If you are thinking about travel to New Zealand (especially if you want to fly fish) you need to work with Nicole at First Light Travel.
USA
23 Apr 2025
If you are thinking about travel to New Zealand (especially if you want to fly fish) you need to work with Nicole at First Light Travel. My wife and I have travelled all over the world (Africa, several countries in South America, Japan, most of Europe, Vietnam etc) and we have always booked our own trips and excursions – it does not work like that in New Zealand (all 3 agents for my New Zealand trip which I interviewed told me I needed to work with an agent even if it was not them). That was the best advice I got and will share with you
From someone who has worked with lodging professionally for 30 years I can tell you the travel infrastructure in New Zealand is different. There is not as much information on the Web as most other countries. Booking for their summer (winter in the US) needs to be done 4 to 6 months in advance. Almost every town we were in we saw hotels flashing No Vacancy signs everywhere.
Most web sites provide lists of the best fly-fishing rivers to go to and are spread-out across the country. Even after fishing three of those rivers I do not know where to go next. Destination fishing lodges are few and can be quite expensive.
You need Nicole to help you plan your dream trip. She is professional, personable, a great listener to understand what you want your trip to be and truly cares about her clients.
