New Zealand Self Drive Tour Reviews

Thank you First Light! We have just returned from an amazing 27-day vacation in New Zealand and with Dawn’s help, it was a fantastic, once in a lifetime experience. Dawn worked closely with us, setting up our self-driving tour including our suggestions and offering many great ones of her own. The end result was the perfect itineray in which there were no issues whatsoever. Kudos to Dawn at First Light for the great job she did in creating our perfect holiday!

Debbie Thompson & Ron Forrester - Canada

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 Amelia, my apologies for not responding sooner. Yes we received the refund. Thanks so much! We had a WONDERFUL time! 

Here’s a photo of us at Lake Pukaki heading to Mt. Hood! 

Dan Glass & Family - USA

Thank you, Michelle for your help in planning a bucket list trip we never thought we would take! You helped us plan a pace that was just right for our time on the South Island. We are excited to come back to the North Island this year.

Caroline and John Davison - United States of America

The trip was great – I requested a lot of activities over a short amount of time – many required complicated logistical support and would have been a nightmare for me to set up remotely. The logistics all worked with minor exceptions, and you were available to help us when we asked for help.

Gary & Nikki Kelley - USA

We would give First Light Travel a billion stars ********!!!!

Everything was handled with such superb care that the trip we were planning to New Zealand would be tailored to our particular likes. Melissa R., our agent, was willing to refine the proposals over and over perhaps three times to make it fit. She knows her New Zealand! And the places to see and activities to do that she suggested were perfectly us! Plus when we arrived with our voucher booklet and itinerary everything went so smoothly; each hotel or B & B, each place of activity had us on their list. No hitches at all! Our only regret was that we couldn't have stayed longer than the 18 days we planned; there is so much more to do and see in NZ!

Joan & Robert Pilat – 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

Thanks to First Light and especially to Amelia - who guided us in advance and along the journey. It has been the best weeks of the last 20 years. We will come back to NZ and again with First Light as soon as possible!

Michael and Susanne Gruber - Germany

We put this trip together very quickly only two months before, thanks to Rhodri’s itinerary suggestions and the arrangements he was able to make for us.  We felt very lucky about this as we were aware we had left it very late.  Rhodri found us good flight connections and great accommodations throughout New Zealand that were beautiful and yet connected to the local people and the surrounding environs.  My husband and I had requested an active trip and Rhodri delivered a variety of experiences for us so that we had a fabulous time.  We travelled for 16 days and did and saw a lot, giving us a very good appreciation for all that New Zealand has to offer.  Highlights include the Glow Worms Cave in Waitomo, hiking the Tongariro Crossing on a perfect sunny day, hiking along the Queen Charlotte Track after a water taxi ride on the Marlborough Sound out to the trail, kayaking both on a river in Havelock as well as on the ocean in Kaikoura, and the days we spent based in Queenstown.  From that beautiful city we did an excellent day trip out to Milford Sound and a day hike on the Routeburn Track, and very much enjoyed a “down day” where we cruised on a beautiful lake to Mt. Nicholas Farm where we learned about sheep farming followed by a 14 km cycle to Walter Peak sheep station where we partook of an incredible barbecue lunch.  All of our day trips were well-arranged for us and we just showed up and enjoyed the activity.  Many activities were guided, but we did a few on our own as well.  We added in a trip to the Redwoods in Rotorua, a stop at Waiotapu for the geothermal area and did some impromptu hikes in other areas including beautiful Akaroa.  Also a stop at a winery for lunch outside of Blenheim.  First Light Travel and Rhodri were so very easy to deal with and created a wonderful memorable trip for us.  When we needed to change the itinerary  to allow one more day, Rhodri was able to quickly do so.  He was very responsive to my emails.  Our flight arrangements were smooth, the accommodations were nicely appointed and well located, and the car rental went well.  It seems that everywhere we showed up, whether for a rental car, activity tour, ferry ride or the bed and breakfasts and small hotels, people were expecting us and made us feel welcome. 

We costed out the trip at the end and our calculations showed that we actually saved a few hundred dollars by booking with First Light Travel, rather than booking things separately ourselves.  My husband and I highly recommend First Light for anyone considering a New Zealand trip.

Maureen Hutson and John Chase - Canada

Just back from a whirlwind tour of NZ with First Light and Amelia did an awesome job of reading into levels of activity and accommodations. They all surpassed our expectations. We maybe had a little too much driving but that was our doing as we knew we wanted to “see it all” in only three weeks. Would we do it again. In a heartbeat and Amelia would be our go-to person.

Thank you for the NZ sampler....

Bill & Eva Fraser-Harris - USA