New Zealand Self Drive Tour Reviews

Nicole with First Light Travel helped us book the New Zealand honeymoon of our dreams! She was very knowledgeable and resourceful, and helped us make the most of our 2-week trip. We had a blast visiting local bird sanctuaries, the Dark Sky Project, and learning about Māori culture in Rotorua. The glow worm caves were also a must-see! We highly recommend First Light to anyone planning a trip to New Zealand for their professionalism, local knowledge, and affordability.

When we started planning our honeymoon, we quickly realized we had no idea how to plan an epic vacation. Gina and the First Light team put together an excellent itinerary that catered to our preferences and turned it into our favorite trip ever! The time spent in each location was perfect, and coincidentally helped when we ran into a few weather related reschedules. For the price, everything exceeded our expectations! We loved it all, but we especially loved the day in Milford sound with the scenic flight back. We also loved the franz Josef helicopter, the steamboat ride & dinner. There wasn’t a bad activity on the itinerary.

Working with First Light was effortless and excellent. They clearly know what they are doing and how best to tailor a trip to their clients. We had friends in Auckland we wanted to visit, and our agent Gina did a great job integrating their visit into our itinerary. Gina also really talked to, listened to, and planned with us what kinds of activities were important and desirable. It was our 30th wedding anniversary trip, and Gina helped make it one of the best trips we have ever taken!

First Light Travel planned an unforgettable 16 day trip to Fiji and New Zealand to celebrate our 15 year wedding anniversary. I can attest that this one of our all time favorite trips. We experienced so many unforgettable experiences such as paragliding, jet boating, swimming with wild dolphins, and Hobbiton. Our travel planner, Gina O'Neill, was exceptionally detailed and thoughtfully took all of our feedback to craft our dream vacation. She made our trip seamless and completely stress free. Can't say enough good things about First Light Travel! Highly recommend this service!

We entrusted our Honeymoon to First Light Travel and were so glad we did! Their consultation service was exceptional, Natalie helped with suggestions for activities and listened to all our needs. During our trip there were some unfortunate cancellations due to extreme weather but the team at First Light travel couldn’t have been more helpful, rearranging trips and accommodation to ensure we made the most of every moment. We are very grateful to the team and would recommend them to anyone looking to explore NZ and the surrounding countries!

First Light Travel made me and my husband’s honeymoon a wonderful, stress free experience! I originally tried to plan a trip to New Zealand on my own, that proved to be very difficult. There’s so much to see and do!! So, we reached out and ended up working with Jasmin and she was THE BEST. She got to know us a little and we told her we loved the outdoors and wanted to experience NZ but didn’t know where to start! We decided to use our two week honeymoon completely on the South Island. Which included: Christchurch, Mount Cook, Dunedin, Te Anau, Doubtful Sound, Queenstown, Wanaka, and Franz Josef. She kept us busy with both large and small group adventures which we loved. Wildlife cruises to see albatross, island nature walks with great views, and our all day cruise to Doubtful Sound just to name a few! We had something almost every day, but she did schedule in a couple free days for us to explore. Her communication skills were amazing, she gave us an itinerary, to which she made it easy to change a few things (we live in MN so we didn’t want to kayak or jet ski, we do that every summer). She finalized booking, and saw us off! We wouldn’t have had this experience without her. Thanks Jasmin and First Light Travel! 10000/10 would recommend.

First Light Travel was amazing to work with! Micala helped us out, and was always quick to answer any questions. We were able to customize our itinerary and our honeymoon in New Zealand was a dream! Every accommodation was pristine and Micala took care of booking/setting up transportation. Each transportation was on time and everything went so smooth. I would highly recommend First Light to anyone!

Danielle at First Light planned our honeymoon to NZ and Fiji. It was a seamless trip! We just followed the itinerary and loved our experience! We look forward to more trips with Danielle!

Our honeymoon trip was an unforgettable adventure thanks to First Light Travel's amazing planning (specifically Danielle Mueth’s). They handled every detail perfectly, from flights and accommodations to exciting activities. We especially loved the scenic flight from Milford Sound and the wine tour around Central Otago with Apallatian Tours - it was a perfect balance of relaxation and adventure. We highly recommend First Light Travel, to anyone planning a honeymoon! Make sure you request Danielle as your travel advisor!

Our adventure in New Zealand was magnificent. Thank you so much for planning our once in a lifetime trip. Your care and service to us before and during the trip was superb; we truly appreciate the call to warn us that our ferry might be delayed, and for checking in prior to the trip about which car to hire. One piece that we wished for additional communication was finding the entrance to Alexis Motel & Apartments in Queenstown: there has been road construction for 2 years there and it took a detour over steep hills to find the garage.

I've prepared a review of each booking. Happy to share more details as needed. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and would recommend the trip to anyone!

Accommodations:

1. Nesuto Stadium Apartment Hotel: great location, helpful front desk.
2. B&B @ the Redwoods: our favorite stay on the North Island. Vivien (the host) is knowledgeable, helpful, and a delight. Great breakfast, too.
3. Copthorne Hotel Oriental Bay Wellington: this hotel was OK. There was water damage on the ceiling in our room, but we had no issues.
4. Kahutara PurePod: magical and breathtaking, our favorite stay of the trip. We met the owner of the farm and his puppies, had fun walking in the sheep paddock, and relaxed and soaked in the stunning views.
5. Quest Cathedral Junction: we arrived for late night check-in, which was off-putting just because the garage was dark. We liked how the room overlooked the trolley and was in a central location.
6. Hermitage Mt. Cook: beautiful location and hotel with a view of Mt. Cook and incredible dining experiences. We would definitely return here!
7. Alexis Motel & Apartments: fun stay, reliable manager.

Travel:

1. Marquee Limousines: fabulous. We appreciated the black car service and enjoyed our conversation with our driver on Wednesday morning 22. November, Tanya.
2. Europcar North Island: seamless car pickup, grateful for the automatic assists provided by the newer model.
3. Interislander Ferry: it was delayed 3 hours, but you had called ahead to let us know so this was expected. Our only complaint was that this limited our time at the PurePod in Kaikoura.
4. Europcar South Island: no complaints. Fewer automatic assists than the first car, but Peter was familiar with driving on the left side of the road by this time. :)

Activities:

1. Auckland Sea Kayaks - sunset tour to Rangitoto Island: beautiful views and a great meal. It was quite an arduous tramp in the rain but well worth it to see the bioluminescent waters.
2. Hobbiton movie set tour: unforgettable! My favorite experience on the North Island.
3. Te Puia - Te Po: otherworldly and magical, a real treat.
4. Weta Workshop tour: really cool, fun, and learned a lot.
5. Hassle Free Tours - Lord of the Rings Edoras tour: our favorite activity of the trip and a real treat. The views were unmatched and it was perfect for a Lord of the Rings superfan. The only negative comment is our driver picked up 2 hitchhikers and gave them the tour as well, before dropping them back off at a hostel. This made us and some of the other guests uncomfortable and it felt unfair that they enjoyed this amazing activity for no cost.
6. Nomad Safaris - full day LOTR: fun 4WD adventure. Our specific tour guide was not the most enthusiastic but I think he was feeling ill.