New Zealand Self Drive Tour Reviews

Dawn and First Light Travel were amazing. I am so glad we worked together for our vacation. Dawn paid close attention to the type of holiday we wanted and planned accordingly. Everything was booked and organized perfectly. The vouchers were helpful, letting us know who/when we needed to confirm. We had no problems, everything went so smoothly. We were a very happy and satisfied couple.

Sandra Oman & Michael Barr - USA

Suzie, Thank you! We had an amazing adventure in NZ, you truly have a beautiful country and we were so happy we made this trip. Your itinerary and all the suppliers were great and everything went on smoothly, thanks for doing this! Really nothing I can complain about and everything to praise! All the activities were great and the tubing was one experience to remember, but so is the hot air balloon, paragliding and the jetboat / heli experience in Wanaka. Something I would not be able to do on my own without your help. That's why people need you to do these for them.

Thanks again

Grace Chua & family - Philippines

Chrissy, We had the BEST TIME OF OUR LIVES! It far exceeds my best expectations and I am so very happy with your service. Everything you did for us was perfect. I have an aunt that works for Singapore Airlines and have told her all about your company and YOU. I told her she can use your name and company to give to others who are interested in vacationing there and use my experience as testimony. I am so pleased with your services that I'm looking into taking other vacations in just the area that you service so I can use you again! We have made memories to last a lifetime and I'm sure the pictures will help paint that picture for you. The only thing that didn't go as planned was our hike through Abel Tasman. My family of 5 from flat, level Florida could not complete the 4 hour hike. We had to call the company and have them "rescue" us from the midway point. It was rather fun as we got to ride on a speed boat and see more of the coastline up close so it was still a blast! Again, thank you for everything! We will definitely use your services again and will highly recommend you to ABSOLUTELY everyone we meet!

Estee and the Davis family USA

Hi Jo, Thanks for our holiday, we had a great time! Everything else went smoothly, we thought we were going to miss out on the rafting due to weather but miraculously on our third time slot change and after rushing back from Dunedin to Queenstown, the weather cleared and we got to go.

Thanks Again 

Susan Grantham and Eamon Clanchy - Australia

Hey Dawn, thank you for planning a dream vacation on the South Island fo...r our family. We appreciated the variety of the activities (Glow Worm cave, Heli-glacier, Milford Sound flight and cruise, hiking, and biking) that you fit into a short week; found the rental car and the accommodations you arranged quite comfortable (especially the rental unit overlooking the lake in Queenstown that provided us front-row seats for the New Year's fireworks display); and of course loved the gorgeous scenery every where we turned! We appreciated how efficiently you fixed the little glitch with our airline tickets - everything worked out perfectly and we would definitely recommend anyone planning a driving trip in New Zealand to work with you. PS thanks for planning perfect weather for us too! 

The Kofman Family

We simply LOVE to deal with Shelley Kirk. This is now the third time that we deal with Shelley and she is just a jewel. She always has good suggestions, the places that she chooses matches with our requirements, she is quick to respond to our queries. Cant ask for anything more of a tour operator, Great work Shelley, we really appreciate the time you spent to help us have an amazing trip in New Zealand.

Simon, Claudine, Raymond and Agathe - Australia

Hi Jo, Thanks and Happy New Year!  I want you to know that our trip was such a success – we just can’t find enough superlatives to describe how well the trip arrangements went. We kept referring to how smooth all the rental car, flights and lodgings were. We had no issues whatsoever, and we kept talking about how great your service had been in helping us plan this wonderful trip. All the hotels were great, especially the Punakaiki Resort and the Trelawn Place – they were just beautiful in their own right both in terms of the location, the views but also the quality of the lodgings. DeBretts was also great and all the other places more than met our expectations as well. The “grande finale” as in the overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound was a fantastic success. Great boat with very knowledgeable and service oriented crew, great food as well as the beautiful scenery – as someone said “breathtaking serenity”. We had many dolphins play next to the boat, and we saw a huge seal colony as well, and we even went for a swim in the sound.

New Zealand is definitely one of, if not the most beautiful country on earth. Everywhere we went, there were beautiful vistas of snow clad mountains, and beautiful blue waters with golden beaches. We skydived, we bungy jumped (did Nevis outside of Queenstown – the highest in NZ with 134 meters, my three sons, one sons girlfriend and even I did it, believe it or not!). We kayaked in beautiful sunny and warm weather in Abel Tasman, we did the Tongariro crossing (more strenuous than I had expected, especially going downhill at the end – my knees were killing me, but it was well worth it), we totally enjoyed the hell-glacier tour, again in beautiful weather (ca 25 degrees in the village and a clear blue sky, even in the afternoon which the guide said was unusual. I did it in shorts!). The glowworm caves and river rafting was also a great experience – again great weather. That was maybe the most fantastic part of our trip, we had such great weather throughout. Only a couple of hours of clouds during the Tongariro Crossing and a cloudy and colder day during our bunny jump as well as rain our last day in Auckland – other than that just clear blue skies and 20-25 degrees!

We will definitely recommend you and your company to anyone we know will want to travel to New Zealand. I’m also going to attempt to get a review for you on TripAdvisor if possible.

Thanks again for all your help to make this trip an unforgettable experience!

All the best,

Hans and the rest of the Sjoquist family - USA

 I had no idea what I wanted to do when I visited New Zealand but having found First Light Travel on line and the recommendations, it made our holiday so much easier and it was fantastic. I gave Dawn some idea of what I wanted and she came up with the perfect package. I shall never thank her enough! Incredible and will certainly recommend FLT to friends and family who want to go to NZ in the future. Also I shall certainly contact FLT again if and when I go again!

Margaret Orchard & Enid Bennett UK

Hello Kasey, Here are some pictures from the trip. I can not thank you enough the trip was amazing New Zealand is beyond anything we ever expected and you made so easy for us to do everything we wanted to do stress free and it was amazing. I took the liberty of leaving a very good review on Facebook as well as filling out the feedback form you sent. I will definitely send anyone I know that is planning a NZ trip your way. 

Thank You again so much!!

Audra Clark USA

Dear Amelia, We had an incredible holiday! This was the trip of a lifetime. All of the accommodations and activities that you booked for us were fantastic. The service could not have been better and your restaurant suggestions were delicious. We can't wait to come back and will absolutely have you do all of the bookings again. I have been telling everyone I know who may travel to New Zealand that they must book through Amelia at First Light Travel!

Wendy and George Schnapp - USA