The weather was bad especially the following day. It affected the experience. We were hoping to have a taste of NZ crayfish as that would be the best place to eat it but we were disappointed that it was not part of the menu.
Loved the tour. It wasn’t quite as relaxing as it might have been given the large group of school kids. Although they were generally well behaved, there must have been 40 children moving round in groups which took the edge off what was an amazing (but expensive) experience. It would have been good to have been notified in advance as we would have chosen another date. The staff and food were fantastic.
Great staff, very helpful, always on the lookout to make your trip more enjoyable.
Loved the freedom to stop where and when we wanted. Rooms were even better than expected. Double Spa Bath, awesome.
Words can not express how fabulous our vacation was! Our tour consultant, Mani Fagundes, built a perfect tour for us. It was customized to include the famous Tongariro National Park Alpine Crossing hike and then followed the Pure South Island self-drive itinerary. Mani and Relaxing Journeys made this the easiest vacation ever. When we arrived at our rental car company, just as promised we received a complete package of information including our vouchers, detailed itinerary, helpful road map, and guidebooks for each major town that we visited. All we had to do was follow the itinerary, it was just that easy. Driving in New Zealand is very easy. The roads are wide, smooth, and well marked. There were arrows everywhere so remembering which side of the road to drive on was not a problem. Clearly New Zealand has made an investment in their road system to assist their many visitors and boost tourism. Using vouchers was incredibly easy. Car rentals, NZ domestic airfare e-tickets, hotel accommodations, excursions, taxi rides, and private car service were all reserved in advance for us, all we had to do was hand over the voucher. I wish all vacations were as simple as that! We knew in advance what all of our costs would be and did not have to keep handing over money every day. Mani booked our car through Thrifty and we had a beautiful Toyota Camry. It was clean, efficient, and the perfect size. The hotel accommodations were immaculate, their service was top-notch, and the locations were perfect so that we could walk to everything once we arrived at our hotels. They were interesting and beautiful. I also feel that we were given better rooms within the hotels, all our rooms had a view of whatever landmark was near (lake, rainforest, downtown, etc). I think it may have been better to book through a company than individually because it may give a better chance of getting better rooms. We enjoyed quite a few excursions and we loved every one. We did the heli-hike in Franz Josef Glacier – that is a MUST DO. We did the zip-line echo tour in Queenstown which was fun, they have the steepest zip line in the world. We did the Dart River jet boat and funyak (which are inflated kayaks) in Queenstown and that was fabulous. We saw miniature blue penguins in the Otago Peninsula by Dunedin – that may have been our favorite part of the trip, they were absolutely adorable. We saw glow worms in a cave in Te Anau which was great fun. And we did an excellent bus tour of Christchurch. Aside from the excursions, Mani gave a good description of sites to see during the long drives in between towns. We stopped at wineries, a gold mining town, jade (green stone) artisan shop, glass blowing studio, and too many short hikes / overlooks to count. Do not be intimidated by long drives between towns. The itinerary left us plenty of time to take it slow and enjoy the scenery, and driving there is so easy. Literally almost no stoplights (just round-abouts) and there is no stress in the driving. The self-drive itinerary was a great way to see the country. We did have a few questions during our trip, and each time I called Relaxing Journeys they quickly answered the phone and gave me an answer on the spot. They even called the Christchurch bus tour company when I couldn’t find them to make sure I connected with them. Both Mani and Relaxing Journey provided excellent service. Mani took all of the guess work out of our trip – where to stay, where to go, and what to do – which meant that we could just go and enjoy ourselves. We had the vacation of a lifetime and I’d highly recommend using Relaxing Journeys when planning a vacation in New Zealand. I would use them again in a heartbeat.
Right from the first exchange of mails everything was perfect. Ms.Toni first understood our requirements, devised an itinerary to our needs, provided useful suggestions regarding the various tour programs and most importantly executed it perfectly. So good was the execution that I didn’t have the need to use my phone once tour commenced! Prompt reply to mails was another thing that impressed me…keeping in mind the time zone differences. I chose Relaxing Journeys after I couldn’t reach an agreement with my first tour operator…and I don’t regret it a bit now. Your rates were better than the rates available on internet. Coupled with it your local knowledge made it a terrific experience. NZ is an amazing country especially South Island…right out of books. So blown away we were with the beauty we stopped taking photos and decided to soak in every moment. All accommodations, tours, local guides…exceptional. This will rank as one of our best trips. Thanks everyone.
We had a fantastic time and would recommend this tour. The tour host Nick H and bus driver Chris where accommodating and very personable. They make a good team and made our trip memorable.
Needed a bigger car, things went very good, like the voucher on my phone, saw beautiful country, got everything we ask for, Thanks!!!
Absolutely fantastic, from start to finish.
It was wonderful. Carol our naturalist was very informative. She really knew about the sound.
Loved NZ and the tour. Everything was organised and ready for us. We only had to enjoy ourselves without the hassle. It was a great opportunity to see both islands. We had some weather issues but that was out of anyone’s control. Only had one travel and stay that really was wasted time because we travelled a great distance but couldn’t really see the place because of the time of arrival and because we had to leave the area to travel a great distance the next day. The accommodation was fantastic the B&B’s were beautiful and of a high quality. We would recommend this tour. Thanks for all your help.
Had a wonderful time touring the South Island – thanks to Mani for his flexibility. Accommodation was of a really good standard – some better than others – but all good. We never found anything but the friendliest staff at all locations. The only negative – if you could call it that – we would have really liked an extra night at Te Anau – a break from the driving! Overall very pleased and will book again when we come over to ‘do’ the North Island.