Silver Fern Holidays Traveller Reviews

Excellent three and half week exploration of both north & South Islands. Good combination of driving ourselves, trains and ferries. Activities and entertainments were booked in advance which made life easier and the transfers were need were prompt and gave good service. The weather was cool, but the sunshine and autumn colours on the south Island were wonderful particularly in Queens town. Also less busy than earlier in the summer other than tour buses of Asian visitors from time to time. We saw as much as we could in our time and will be going back again to visit the parts we missed.

Appreciated the knowledge and advice of the agent who spent time discussing our likes and dislikes and the type of holiday we were looking for. The itinerary was planned, drafted and amended as required, but overall worked out perfectly. The hallmarks of an agent who knows the destination well. We also appreciated a zoom call for over an hour going through the itinerary 2 weeks before we left which cleared up a few small points and gave good advice and built our excitement of the forthcoming adventure. Thank you.

We thoroughly enjoyed our well organised and entertaining itinerary for our New Zealand holiday. Everything worked well for us including the travel, accommodation, and trips. It was a pity that our whale watching was cancelled due to bad weather.

Silver Fern were brilliant at tailoring our holiday to New Zealand to suit our needs and budget. They kept us extremely well informed at every stage of the process.

Silver Fern sorted out an extensive itinerary for our group of 6. We drove ourselves in an 8 seater vehicle around both the North Island & South Island. This trip included the Trans Alpine railway from Christchurch to Greymouth - well worth it for marvellous views. As we were caught up in the Cyclone it was extremely helful & reassuring that Silver Fern has an office in Hamilton who were able to make rearrangements locally to our planned accommodation & itinerary.

They made all of the arrangements to suit our group requirements.

It was like a dream come true! Everything I had expected from my experience in New Zealand turned out to big bigger and better than all my research or imagination could have led me to comprehend. Seeing is believing!

It was wonderful to have so much detailed information before departure plus access to a person ( mainly John!)on the phone. Always ready to guide us using his own personal experience and happy to tailor everything to our own wishes. The travel and bookings were remarkable, every attention to detail made the whole trip run seamlessly!

2.5 days in Singapore, 23-day Silver Fern “Kauri Tour”, travelling North & South Islands, followed by 5 nights in Fiji. The Kauri trip covering all the main highlights and more. Flexible to meet group demands, our driver knowledgable of the country offering additional sights on route

New Zealand was a bucket list trip. After considerable research of large and more specialised firms and the range of tours available picked Silver Fern’s Kauri Tour. And am glad we did. John and his team knowledge, experience and humour are invaluable. This started with a general enquiry, several emails and calls while we finalised our enlarged trip, their general information package, links to various government visa website etc, and rounded off with a personalised Zoom call. A friend of mine travelled with a larger firm received none of this. Some of the advice seemed “basic” but highly practical. “Just pack for 2-weeks, not 5” we were told - the hotels we were staying have customer washing machines and dryers use them. “ We did saving loads of weight in our luggage. Cost about £2 a time. Our tour started with just 6-travellers with a further 5 joining us half way through. This enabled great flexibility with our experienced driver having the ability the vary the route to add additional sights and experiences. The group of likeminded travellers mixed enough to bond, but still independent to go our own way if and when we wanted. Silver Fern management of our whole trip excellent. Due to the “extras” to the main package meant additional transfers and hotel accommodation. All of these handled seamlessly. Text messages from the various taxi drivers to say they were on their way to transfer us to the airport removed that normal item of stress ! Our fellow passengers reported the same level of attention. Would I recommend Silver Fern - undoubtedly.

New Zealand is full of beauty. It is everywhere - mountains, valleys, glaciers, national parks, beaches, lakes.....the list is endless and found around every corner.

Their support was invaluable in updating our itinerary in real time as the country was being battered by a cyclone, meaning that we couldn't reach some of the destinations we had originally targeted.

Our first visit to New Zealand’s South Island. We thought areas of the North Island were amazing but this was at another level. The whole experience was in incredible, obviously Silver Fern Holidays are well experienced in planning these tours and we were not disappointed.

Silver Fern Holidays excel in planning these types of tours, taking into consideration what travellers want to experience and more importantly their budget.

Our holiday was perfect in every aspect from the initial consultation working a bespoke tour itinerary to enjoying a relaxed and adventurous trip. Everything went smoothly from flights, transfers, car hire, staying in good quality hotels chosen for there great locations. Additionally, pre-booked excursions and adventures were perfect and chosen well to suit us and the time we had on our tour. To summarize an excellent trip organised by Silver Fern Holidays and John Lightwood.

Simply excellent and faultless.

Huge tour of NZ, very busy but brief was to see and do as much as possible in the time given

Old school, great communicator, personal service, valuable advisor, met the brief to the letter

A nicely paced tour of New Zealand, taking us to many interesting places and experiences without being too rushed, and without being too tied to an itinerary. Highlights included: sailing in Auckland harbour, the Tranz Alpine train, a helicopter flight over the glaciers, a night on Milford Sound, the spectacular and diverse scenery, and the penguins. We used a combination of self-drive and public transport and stayed in an interesting mix of hotels and welcoming B&Bs.

Silver Fern Holidays took time to work out an itinerary that suited our style of travel, the places we wanted to see, the activities we wanted to do, and the time we had available. Everything came together perfectly, despite the complexity of the arrangements. We were able to view all the accommodation online before committing ourselves, and were easily able to make modifications.