Former TV newsreader Simon Dallow says he’s been delaying gratification and putting things off his whole life, and it’s time to “drink it while it’s fizzy” – so he got married in February, planned the year of his dreams with his new wife, and one day would like to come back to New Zealand for a radio job. But not TV news – he’s had enough of that and for good reason, he tells Carolyne Meng-Yee.
It’s back to the future for former TVNZ anchorman Simon Dallow.
The much-loved broadcaster, 61, is returning to his old roots – as a travel tour manager, with his first assignment, managing an adventurous group of over-60-year-olds, already booked for September.
“I’ve come full circle. I’m the liaison for the group, who are slightly older – so it will be a different pace,” he told the Herald.
“The luxury cruise down the Mekong River has always been on my bucket list. The French influence on Vietnam has always fascinated me – the cuisine and mixing of cultures.
“I love seeing the joy in people’s faces when they experience something different that I can lead them to,” Dallow said.
His Instagram account @simon_saystravel features photos and videos of places he has travelled – both recent and from the distant past. “Traveller. Journalist. Curious about people, culture and history. Hosting Riches of the Mekong. September 2026,” it announces.
The career sidestep isn’t entirely random. Before his accomplished career as a news presenter, Dallow spent three years in his twenties working in Europe as a tour manager at Contiki Tours, where he met his former wife Alison Mau.
These days, his taste in travel is at the luxury end. He’s swapped the coaches for what will be a high-end boutique river cruise for just 12 passengers.
The two-week tour will include a seven-night voyage along the Mekong River, through Vietnam and Cambodia, organised by Auckland-based Travelwise Holidays.
Dallow said the Mekong River was a place he wanted to explore anyway. “When this opportunity came up with Stuart [McKay] from Travelwise Holidays ... it was a nice confluence of ideas and people."
The tour will depart New Zealand on September 11 to take in some of Southeast Asia’s popular sites, Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor Wat and the riverside markets and Buddhist monasteries of Phnom Penh, before winding up in Ho Chi Minh City.
McKay, who is one of the partners at Travelwise Holidays, told the Herald it would be Dallow’s first hosted tour – and, he hopes, not his last.
“Simon’s a nice guy and a bit of a drawcard,” he told the Herald. “It’s hard to find a celebrity who’s well-travelled, down-to-earth and personable.”
McKay is already planning a European tour for next year and hopes Dallow will guide that too.
The two met years ago at the North Shore Rugby Club, where Dallow played. McKay said tour guiding involves far more than breezing through airports with clipboards and a room list.
“Most of our guides are first-aid trained. They’ve got to understand logistics and make sure people get from A to B safely and on time,” he said. “Simon’s job is to make sure everyone’s there and the luggage arrives.”
And then there’s the people management – the art of herding a group of strangers through foreign countries without anyone whining about what time dinner is served.
“You’ve got to be patient because you get all sorts,” McKay said. “Sometimes the older generation can be more challenging than the younger ones. Limited mobility, people set in their ways. We’ve had people come on tour wanting dinner at 5pm. Well, we’re not.”
Dallow says he doesn’t miss the grind of reading daily stories about car crashes and spot news.
“In Europe, they focus on things that matter; we’re focused on what we can get easily and what we can glean off social media” he told the Herald.
“What killed the buzz for me was the relentless grind. It became quite rote. When they told me a few years ago that I wasn’t going to be considered for anything else [at TVNZ], that really changed things.
“But what killed me was Covid-19 and the 1pm press conferences. I’d also experienced out in public overt hostility, which was confronting. There were a couple of versions of ”tell the f***ing truth” and “There’s going to be a Nuremberg-style trial for all those who are complicit” and one guy went past and made a sign for a noose around my neck."
Speaking from Paris this week, Dallow says he is exhausted, having clocked 20,000 steps hiking through the Grand Trianon in Versailles, where Napoleon lived.
Ten years ago, Dallow took his son Joel to Paris, Venice, Rome and London – and Florence.
Last year, Dallow’s daughter Paris, named after the city of love, packed her bags and went on a Contiki tour to Europe.
“She said to me she had the best month of her life. I want to take them both back to Europe at some point,” Dallow said.
A post from earlier this month shows Dallow standing in front of the Eiffel Tower filming a news-style piece to camera, alongside a still photograph from his first trip there in 1987 – a younger version of the broadcaster, before the silver hair and newsroom polish.
Before Paris, Dallow was in Singapore revisiting old haunts: Marina Bay Sands, the Gardens by the Bay, the infamous colonial-clad Raffles Hotel, and the hawker stalls where the food is fast, cheap, and delicious. It was his eighth time there.
“I like Singapore, it’s a great introduction to Asia, it’s a bit theme-park-ish, but everyone speaks English, and it’s very clean.”
Dallow and his wife, Louise Colenbrander - who have been together 15 years - got married in February, then left New Zealand in April for several months in Europe.
After Paris, there’ll be Bruges and Amsterdam, then on through Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Budapest. By July, they’ll be in Italy, staying with friends in Puglia. August, if all goes to plan, will be spent in the South of France and London, catching up with family, then a week back in New Zealand and off to Vietnam.
Dallow signed off as TVNZ’s newsreader last November after more than 30 years at the national broadcaster and 16 years at the helm of 1News at Six.
On his final night, the newsreader thanked long-time viewers, saying, “It’s time for me to say farewell and sign off for my last 1News bulletin.
“I’ve always firmly believed news readers should not be the news, so now I am no longer one, I can say it has been a genuine privilege to be on your screens and in your living rooms.
“Thank you for letting me be a small part of your evenings,” he said with his voice cracking.
He trained as a barrister and travel guide early in his career. Dallow joined TVNZ in 1993 and presented Newsnight alongside Mau and Marcus Lush.
He went on to front a range of TVNZ news and current affairs programmes over the following years, including the mid-evening news, One Tonight, Agenda and Q&A.
In 2020, he became the sole 6pm anchor after the departure of his long-time co-host Wendy Petrie.
Over his decades in TV, Dallow became a familiar face during some of New Zealand’s most significant events – including the Canterbury earthquakes, the Christchurch mosque attacks, the Covid-19 pandemic and Cyclone Gabrielle.
When Dallow eventually returns from his travels, he has no fixed plans apart from keeping his future wide open.
He says a job in radio would appeal - but not Mike Hosking’s job because he hates mornings.
“I love radio, but who wants to step into the shoes of someone who has a devoted audience? Like him or not, Hosking is our greatest broadcaster at the moment.”
For now, Dallow says, although he is chewing into his retirement budget, he is in his “happy place”.
“I’ve been guilty of putting things off all my life and delayed gratification, it’s actually time to partake and as you say, drink it while it’s fizzy.“
Carolyne Meng-Yee is an Auckland-based investigative journalist who won Best Documentary at the Voyager Media Awards in 2022. She worked for the Herald on Sunday from 2007-2011 and rejoined the Herald in 2016 after working as an award-winning current affairs producer at TVNZ’s 60 Minutes, 20/20 and Sunday.