New Zealand Self Drive Tour Reviews

Dawn's expertise in knowing the best accommodations and events far surpassed what I could have learned in trying to plan our five-week drive through New Zealand. The itinerary was perfectly paced. Our accommodations were delightful- from unique B&B's to urban hotels. The trip was magical from beginning to end with no glitches! We loved working with Dawn. She began by learning our trip goals and budget and then provided us with the first draft itinerary.

Thank you, Dawn - you were amazing!

Connie & Alden Meyer - United States of America

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

We are the Dreamteam from Belgium, a group of 8 traveling together to all parts of the world. After deciding to spend our holidays (almost 4 weeks) in New Zealand we were very happy to work together with a local travel agent. We have chosen for FirstLightTravel as they responded promptly and gave the right information needed. It was very easy to work with them and to book from Belgium. Their choice of accommodation was perfect. Everywhere we checked in either hotel, either booked excursions the service was perfect.

Thanks, Chrissy from First Light Travel to have been able to discover magic New Zealand.

Carl Das Group from Belgium

New Zealand is about as far from the East Coast of the United States as you can get, but worth all the time and expense to get there. We spent a month in February (midsummer in NZ, dead of winter in Massachusetts) and had a fabulous time, but felt we only scratched the surface. The scenery is out of this world, the lodgings are primo, and the food was almost universally excellent. First Light Travel worked with us to develop a plan that fit our interests almost perfectly. One of our best vacations ever (and Lisa and I have been traveling the world ever since getting married in 1973)!

Tom & Lisa Redburn - United States of America

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for helping to put together such a wonderful, wonderful trip!  You were so helpful, timely with your responses, and caring.  I’ll definitely recommend you to others who plan to travel to NZ.  (You’re so lucky to live there.  My husband and I are talking about moving J).

Kathy Royer - USA

The most important decision we made for our month long stay in New Zealand was to use Amelia at First Light. We just gave her our goals and parameters for our stay and the itinerary she created from all the activities to the accommodations was absolutely perfect. I cannot stress how worry free our vacation was. I would not change a thing and will be recommending her and First Light for years to come. My one piece of advice is to make sure you spend plenty of time in the small beautiful towns. The bed and breakfast options are amazing!

Thank you Amelia!

Jeannie and Robert Garner – United States of America

We did some shopping around with different travel companies when we first started planning our trip to New Zealand, and First Light Travel was the most responsive and helpful. They helped us put together a trip full of exactly the activities we wanted to do. The result was the most amazing vacation we had ever been on. Future vacations are going to have a hard time living up to this one. Having all of our bookings and travel details taken care of made everything super convenient and easy. Thank you so much for helping us take our dream vacation!

Andrew & Bonnie Harpel – United States of America

Wow! What an amazing holiday we had driving across the North Island. It was a truly easy experience knowing that all our plans were booked far in advance and we still had time to add our own stops along the way. A big thank you to these guys, who planned this trip for us almost a year in advance. With so much to see and do, First Light Travel made it easy for our family!

Ashley, Bryan, Abigail and Emmett Grass