Personalized trips to New Zealand
for independent travelers

Wow. Splurge. Stay here at least two nights. It was our last hurrah after 3 weeks of travel and it was amazing. Beautiful. WAyyyyy out there. So quiet. Stars and a hot tub. Incredible food. Fantastic tour with James the rancher. Just go.

This was one of our most favorite places. Stay here! Beautiful accommodations, views, incredible breakfasts, great people. Loved it

All I can say is that this was an incredible way to start our trip to NZ! Two nights and we wish we had more. So comfortable, gorgeous view, great people, amazing breakfasts. Just do it. Stay here.

The company that I retired from gave us the gift of a 4 night stay in one of the top floor suites. It was amazing, but I believe all of the rooms at this property were probably very nice as well.

This property served our needs well, although it might have been nice to stay a little closer to the waterfront area withing walking distance of some restaurants.

Great location in Christchurch for walking to downtown and the Botanical Gardens.

This hotel served our needs quite well. The breakfast buffet at the Hermitage was wonderful.

Great location, good breakfast, friendly, helpful staff

This was a very pleasant surprise. We really enjoyed this activity. Small group, and very interesting information shared along the way,

We enjoyed this experience, but there is no narration as you travel through the city so its a little unclear what you are seeing sometimes. It would be nice if someone was onboard that could say a few words about what you are seeing as you travel on the tram,

Very professional operation, which is definitely what you want when planning to jump out of an airplane!

The airplane ride through the glaciated mountains was incredible,

Beautiful old time classic hotel right around the corner from Trafalger Street. We ate at a great restaurant with a fun vibe, Hawker House about 5 minutes walk away.

Looked like all the rooms had a view and is right on the ocean. They get big bus tours that take over the restaurant (that has a great view) Should hold out some tables for independent travelers.

Quirky fun hotel. A-frame rooms with exposed beams. If you get a room with a view it's amazing. Not sure what the experience would be like without one. Was at the top of a steep hill so anyone going into downtown like we did a couple times a day would need to walk up that. We were fine with it but we did see a lot of winded people slowly walking up to the hotel.

Beautiful hotel tucked in the trees. Everything was amazing. The restaurant was excellent. But they had two large bus tours come in and take over. It was super loud and the independent travelers were complaining. We sat outside to get away from it a bit. Would reco holding out some seats in a quieter place for independent travelers. Only other hitch was that the bartender had no idea how to make a manhattan.

There was a lot of angst and confusion to start about what to bring and wear on this first day. We weren't aware that we were doing the trip backwards so we'd planned to hike, which was usually the way day 1 started but we started kayaking. Had to quickly unpack and repack on the floor of the tour company and the change. Feel like that could have been better communicated before so we could have planned better. Not a great start to the trip. We started a bit later so the winds had whipped the waves up (as they do most afternoons). We wound up bikin g the last sector because the guide said the next leg was going to have waves 3 times as big.

Easy day on a boat tour and bus back to Queenstown

This was a tough day of hiking. We had prepared for the uphill over the pass. It was tough but the path was generally well taken care of. The downhill side of the pass was way tougher than we expected. Endless large rock steps were tough on the muscles and joints. My wife fell a few times and this is where most of the injuries occur. The first 1/3 is above the tree line so can be windy. Once into the forest it gets steep and rocky. There are stairs around the waterfall to start but the the trail descends into miles of rocky steps. If you wear knee braces then put them on for this one. Springs and wet trails just add a slipping factor to the fun.

This was the longest day of hiking. Started out with more of the same rocky downhill then leveled off more to a wider path downhill. Was pouring rain to start so tough going and had to cross some knee deep water crossing the path. Got back wet and soggy but not as tough a day as the one before.

This was easily the most beautiful hike we've ever been on. We had the benefit of great weather. It felt warm but like we were hiking in air conditioning. And the moss covered forest was unlike anything we'd seen in our lives. Sounded like this was the dryer side of the hike but still must get a lot of rain. Something like 200-300 inches/yr and 200 days annually of rain. The grade is slowly uphill with a little difficult rock scrambled caused by a slip near the end. Marking the trail across the slip was a little tricky but they had a guide posted to show us the way. Hidden Lake off-shoot was OK but the Prairie Lake swim was great. Take the plunge and swim quickly under the waterfall. Then swim back quickly before your limbs go numb from the cold!

An easy day with a bus ride from Queenstown to Lake Te Anau. Then an hour boat ride to the start of the trail. Less than a mile hike to the lodge. After dinner they offered an easy nature hike behind the lodge which was a great basis for everything we'd be seeing in the next couple of days.

This was the perfect thing to do after hiking the Milford Track. My wife and I are both not huge massage people but after this experience we might be converts. I think the hiking tour companies would be smart to sell this as a package with their hiking tours.