Testimonials

NZID provided an excellent tailored itinerary for us taking account of our interests and chose a good set of B&Bs and hotels. We went through about 6 or 7 iterations on accommodation and routes until we got to the final one, which we were very happy with.
The documentation sent out before departure gives detailed directions to properties as well as useful tips for short detours on journeys.   It was also beneficial to have a local agent to deal with any issues that may occur (we had been concerned whether the ferry would run with strong winds and about the destructive rain that had occurred in Fjordland shortly before we were due to go there).    The UK team helped us change our flights home at short notice and over the weekend when my wife had a slight injury. Colin Cornfield

Hi Paul, We’re now back from our amazing trip to NZ and I just wanted to say a huge thank you for suggesting and organising such a fabulous trip for us.   You really did get it spot on and we couldn’t have asked for a more exciting itinerary, with sights and adventures off the beaten track, great accommodation, and just the right amount of relaxation time!   Our handbook was a delight to use and everything went without a hitch.    We’re all sad to be home to the dark and damp, but the photos will keep us smiling for a bit longer!   I’ve attached a collage of a few shots for you. We all hope one day we will get to return to this beautiful country.   We will certainly recommend you to any of our friends who want to follow in our footsteps! Huge thanks again    Gill, Duncan, Xan & Erin Saunders

Hi Sally,  Just wanted to thank you for arranging a wonderful trip! The country and it’s people are amazing. Your arrangements, suggestions, and little notes about each place and drive were indispensable. I’m glad you gave us all those days in  Queenstown….we parasailed, bungyed, skydived, hiked, rode bikes, stood in line at Fergberger, and did pretty much everything the kids wanted to do. The overnight accommodations were all very comfortable…..appreciated the laundry services at places since we traveled pretty light.    The food was pretty amazing. Never had lamb, beef, and fish that tasted better! My daughter decided to turn vegetarian a few days in to the trip when she realized the source of  the rabbit I was eating for lunch! It was fun changing all her meals on the flights back home!    Thank you for all your suggestions and super promptness. Will be recommending your outfit to all our jealous friends……..most of them are already asking to copy our itinerary.    Deepti, Vikram, Divik & Divya

The trip went very well and we all absolutely loved the experience.   One day we will return to New Zealand to continue our exploration…We went white water rafting, quad biking and  flew up in a helicopter to the glaciers.   Then there were the trips you arranged at Farewell Spit and Doubtful Sound, the jet boat down to the south coast of the South Island plus various walks and excursions along the way, as suggested by you and from the guide books.   So all in all a trip of a lifetime to remember.    Best wishes and we would certainly recommend you to others — if we don’t bore everyone to death talking about our wonderful trip to NZ!    Kevin, Tracey, Will & Yvie

Hi Paul , we are now back from our NZ trip and I wanted to write and say how much we enjoyed it. Thank you for all your help and all the arrangements you made worked perfectly and we followed loads of your excellent recommendations.   We had a fantastic time.   If you want to use those first few sentences as a testimonial then please do.   The drive to Milford Sound was a highlight and on our trip we had a pod of three dolphins follow our boat for over half an hour which was one of the trip’s absolute highlights for me and then we saw blue tuna jumping which had the naturist crew member on board really excited because he’d never seen this on the Sound before. We had a good time with family in Wellington and would thoroughly recommend the Gallipoli exhibition at Te Papa.   The Heritage in Auckland was a lovely way to end the holiday as you suggested and an excellent location.   Thanks again for all your help Paul.    Susan and Duncan Wilkinson

Usually we try and plan our own holidays independently, but are now extremely pleased that we met you Paul at the Travel Show in London. Your knowledge and expert planning created an itinerary for us resulting in a truly memorable ‘Four Week Awesome Adventure!’   The variety of accommodation suited us and we particularly enjoyed staying at the Sofitel Hotel in Auckland and with Pip and Mark in Dunluce B&B in Te Anau.   However our clear favourite was our final three days staying in Queenstown Country Lodge. Sandie and Ian are the perfect hosts and the evening meal they cooked for us on our first night was probably the best meal that we had experienced during the entire trip!   Throughout our holiday the whole itinerary ran smoothly. We never felt rushed and found that your suggestions of what to see ‘en route’ extremely helpful. We also enjoyed having ‘leisure’ days programmed in, as we were then able to incorporate some extra activities and experiences that we simply had not thought about before, or in some cases dreamed doing! Thank you Paul for arranging this wonderful trip and also for helping our daughters arrange a surprise Anniversary gift. We would definitely not hesitate in recommending New Zealand In Depth to family and friends.    Fiona and Trevor Ward

Hi Sally,  We had an INCREDIBLE trip!!!   It was all amazing, from start to finish.   We loved NZ.   Our itinerary worked out very well.   The hours of driving each day were not too much and gave us time to stop and see and do things along the way.   We never felt too pushed for time and were able to relax and enjoy our vacation.   The details and recommendations you provided in our travel documents were also very helpful along the way.   We were very lucky and also had good weather for the trip, particularly in the South Island.     I am so glad we used you because it provided us the opportunity to go so many places without the hassle of making all the arrangements ourselves and worrying about all the details.   It was very stress free and that helped us enjoy the trip even more.   We did text Rebecca Gill when we arrived in Auckland and she responded right away, but everything went so smoothly that we never had to contact her at all during the trip.    Thanks!    Joyce & Phil

