Reviews of Milford Track & World Heritage Westland

First Light Travel and Deb Evans planned a perfect three week trip for my husband and me. She totally understood both our activity preferences and our level for hotels. We are hikers and it was a complex itinerary,we covered lots of area and activities. Her suggestions were awesome. It was one of the best trips we've taken. I feel we got great value for the cost. (picture is summit McKinnon Pass)

Marian & Robert Klein - USA

Hi Shelley,

Well, Sinden and I just got back from our long anticipated trip to your neck of the woods and I just wanted to drop you a line to let you know everything went without a hitch.  All of the transfers were flawless, and we had no delays or issues of any kind.  So kudos to you for setting everything up for us and it working so well!  We never could have done it ourselves.  Here’s a little feedback from our trip:

The Milford Track exceeded our highest expectations!  What an incredible experience, and we had great weather the whole time, including a downpour on the third day of the hike which gave us the grandest waterfalls all around!  I will definitely do it again, perhaps in three years as I’d like to bring my son when he graduates from college.  Only this time I would like to spend more time in NZ, perhaps touring some coastal towns and more of the north island.  But plenty of time to think about it.  The last day in Queenstown we did an unguided bike tour of the Gibbston Valley wineries just outside of Queenstown which was the perfect way for us to spend the day.  We started in the small town of Arrowtown, did some gift shopping, and then biked about 5 miles or so to the Valley, crossing the original bungee jumping bridge in the process.  It was a great day sampling some wonderful wines in a beautiful setting!

The night we spent in Auckland awaiting our flight to Tahiti, we went to the city center for dinner and stumbled across the Grill.  While we didn’t have reservations, they accommodated us after a 20 minute wait, which we spent getting a cocktail at their bar.  Hands down the best steak my wife or I have ever had.  If we ever are in Auckland again, we will definitely return there!  Highly recommended.  Pricey, but worth it in our opinions.

Bottom line – we will definitely be back to NZ!  Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Thanks again for everything!!

Sincerely

Thomas and Sinden Schoedel - USA

Thank You!

We feel so lucky to have been able to visit New Zealand. It is a place that should be on everyone's bucket list! The people, the activities, the natural beauty - all added up to an experience we will remember for the rest of our lives, thanks to the perfect planning by Shelley and First Light Travel 

- Meeta Baphna

Our trip to the North and South Islands was a trip of a lifetime, thanks to Shelley! Our itinerary was perfectly planned and paced. Our first week was organized around the Milford Track Guided Walk with Ultimate Hikes, and we traveled up the South Island before concluding our trip sightseeing in Rotorua and Auckland on the North Island. Our itinerary was the most detailed we've seen, replete with suggested activities, descriptions of our accommodations (including the owners' names-very helpful), and information about Air New Zealand baggage limits. The travel and activity vouchers made our trip a snap, and our accommodations were expertly hand-picked. Shelley was wonderful to work with. She was responsive, detailed, and quick to answer our numerous questions.

We would definitely recommend Shelley and would enjoy working with her again!

Robert and Mara

From the awesome Milford Track to the Sydney Harbor Bridge climb, Shelley and First Light Travel arranged an absolutely incredible experience for us. Way too many adventures to list, all so very, very good! 

Thanks, team!

Morris & Lynn Hoover, Austin TX

Howdy from Texas!

My wife Lynn and I had an absolutely incredible experience this past March, starting with trekking the Milford Track, then on to Australia, then back to New Zealand. The success of our trip was in very large part due to the amazing help and guidance given us by Miss Shelley Kirk; she is truly incredible! Not only did she put up with me for two years of planning and came up with the perfect itinerary, she really won our hearts when Lynn’s niece died very unexpectedly three days before our original departure. We needed to stay for the funeral, and Shelley did back flips to rearrange our trip, flights, boarding, etc. and truly saved the day. We love that gal!

Morris Hoover

Austin, TX

Ps

Really like your Facebook page!

We just returned from 3 wonderful weeks in New Zealand with our best friends. This was a trip of a lifetime and Amelia worked with us to make sure we could jam as much as we wanted into our time. We snorkeled and scuba dived, dawn hiked the Tongariro Alpine pass, marveled at the glow worms at Black Water Rafting, enjoyed the eye-watering but beautiful thermal wonders of Waitotapu, canoed down from the Bridge to Nowhere. In the South Island, we loved cycling to the wineries of Blenheim, hiked everywhere we could around the Glaciers, had an amazing Horseback trek through forest and over rivers to a sunset ride on the beach. Ended our time in Queenstown with jet boating and jumping off high cliffs with the Canyon Swing. We had several glitches along the way- some caused by the tour operators, some caused by weather and wildfires, but Amelia worked with us to make sure everything stayed on track.

Thanks for all your hard work!

Jan & Scott Kuba, Sharon & John Tolomei - USA