New Zealand Self Drive Tour Reviews

It was a wonderful experience to work with Jo from First Light Travel.  She is very professional and helpful, designing a tour specific to our small group.  Most importantly, she was immediately available when we ran into a snag with a cancelled flight, arranging other transportation to get us back on our itinerary.  It was comforting to all of us to have her support!

My favorite parts of the trip were:

1.  Brisbane:  This city surprised me with the beautiful Botanical Garden and the river flowing through.   I would like to spend more time there and do a lot more exploring.

2.  Cairns:  What a paradise!  Winter is a great time to go and enjoy this tropical area, there is so much to see and do.

3. Te Anau:  The hotel Radfords on the Lake is set next to the lake and the scenery is stunning.  The glow worm cave was so beautiful and Milford Sound is so spectacular that pictures cannot do it justice.

4,  Queenstown:  What a wonderful, fun city set in an amazing place!  Take the gondola ride to the top at night for a great view.  For that matter, all of New Zealand is so unspoiled and beautiful, I would be happy to spend much more time there.

Thanks so much for your help, Jo.  You helped make our trip wonderful!

Letha Davis - USA

Jo is a miracle worker! 

I can’t say enough about how great she was to work with!  There wasn’t a pre-planned tour available for the winter season, so she took us under her wing and helped us to create a custom-designed trip of a lifetime.  She accommodated and exceeded our every need and request...and believe me there were many.  She took care of every detail from pickup and drop offs to detailed notes and phone numbers for confirmations.  We didn’t have to worry about a thing...and that made all the difference in traveling.

Our drivers and guides were treasures!  They took personal interest in offering detailed information about their beloved country as well as answering any questions we had with patience and enthusiasm.  The excursions she selected for us were fabulous...we were treated to the best of the best meals and service.  We called it our “spoil spree” adventure.   When there was a complication in our trip due to a flight cancellation, she was instantly available for us to problem solve and she personally handled arrangements to get us back on schedule.  Phew!  I felt so much better having her “on board” with us for the whole vacation process.    

We highly recommend First Light Travel to anyone and we are already making wishful plans for a return trip...now if we can just get her to branch out on a global scale for all of our traveling in the future!  What do you say, Jo?

Australia favorites:

The Sydney Harbor dinner cruise - beautiful scenery, AMAZING food with wine pairings, live music, and first-rate service.

Wendy Sorenson - USA

This trip is one for the books! Christine made sure that we are able to enjoy and maximize our 8-day vacation to the wonderful places in South Island, NZ. We only contacted her 2 weeks prior our trip but she was able to quickly come up with an Itinerary and was very patient with our questions and requested adjustments with our IT given the very short timing. She was also quick to respond on our emails and gave tips on some of our concerns. We'll definitely contact them again on our next visit to New Zealand. Appreciate all the help!

Marco & Nikki Collantes - Manila, Philippines

Hi Christine,

We are now in Singapore, waiting to board, bound for Manila.  All in all, our trip was wonderful and without a hitch...our afternoon tour is special, we all have the whole bus for ourselves only! Kevin was very kind and passionate...we really enjoyed the tour....

Thank you so much for everything. 

Will recommend you definitely to others who would want the same treatment.

Best regards

Leovie & Maria Consuelo Madali - Philipines

I strongly recommend First Light Travel to anybody that needs a proper travel plan. Appreciation to our travel consultant Chrissy Sun, who have prompt correspondence revising our proposal back and forth.

My family really enjoyed the 14 days South Island self-drive trip. Thumbs up to everybody who made it a success.

Janice Heng Kim Siang - Malaysia

Dear Sofie,

As a seventy year old couple we had always planned our own trips. Our experience with you at First Flight Travel was exceptional. We could not have images a better adventure, experience which were “up close and personal” with the people, the culture and magnificent land of New Zealand!

As our first experience working with someone, you were always patient, knowledgeable and accomplish the results excessing our expectations! You identified unique experiences such as the Tram Restaurant in Christchurch and the PurePod, all glass cabin, in the mid of nothing but incredible landscape! These experiences coupled with the Paragliding at over 4,000 feet are memories we will never forget.

As a traveler we usually have some idea of what we want to see when we explore a new country but your attention to detail, your ability to understand what we needed and wanted was exceptional, thank you Sofie!

Throughout the trip if needed, you were always there. I would encourage anyone to work with an agent within the country they are visiting because the details are truly reflective by your knowledge, insights and extraordinary skills which can only come from living in a country.

I will email a few of my favorite pictures but if you see any particular ones you would like from Facebook, please let me know. I wish I had a picture of us at the PurePod together but I only have some silly ones of Bob being overjoyed!

I look forward to working with First Light Travel again when we visit Australia!

My very best,

Robert & Susan Mills -  USA

Hi First Light Travel,

A group of 6 of us will be finishing a tour of South Island in 2 days time in which your agency helped to arrange for us. We would like to say a big thank you for the arrangements made and the care and concern accorded to us by your team, especially Sofie who was our tour consultant from day 1. Please let her know we are appreciative of the care she showed us and the detailed arrangements that were made every step of our travel. We are especially thankful and impressed with her professionalism in handling the last minute change in our travel itinerary due to the inclement weather 2 weeks prior to our arrival in New Zealand which resulted in the washing away of a vital bridge connecting Queenstown to Franz Josef. Please thank her for us.

Please also let your counterparts In Christchurch know that we are very happy with the service and care rendered to us by Kevin, the guide assigned to us for the entire duration of our travel in South Island. Kevin was always cheerful and accommodating to our requests and all the seniors in our group had a soft spot for him after their time spent with him. Please let him know we are most appreciative of his care for our small group this whole time. We felt very safe and were impressed with his driving skills. He always ensured we had our seat belts on and he navigated all the curves with care. He was a safe driver that made us all felt safe in his hands. He always had our safety and comfort foremost in his interactions with us.

Thank you first light travel for everything. I am writing this with a sadness that my group and I will be leaving in 2 days time. If ever we return to New Zealand, we know which travel agency we would like to take care of our travel plans. Have a great weekend.

Regards,
Lilian sim and San San Teo - Singapore

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

Hi Shelley,

We are finally getting back in the groove after a mind-blowing trip of a lifetime. You were instrumental in making this trip run absolutely seamlessly!

We will highly recommend you and First Light Travel to everyone considering a trip to New Zealand.

Thanks so much!

Melissa Wilson and Paige Larson USA

Melissa was really helpful and promptly responded to our questions and concerns. This was our first trip to New Zealand and we instantly fell in love with its beauty.

We'll surely be back :)

David, Jaden & Kiana Kowidjaja - Indonesia

I cannot tell you how overly pleased we were with First Light Travel! Simply exceptional, and I would most strongly recommend FLT for any trip to New Zealand and Australia. We would approach a tour or a hotel or an activity, produce the voucher FLT had prepared for us and others around us would ask “Where did you get those vouchers?” We would respond, “First Light Travel” People would look at us with envy with the ease of our registration at the various hotels and entrance to the attractions. I wish I had had several business cards to hand out.

Rodney & Judy and Tyler & Kayla - USA