Dear Paul,  Well we are now back home and I want to thank you for compiling such a fantastic journey for us.    You surpassed my expectations and we had a truly remarkable, memorable and fantastic time in New Zealand.    You managed to create a journey that gave us time to breathe, relax and be energetic if we felt like it. So many people seem to pile so much in that they end up coming back from holidays worse than when they went away. This did NOT happen to us. We came away from New Zealand still in awe of the stunning scenery and relaxed enough to get on the plane for that long journey…    Thank you to you and all your colleagues for your attention to detail and knowledge of New Zealand. You are the one we recommend whenever we discuss our journey there.    Many thanks.    Sharon and Roger Wake

It was not our first choice to use a travel company to arrange our trip, indeed we were keen to do the research and plan ourselves.   After a suggestion by a friend, however, to explore what options a company could give us and we made first contact with New Zealand In-Depth and our fate was sealed.    Harriet from the start gave us confidence that whatever we had thought we wanted to do she would be able to make it happen and for it to be even better.   It is worth saying that our brief was difficult – a honeymoon with an 11 month year old baby, but this did not deter Harriet in creating a package that was unique, manageable with a baby and yet adventurous and varied.   She listened carefully to our initial brief and immediately made some suggestions that helped us focus our ideas  Camilla, Christopher & Eloise

Just to let you know that we have had the most amazing time and thank you so much for all your help and for planning such a wonderful trip.    You started us off magnificently at the Commodores Lodge in Russell, we loved being on the waterfront. We also enjoyed our experience on Stewart Island and the guided tour of Ulva Island with Furhana was fantastic, it makes such a difference when someone explains about the wildlife and trees and mosses etc.; we saw so much more than if we had been walking around on our own. I have to say that the boat trip over was pretty rough and I was sick, despite my vast experience of ferries and taking medication!! So I was quite relieved to be flying back…….the plane was pretty small though, but it only took 15 minutes!    Amy and Jimmy thoroughly enjoyed their week away with us and the cruise on Doubtful Sound was so good, they went out in the kayaks and even went swimming in the rather chilly water afterwards, mind you they had brought their wet suits! The cruise was really worth doing, the staff were so friendly and helpful and the food was amazing. We saw dolphins and seals and Amy and Jimmy even got to drive the Navigator on the way back!!    All in all we’ve had some amazing experiences and it will take us a while to come back down to earth  and to sort out our hundreds of photos!  Judy and Peter Tatham

I initially approached Paul with some rather ambitious holiday plans, the principle aim being to enjoy the main highlights of New Zealand in just 11 days! I wished to experience a little bit of everything, i.e. sight-see in three of the main cities, witness some of the volcanic / geothermal sites in the North Island, and appreciate some of the mountainous regions in the South Island.    All the arrangements went very smoothly and I was able to see and enjoy so much. Choosing several internal flights was not only convenient to speed up travelling between places, but on several occasions, they acted like scenic pleasure flights, particularly those over the South Island! It’s hard to say which were the best parts of my holiday! One notable highlight was cruising on Milford Sound which was a magical experience, made even better when we were able to see penguins and dolphins. Even the drive to get there through Fiordland was stunning.  The accommodation choices were excellent, the best ones, in my opinion, being the smaller boutique hotels / homestays where the personal touches and Kiwi hospitality really added another dimension to the holiday.   The only slight disappointment was that I couldn’t walk the Tongariro Crossing due to poor weather in Taupo. However, my host arranged for her cousin to drive me around to the main sites in the Taupo region that day which more than made up for it!  Overall, my holiday was amazing and exceptionally rewarding! I had a most memorable time and the trip exceeded my expectations. I’ve been very impressed throughout the past year with Paul’s superb personalized service and expertise, and I look forward to   designing next year’s holiday with him over the coming months!    Chris Green

Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed my holiday. I originally regarded it as the holiday of a lifetime but feel sure now that I will repeat it.    The arrangements you made were superb and everything fell into place without a hitch. I would like to thank NZID for a truly outstanding service which I feel far exceeded anything a large tour company could provide.    I enjoyed every part of the trip but would specially note Wilderness Lodge as a magical experience. All the hotels were excellent and the B&B’s exceeded my best expectations. May I make special note of Wanaka where Jo was also particularly kind and hospitable. Of course all the other venues were excellent as well particularly Te Anau and Akaroa.    My grateful thanks to everyone.  Best wishes  Sean Rice  PS If I return I would certainly stay at WildernessLodge again. I imagine there is still much yet to see!

We had such a fantastic time that it is hard to choose highlights!    Every day was a new experience – from flying over the Bay of Islands, through hiking on Fox Glacier, watching the Penguins with Fergus and Mary, Glow-worm caves, the TranzAlpine train, choosing our wines on the Queenstown Trail, the 3 weeks went by incredibly quickly.    We can’t speak highly enough of the organisation and the arrangements made for us, they all went without a hitch, and the little booklet for the itinerary is slowly being converted into our diary of the trip.    Absolutely Brilliant! We would recommend New Zealand in Depth to anyone – we already did!!    Chris and Hazel Dafforn

A slightly different holiday, Sasha and Jason approached us to help organise some round the world flights. Their adventure took them through 5 countries in 5 months, including New Zealand of course, aided and abetted by a few inside tips from Paul.    Thank you so much for making the best experience of our lives possible. We travelled the southern hemisphere and saw 5 wonderful countries in 5 months without having a single problem bigger than a flat tyre.    New Zealand In Depth made our time away stress free and Paul could not have been more helpful than he was, saving us money with great advice when we needed to change a flight and just generally being available when we needed him. We particularly enjoyed New Zealand’s beautiful South Island and especially the area around Queenstown. Apart from this our highlights would have to be hiking up the Franz Josef Glacier, playing with baby lions at Paradise Valley Springs in Rotorua, white water rafting, lying on the beach watching whales jump in Australia and elephant trekking in Thailand.    We will be forever in your debt and thanks again for a fantastic service.    Sasha Lyon and Jason Oakley