New Zealand Self Drive Tour Reviews

My wife Wendy and I have just returned from our spectacular 3-week self-drive New Zealand Adventure.

Gina put together a terrific itinerary for us. Each of our transfers, car hire, hotels and activities were just as we had hoped, and each were of an exceptional standard.

We spent a week on the north island and two weeks on the south.

As keen consumers of wine! we loved our tours of each of the wine regions and especially enjoyed the visits and hikes in many of the national parks.

We will be back.

Andrew (Andy) & Wendy Nixon - USA

I highly recommend First Light Travel, especially our travel designer, Michelle, who helped us plan an amazing and unforgettable trip for us! We were very satisfied with all the sights we saw and the choice of hotels and motels were on point. The itinerary was very well planned and there was not one part of the trip where we were exhausted, as we were provided enough time to rest. If you're planning to go to the beautiful country of New Zealand, book via First Light Travel and you are sure to get the best support and experience!

Rikesh Patel and Family - UK

We are avid hikers, and the focus of our first 3 1/2 week trip to New Zealand was to do three of the Great Walks-the Tongariro Crossing, the Milford Track and the Abel Tasman Track. Natalie helped us organize and book these hikes, with exploratory days on both the North and South Islands and a wine tour in between. She also helped us organize transport by train, bus, plane and local taxis, so we didn't have to drive on the "wrong" side of the road. This trip only whetted our appetite for NZ hiking and we hope to return. We would highly recommend Natalie and First Light Travel for those who want a customized, unique tour of this beautiful country!

Ruth and Andy Patterson: Canada

​​Hi Gina,

Thank you for arranging the amazing trip! All of us had a great time in New Zealand and wish to come back soon! I will also be writing the reviews for First Light Travel.

Posted in Google  ‘Highly recommended Travel Agent! Planned out our 2 weeks NZ trip amazingly. Let them know what's your interest and they will give you the best itinerary for you accordingly’

Kind Regards Widjaja Group - Indonesia

It was beyond our very high expectations. The hotels were best of all - for location, washer/dryer and restaurant. The B&Bs were all great and the tours were all outstanding. The timing worked out well as the 2 night stays gave a chance to catch our breath. We never got exhausted.

I could have added another day at Mt Cook, another day in Christchurch after the train trip and one more day at the MSocial with its location on the wharf. But that’s not bad planning from California.

We saw saw more birds than we could ever imagined - 4 breeds of penguins, 5 albatross and 2 types of kiwi plus all the others birds too numerous to list

Natalie te Dorsthorst was marvelous and made a great trip on paper turn into a trip of our dreams.

Mike & Carole Epstein - California USA

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for getting in touch, we had an amazing time!

Your organisation from the hire car to all the accommodation and activities meant the trip went really smoothly for us and we enjoyed every part of it.

We especially loved the accommodation in Lake Pukaki which had an amazing view and another highlight for us was the Milford Sound overnight cruise. We didn’t know what to expect but it blew us away.

 Also thank you for rearranging the helicopter ride for us, multiple times.  Was well worth the wait to finish with it in Queenstown.

Thank you again for organising the trip for us, will be sure to recommend!

 Cheers,

 Peter Mavroidis & Julieanne Barbaro (from NSW)

“Thanks to Michelle at First Light Travel, our recent 25 day self drive tour of New Zealand was a real blast. All accommodation bookings, rental vehicles, train tickets, selected pre-booked tourist attractions and other suggested optional activities across both islands went without a hitch. All we had to do was enjoy our holiday.

 We highly recommend them to anyone planning to travel to New Zealand."

 Roger and Gillian Lowrey from Geelong Australia

My husband Mike Ulry and I just returned to the U.S. from a two week vacation in New Zealand.  I highly recommend First Light Travel for your itinerary.  They are based in New Zealand and did a wonderful job putting together our itinerary and making all of the arrangements.  Natalie te Dorsthorst was our agent.  She went above and beyond to do everything she could to make it an experience we will never forget!  The scenery is breathtaking!  My husband and I are fans of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, so it was wonderful to visit some of the locations where filming took place.  We started at the north island and ended our visit at the south island.  There is no way we could have put together this itinerary ourselves, because we are not familiar with the country.  We just told them what we are interested in, and they did the rest!  Thank you, Natalie!  We will be forever grateful for your personal service!

Michael & Linda Ulry - USA

Hi Michelle

We are back home & had a wonderful NZ trip. We especially loved the south island & thought the tour you organised for us was excellent .There were many excellent experiences in your tour but the highlight was the night spent at Lanark Castle is Dunedin & the superb gourmet meal we enjoyed with other guests staying there. We enjoyed all the tours you booked for us, particularly the glow worm cave and I liked the fact that after the tour was over, we congregated in their ‘club house’ for refreshments & a great talk about the life cycle of glow worms, both informative & amusing. My husband is not very mobile but he was able to do everything you arranged for us.

I most certainly would recommend your services & have already passed your details onto a couple of people who asked.

Thanks again, great holiday!

Kind regards

Noelle & Anthony Keller - Australia

New Zealand is a gorgeous country but can be tricky to tour if you don’t have the correct itinerary and organization in place. This is where Jaimee Boyce excelled on our recent trip to the South Island. We were limited to 9 days following 2.5 weeks in Australia. I actually found Jaimee by doing an online search but as soon as we connected, I knew I’d found the right person to make this dream vacation to New Zealand happen.

My husband and I are well traveled, active 60-somethings living in Los Angeles. Jaimee put a self-drive tour in place arranging everything from the rental car, to the hotels (we like boutique, upscale) to the itinerary and activities. One of our highlights was a bike/wine tour just outside of Queenstown that was the best we’d ever been on (definitely opt for the e-bike). Another was an overnight cruise on Milford Sound. We did things on this trip we might not have thought of had she not included them in the itinerary.

We had a bit of a hiccup when, much to our disappointment, while in the gorgeous area of Mt Cook, both of our activities were rained out. I called Jaimee and she immediately put a “Plan B” in place.

Jaimee was extremely responsive to my every email (and there were plenty) both prior to and during our wonderful time in this magnificent country. I recommend her unequivocally to help organize and execute a Kiwi dream vacation. And icing on the cake: the price was right!

Randi & Richard Simenhoff - USA