New Zealand Travel Blog

Lisanne, one of First Light Travel’s interns, travelled down the North Island to visit New Zealand’s capital. Being from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, she loves coffee, craft beer, and great food. In addition to that, she also is a huge the Lord of the Rings fan. As Wellington offers all listed above, it made perfect sense to pay the windy capital a visit.  Because of the limited time I would have in Wellington, I wanted to make most out of it. When looking up the city’s must-do’s, a few things caught my eye which were repeated everywhere.

Travelling New Zealand by rail is a bit more than just an efficient way to get around; in fact, because of our challenging landscape we actually don’t have a vast stretch of rail. But thanks to the amazing feats of engineering achieved by some hardy early pioneers, we’ve got some impressive rail journeys that criss-cross the country. In one just one trip, you can traverse snow-dusted mountain ranges, glide around glistening coastlines and sweep lush farmland dotted with bouncing lambs.  Here’s the low-down on exploring New Zealand by rail.

What do you picture when you think of New Zealand? Crystal-clear rivers twisting and turning through untouched forests, mountains dusted with snow and waterfalls cascading into bright blue pools?

If so, you’ve definitely got Milford in mind. As one of the most famously beautiful places to experience on a NZ South Island Itinerary, “where is Milford Sound?” is a pretty common question that we get asked!

Wanaka is nestled lakeside, surrounded by huge mountain ranges and protected nature reserves, it is like Queenstown’s charming little sister – a lovely little mix of small town warmth and a slow, relaxed pace in one of the most beautiful settings in New Zealand. If you love nature, adventure, relaxing, wine, or all of the above, you will find countless things to do in Wanaka, New Zealand.

Jasmijn and Julia two of First Light Travel's latest interns venture into the Waikato to explore Hobbiton Middle Earth the now famous movie set to see what all the fuss is about.

Jasmijn is from Elst in the Eastern part of Holland near the German boarder and Julia is from Munich in Germany so both like the hobbits are no strangers to the delights of beer - but will the Hobbit village and especially the Green Dragon Inn meet their high expectations?  

The South Island of New Zealand's Secret Day Hikes

The South Island is the ‘crown jewel’ when it comes to hiking, offering an overwhelming amount of the best New Zealand day hikes set amongst an untouched wilderness. We’ve put in the miles for you and come up with six world-­class day walks to consider conquering on your South Island New Zealand vacation.

It’s fair to say New Zealand’s a pretty safe place to travel, we have no poisonous snakes or dangerous animals and are populated by a small group of pretty laid back, genuinely friendly people. Hell, our police don’t even carry guns! – We have nothing to worry about! But 'Keeping it Real' there are few things you do need to be aware of, especially if you are planning to get out into the great outdoors.