Definitely visit New Zealand!
New Zealand | Dec 14 - Dec 24, 2024

K
Kean H.
Singapore | Reviewed on Dec 31, 2024

Our time in New Zealand was amazing because the country was absolutely gorgeous and our local specialist, Michelle, booked us into some really great accommodations and events. Some of the highlight experiences I would recommend for others:
-Christchurch walking/food tour
-Kaikoura: Haipuku Lodge and Tree Houses was a gorgeous property, with great meals! On top of that, the Haipuku Kitchen Seasonal Feast cooking class was a wonderful experience with great hosting by Fiona and Becca. If you get a chance, this wasn't an official itinerary item but you should go to Nin's Bin for super fresh caught crawfish/lobster!
-Lake Tekapo Farm Tours stargazing: We got to take advantage of the dark sky reserve to really soak in a gorgeous night sky and beautiful near-full moon.
-Lake Tekapo Lodge was a great accommodation with really friendly hosts that made that stay but it sounds like those hosts will be retiring so can't vouch for the new owners
-Cass Valley Backcountry Tour was an amazing 4WD tour with a personal tour guide of the space -- one of our favorite experiences of the entire trip!
-Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise was my personal highlight of the trip; a fun mix of activities (kayaking, fishing, sightseeing) plus delicious meals (fresh fish and crawfish/lobster) and stellar hosting by Shaun and Juanita. Bring lots of bug repellant because the sandflies are absolute terrors; I'm still scratching a couple of bites from them.
-Ahi restaurant in Auckland was delicious and absolutely worth checking out!

Regarding our local specialist, though -- she quite honestly could have been more on top of trip details (there were multiple examples I can cite) but these issues *thankfully* did not ruin the trip.

Local specialist: Michelle Srzich
Michelle
Michelle Srzich
Local specialist in Auckland, New Zealand | Replied on Jan 15, 2025
Hi Kean and fellow travellers
Thanks for taking the time to provide your valuable feedback and I am really thrilled to see you enjoyed the accommodations and activities I selected for you. I thought as foodies you would really enjoy the Amiki Tours private food experience I arranged for you in Christchurch and the Hapuku kitchen cooking class. I hope the local restaurant tips I sent also provided some good dining suggestions.
I have responded to you directly with regards to the trip details...
Read more

Hi Kean and fellow travellers
Thanks for taking the time to provide your valuable feedback and I am really thrilled to see you enjoyed the accommodations and activities I selected for you. I thought as foodies you would really enjoy the Amiki Tours private food experience I arranged for you in Christchurch and the Hapuku kitchen cooking class. I hope the local restaurant tips I sent also provided some good dining suggestions.
I have responded to you directly with regards to the trip details you mention . I work in conjunction with a reservations team so my role is to plan a great itinerary for you while theirs is to book the arrangements and provide a detailed travel itinerary for you. As far as I can see the detail you refer to is the whale-watching cruise, whereby the time shown on your itinerary was a departure time for the boat and you missed the boat as you were not advised to check in before departure.
While the supplier did put you on to the next boat departing soon after, rough seas meant the later cruise was cancelled so we have refunded this excursion back to you. Having been on one of these trips in rough seas myself , I can safely say it is better not to go out when it is like this unless you have a very strong stomach or a travel sickness tablet!
We have never had this miss happen before and so our reservations team have made clear on all future travel documents of the need to arrive before the boat departure time.
You also mentioned to me a near miss of the Doubtful Sound cruise and upon checking all the details on your itinerary with our supplier the itinerary information and time to check in was indeed correct which I shared with you in an earlier response. Perhaps it was the early start for the small ship cruise and departure of one member of the travel party that threw the plans on this particular day.
We will be sure to remind other travellers of the sandflies!
I will take on board all of your feedback and I am grateful the few small issues you had did not affect your enjoyment of New Zealand.
Happy future travels with Kimkim.