel experts to wax lyrical about our big old Outback. Tune in on 11 May at 7pm BST. My Australian mates will need to miss it unfortunately, unless you’re v
Say hello to Nemo. No bigger than a grain of rice, Nemo is an adorable new dancing peacock spider discovered just outside Mt Gambier, in South Australia. I got to write about him during my latest assignment for @NatGeo. The peacock spider's colourfu
“Most grasses love the right fire. That fire will go through and clear all the dead stuff that's not meant to be there. It's like brushing your hair and getting a haircut, basically.” That’s Peter Dixon (second image), an Indigenou
The Australian bush has always been shaped by fire, and our trees have evolved special adaptations to cope with seasonal bushfires. This is an epicormic shoot and it grows from a bud that hides protected beneath the thick bark of a gum myrtle tree. T
In early December 2020, I took a road trip up the Sapphire Coast to see how the region was recovering a year after the horrific 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires. At times, what I found was heartbreaking – like the burned out remains of a pott
Look, let’s be honest, there are far better pictures of the Northern Lights out there. But for me, this one is still something special. It marks the beginning of an unexpected adventure in Iceland, one that involves a Big Question, a ring and
For me, and a lot of other people out there, this is what 2020 looked like. We’re not out of the woods yet but I’m grateful for the many positive things that did happen last year, and excited for what’s to come in 2021. Thanks to
While it’s true tens of millions of sharks are caught each year – this isn’t necessarily illegal. In fact, the overwhelming majority of shark catch is caught incidentally by fisheries pursuing tuna, squid or salmon. The problem is w
For the last month, I've been working on an assignment with @natgeo to untangle the shark fishing industry and find out just what, exactly, is going in our medicines. It's estimated tens of millions of sharks are caught each year – mostly for
Stumbling on a fairytale 🧚 // There’s been lots of good news to celebrate in the last week, and the world is starting to feel a little bit more normal again. The Ring of Steel has fallen in Victoria. I’ve got new travels booked in my d
Candid camera // We often like to think of polar bears as these mythical apex predators, fearsome kings of their domain. But as we came around an iceberg on our Zodiac, we found this brute playing in the snow like a big kid. He’d just climbed