New Zealand Self Drive Tour Reviews

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

Hi Jo, Thanks for our holiday, we had a great time! Everything else went smoothly, we thought we were going to miss out on the rafting due to weather but miraculously on our third time slot change and after rushing back from Dunedin to Queenstown, the weather cleared and we got to go.

Thanks Again 

Susan Grantham and Eamon Clanchy - Australia

Our whole group was constantly saying how happy we are that we chose First Light Travel for our New Zealand trip. The number of places we stayed in and activities we did would have been such a hassle to book and keep track of receipt/tickets. The booklet of vouchers and long-form itinerary, with a summary at the top of each day, were amazing to have. I would love to have all of my vacations planned by them. Special

Thank you to Judith for her patience and insight.

Craig, Jane & Maya Steinbeck - Singapore

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

We simply LOVE to deal with Shelley Kirk. This is now the third time that we deal with Shelley and she is just a jewel. She always has good suggestions, the places that she chooses matches with our requirements, she is quick to respond to our queries. Cant ask for anything more of a tour operator, Great work Shelley, we really appreciate the time you spent to help us have an amazing trip in New Zealand.

Simon, Claudine, Raymond and Agathe - Australia

Hi Dawn, We had a wonderful holiday and lots of good memories and photo’s to remember it. Basically the itinerary was put together very well, could not have done a better job myself. Thanks again for all the help, really made it a worry free holiday for us. 

Best Regards

Patrick Nootebos and Family USA

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

This was our first time traveling to another country. I explained the general activities we wanted to do during our stay and Shelley crafted a wonderful itinerary. She was great to work with, helped us multiple times through last minute changes, and helped us with a dream vacation. I absolutely loved the wine tours selected for us. Our tour in Central Otago was so lovely. We visited beautiful wineries like Chard, Dominion, Peregrine, ate lunch at an amazing winery with a beautiful view. Martin was fantastic as a host. Ananda tours on Waiheke Island was our favorite. The island is beautiful, our guide was so accommodating, and we visited some simply stunning wineries.

Mitai Maori Cultural Experience was AMAZING! It was a wonderful way to learn about Maori culture, experience good food, and have a great time with many different nations. Extremely professional staff, I enjoyed it so much. The rental car process was very easy and not too hard to figure out for those of us who drive on the other side of the road.
Definitely recommend GPS for anyone who doesn't know the area in the future.

Thanks Shelly

Nathan Kanzler and Vickiana Franco USA