New Zealand Self Drive Tour Reviews

We travelled to New Zealand for three weeks in April 2019 and contacted First Light Travel for assistance with the itinerary, accommodation and car hire. We can't recommend them highly enough. Our agent was Christine and she was, throughout, responsive, courteous, flexible and understood our complex requirements which required wheelchair accessible accommodation, activities and car. When the Fox/Franz Josef bridge collapsed a few days before we were due to leave, Christine contacted us, recommended reversing the itinerary and organised everything. And the bridge was rebuilt just in time! We had a fantastic time, and anything that makes our travel a little easier is so appreciated.

So thank you to Christine and First Light Travel, if we return to NZ we will be in touch!

Moya McFadzean & Sean Cox - Australia

Mellisa thank you so much for putting together the most enjoyable holiday for us, we would have missed so many exciting things had it not been for your expertise and excellent knowledge of the country, everything from hotels to suggested activities were well thought out and packaged into a very memorable driving holiday

Leslie Lloyd and Mae Elliott - Australia

Just sitting at the airport waiting for our flight home and thought I’d take the time to express my thanks for putting together such a wonderful package of great accommodations, (Appledore Lodge, Breakers Boutique, and Alexis Motel in Queenstown were our favorite) activities, (HeliHike on Franz Josef was terrific as well as all the kayaking) and the towns we traveled to or through. Everyone: guides, drivers, and hosts in NZ were super; their knowledge of the country and ease of sharing all they know was not only helpful but gave us an appreciation of this magical country. We were blessed with 18 sunny days and only 3 of rain, so the gods were with us.

Kevin and I will certainly recommend your agency to any of our friends traveling this way.

Sincerely,

Kevin and Linda Carroll – California USA

We are Anita & Julian from Canada and we highly recommend booking your New Zealand vacation with First Light Travel. From the beginning to the end our experience was an amazing one. Michelle took her time to listen to our needs and wants and booked us an itinerary that was perfectly planned and well thought out. From each accommodation to our car rental to our boat cruise in Milford Sound, our first time visiting New Zealand will always be a memorable one. Booking with First Light Travel made it easy for us to enjoy our vacation without having to worry about all the little tiny details while we were there. We were able to soak up every amazing minute of it!!

Anita Del Corpo and Julian Fera – Canada

Our trip to New Zealand far exceeded our expectations. We knew the country would be beautiful but the reality was so much greater than our imagination. Because we spent a lot of time talking with Rhodri, our travel agent, about our interests and our style of traveling, we were able to see the country in exactly the way we enjoy. The choice of accommodations, activities and tours suggested by him were perfect and often involved things we never thought we would like quite so much. He was very open to our desire for free days to explore on our own and didn't try to sell us on additional tours. He was very responsive when needed while we were traveling as well. Because he is a New Zealander and knows his country, we felt we received the best advice possible regarding places to visit that also allowed us a very active and personal experience.

We loved everything that Rhodri planned with us, but our favorites were the tour of the Maori village in Rotorua, the biking and farm experience outside Queenstown, kayaking at Abel Tasman and Milford Sound and Okarito. The very best, however, was the boat cruise through Doubtful Sound.

Richard and Anita Aherne - United States of America

Great experience working with First Light. Our trip exceeded our expectations. Thanks to Deb for doing a great job of making it fit our style, time and budget. We enjoyed our two weeks in New Zealand. Our only wish was that we would have spent three weeks. So many wonderful things to see and do. Milford Sound overnight cruise, bungee jumping, Shotover Jet boat, Waitomo glow worms, visiting friends in Wanaka and driving through the beautiful countryside were some of the highlights.

Thanks again for helping us have a delightful time

Paul and Brenda Zimmerman - USA

This trip was planned for a very long time for my husband and myself. It had always been a dream of ours to visit New Zealand. Jo at First Light Travel helped us to plan our dream trip. Every excursion and every accommodation was top notch. We could not have asked for a more perfect vacation. The memories will last us forever.

Jim and Pam Butchart - USA

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

Booking with First Light Travel was a great experience from the beginning to the end, from the first proposal with specific highlights over the optimization and fine-tuning to the support during travel and gave us great advice and selected amazing places.

The flight and stay in Great Barrier Island was wonderfully at the end of the world. Abel Tasman discovery and the surroundings of Nelson were wonderful, between wine and nature. The combination of boat travel, visit of sheep farm and bike ride in Queenstown was an absolute highlight.

The lodge experiences with in-house food were fantastic, total top of the list of course HUKA Lodge and the Te Koi at Bronte, very different places but both fantastic. The Earthsong lodge is amazing for location and food and warmness of the hosts.

Reinardus Van Duijnhoven & Katharina Hoehne - Germany