New Zealand Self Drive Tour Reviews

Thank you, for all your help in organizing our trip to your wonderful country. The itinerary you created for us was an excellent balance between scheduled activities/"must sees" and unscheduled time. We saw a great deal and got a good sense of New Zealand from all the places we visited.

Jean, Mark & Emily Greaves - USA

Sofie,

We received your email and will be posting some reviews, but I wanted to let you know how very much we enjoyed our trip!!! Honestly, you would not believe how many times we thanked our lucky stars for you and your amazing itinerary! There is no way we could have planned such a perfect experience on our own.

We loved loved loved the House With No Nails, the darling hostess and yummy breakfast and the views out the windows at the vast green meadows.  It seemed so wrong to drive away after just one night:) We loved Hobbiton and the evening feast, that was simply magical, and we made lifelong friends as we relaxed and enjoyed that evening.

We loved the Pancake Rocks and the flight trip to Mt. Cook, and the Lord of The Rings tour.  We enjoyed all the driving, criss crossing across the country to see and discover what New Zealand is like. We really felt like you were so skilled in knowing what we would want to see and do, and in arranging every step for us so that we were able to enjoy it all stress free.  I even did ok driving on the left side of the road!! It was actually fun.

So thank you dear Sofie, for a wonderful experience.  We will be raving about you and First Light for years!

Mary Kaelin, Cathy Bradley & Allison Peterson - USA

First Light Travel made everything easy. Toni the agent that worked with me was prompt and provided accurate information. My whole vacation went smoothly and was everything I was hoping it would be and more! I can't thank them enough for how well it all went and how amazing it was, this truly was a trip of a lifetime!

Derek Blades - USA

Hi Amelia

Just wanted to check in and send you  big thank you for the tour you arranged. It has been amazing so far and even the weather has been in our favour with most days being lovely and sunny. Been very blessed so far which has made it even more special. Also have attached a couple of pictures and just wanted to thank you for making that possible.

Will always be a special place for us now!

All the best

Ross McPhillimey & Pia Smithers – United Kingdom

First Light Travel was hands down the best company that I have ever worked with! They were so accommodating to every email. They called me several times on their dime just to get to know me and my holiday desires better. They worked with me countless hours to develop the perfect itinerary. Their services didn't cost us a penny! They even mailed us our itineraries in addition to emailing them and had a bag of maps for us at our accommodation in case our GPS didn't work. If you are going to Australia or New Zealand, and you don't use First Light Travel, you are nuts.

Joelle Moorman and Dylan Cullimore - USA

My husband and I debated for months where we should go for our honeymoon, but after our first call with Toni from First Light Travel, it became clear to us that New Zealand was the right choice. From the very beginning, Toni was friendly, informative, and just incredibly helpful. We quickly learned that New Zealand had so much to offer, with locations and excursions that fit perfectly with our personalities and desired trip. Toni took the time to listen to our preferences, understand our time frame, and respect our budget. We made a few tweaks to our itinerary, but it didn't take much work at all to craft the perfect 2 week excursion.

While the planning process itself was noteworthy, our actually trip exceeded our expectations in every way. Travel was not only easy, but enjoyable. Ever taxi, transfer, booking and reservation went smoothly and on time. Every hotel was stayed at was friendly and accommodating, and the materials prepared by First Light (and given to us upon arrival) provided just the right amount of detail to make sure our trip went off without any issue. We fell in love with New Zealand, and it's with thanks to First Light Travel for making sure we made the most of our time in such a beautiful country. We really couldn't be any happier with our experience!

Sarah Futernick and Matthew Peven - USA

Hi Kasey,

Bob emailed you letting you know how pleased we were with FirstLight, but I wanted to let you know how great Grand Pacific Tours has been. We have been treated first-class for the entire tour. The hotels have all been wonderful. Hotel personnel greeted us on the bus at each stop. They had the room keys ready and waiting and we were in our rooms less than five minutes from stepping off the bus. 

The bus driver/tour director, Roger Duncumb, has been absolutely outstanding. He has a great personality and has been very informative. Every excursion was precisely planned and he had us where we needed to be at the exact time.  The meals were all wonderful, but maybe we ate a little too much! The Ultimate bus is the only way to go and the small number of guests on the bus made the tour much more personable. We can never go back to a 48+ seat bus. 

We had a good time being the only Americans amongst a wonderful group of Aussies! I have been on other bus tours that were complete disasters so this tour set the standards high for future tours. 

I’ll be getting home in two weeks, so once I get my photos straightened out I’ll send some to you and also do some reviews. 

Thank you, Kathy
 

Hi, Sofie! I hope you are well.

I know this is UNFORGIVABLY late, but here are some photos from the trip Jessica Barrett and I took to New Zealand that First Light Travel booked for us in 2017. We had the absolute BEST time doing all things Lord of the Rings related. We cannot wait to come back, now that our journey is a few years behind us. Please feel free to use these photos as you'd like!

All best,

Jessica Barrett & Katie Moran

Jo Taylor and Suzie Thorp did an excellent job of coordinating all of our hotels, bus trips, and flights. I would highly recommend First Light Travel to organize your trip. I simply gave them a list of things that we wanted to see and she did all of the work...AWESOME!!!

Rebecca & Elizabeth Dowen – Indiana USA

Shelley at First Light Travel was awesome in putting together our South Island NZ itinerary. We are a family of four, with two teenage boys, aged 13 and 17, so wanted some adventure, whilst fitting in some relaxation and beautiful scenery. We already had an idea of what where we wanted to visit and some activities and Shelley was able to fine-tune out ideas for the better and made it an easy and seamless holiday. From the perfect accommodation for our family's needs (including kitchenettes in all motel rooms) to the hire car and pre-booked activities like rock climbing, cruises, gondola rides and zip lining. The choices are endless. The scenery is spectacular. I highly recommend Shelley and the team at First Light Travel, after a friend used them and recommended to me.

It saved us a lot of time and stress.

Narelle, Mark , Benjamin & Charles Aston - Australia