New Zealand Self Drive Tour Reviews

Hi Chrissy 

Yep, had a good time, everything went fine, even got to experience a major earthquake!!

You did an excellent job and really attempted to give us a full and varied holiday experience All of the basic recommendations and trip plans were great. The organization of the itenerary and booked voucher system was flawless with no issues from any of the bookings.

Steve Anderson - USA

I can't say enough good things about dealing with First Light Travel and Kasey !!!! I wanted this trip to be extra special and it was that and more ! She listened to what I wanted and created a trip accordingly. My family was not ready for trip to be over , we recommend New Zealand and First Light Travel to everyone !

Karen & Douglas Paciotti and Family - USA

Shelley, Thank you so much for planning our wonderful holiday in New Zealand. We all had wonderful experiences and it really was the adventure of a lifetime. The attractions and accommodations you planned were all excellent and the itinerary and voucher system worked so smoothly!

Thank you also for arranging the lovely weather, it was absolutely beautiful for the full two weeks. Highlights of the trip were our rafting excursion with Hamish and our stay at Within the Bays B&B; Hans and AnneMarie are just delightful. We loved how many of the tours and activities are small and private. We loved getting to know our NZ hosts and spend good, quality time together as a family. We have all fallen in love with New Zealand. We'll be back for sure - we haven't seen the South Island yet!

Thanks again, 

Jeni, Jason, Sam and Anna Brett USA

In November, my wife and I celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary traveling through New Zealand. Having done some extensive online research, we decided to have First Light Travel plan and book our trip. Marrying Marianne 46 years ago was certainly the best decision I ever made. Choosing First light Travel might be the second best!

Our First Light Travel agent, Amelia Riwai, was sensational! Every aspect of our two-week itinerary was nothing short of First Class. We stayed in some beautiful hotels and several lovely bed & breakfasts. We particularly enjoy the B&Bs because they give us a chance to meet and share time and experiences with our hosts - and the places that Amelia chose for us are owned by very friendly, talented and gracious people who thoroughly enriched our Kiwi experience. And then, there were the tours and excursions! 

We are very active seniors and so many of the things we chose to do involve some physical activity. From the thrilling Huka Falls Jet Boats to the exhilarating Franz Josef Glacier Heli Hike to the wondrous Glow Worm Caves and the scenic Doubtful Sound cruise, we have memories to last a lifetime -- and so much to talk about this holiday season.

Dick & Marianne Spagna - USA

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

Kasey, Thank you for planning a wonderful trip for us. It was absolutely amazing and we had great weather too! Here are a bunch of pics of us having fun on our trip . We will be sure to refer you to folks we know because you provided Wonderful service and very efficient, even with the time zone difference!!

Julie Baher & Family - 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

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

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