Silver Fern Holidays Traveller Reviews

Singapore, visited Marina Bay gardens at night, had a Singapore Sling at Raffles, went up to Marina Bay Hotel viewing platform. Paihia, Enjoyed the Waitangi Treaty grounds visit, we did not realise the history, went across on the ferry to Russell for the day. On the way to Auckland took the west route via Hokianga Harbour and Waipoua Forrest. Would have loved to visit the timber museum at Matakohe but ran out of time. Auckland, went across on the ferry to Devonport. Coromandel Peninsula, loved the drive over the mountains and forest. Stopped for lunch at Tairua (beautiful) then on to Whitianga. Went on the foot passenger ferry to Flaxmill Bay via the Mercury Bay lookout then onto the Shakespeare nature reserve. Could have stayed in the area for a week. Drove direct to Taupo, we loved Taupo, had a great walk to Huka falls. Napier, chilled out, had a long walk along the beach front. Jackie enjoyed the shops in Napier. Wellington, enjoyed the trip on the cable car. Had a lovely walk around the Botanical gardens. Ferry Crossing to Picton was easy, just a bit of hassle at Picton, bus to collect luggage another bus to collect hire car. Nelson, loved this place, not what we expected, it is quite a big town, walked from the hotel along the river to an area known as the Centre of New Zealand. Abel Tasman, what a day for memories. I under estimated the time it would take us to complete the walk from Medlands beach to Anchorage beach so had to take the short cut across the beach with the tide coming in so we would not miss the water taxi, got wet up to our waist but what a great adventure. Kaikoura, stopped off at the seal colony on route. Walked to the Kaikoura peninsula and stopped off at the Pier hotel for a glass of wine on our way back. We walked up to the Whale station the next morning; we were warned the sea had a big swell so we took some motion sickness pills. So glad we did, some poor people were so ill and missed the whales. This is a trip of a life time saw two sperm whales, Hutton’s Shearwater and an Albatross.

Best holiday ever, great advice planning from yourself. I thought a very fair price. I wish now we had booked premium economy flights to make the long flights more comfortable.

We have recently returned from a small group tour of New Zealand, followed by a short stay in the Cook Islands. It was a fabulous experience and certainly lived up to, if not exceeded, our expectations in every way. The Pure Discoveries itinerary of NZ was extremely well thought out, enabling us to see and experience so much of both the North and South Islands., Our coach drivers/couriers were excellent - very knowledgeable, helpful and professional. We were also fortunate to be with a lovely group of fellow travellers and even the weather played ball! It is a trip that will certainly live long in the memory.

We cannot praise Silver Fern Holidays highly enough. We thank John and his team for their valuable advice, professionalism and efficiency in the planning and organising process and for their patience in answering our (sometimes even silly!) questions. We would definitely recommend Silver Fern Holidays to others wishing to visit NZ and would unhesitatingly award them maximum stars on any review.

We toured North and South Islands in New Zealand by car, catching the ferry from North to South Island and catching the Tranz Alpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth where we collected another car. We also had 2 nights in Singapore going and coming home.

The tour operator was very knowledgeable about the country. It was impossible to do everything on our list, so by listening and understanding what we liked doing and seeing, we were able to devise the itinerary which most suited us. We stayed in 16 different locations and pre-booked several trips across both islands and everything went perfectly well.

We travelled from Heathrow and spent a couple of days in Singapore en route to Wellington. We stayed in Nelson and visited the Abel Tasman National Park, before moving onto Blenheim and enjoyed a wine tour. Whilst in Kaikoura we went whale watching. Christchurch was our next stop before taking the TranzAlpine train to Greymouth. After a stop in Hokitika we travelled down to Fox Glacier, visiting the Kiwi Wildlife Centre and Lake Matheson on our way. Three nights in Wanaka provided an excellent base for jet boating and fantastic walks. One of the many highlights of our holiday was the overnight stay on Doubtful Sound, truly breathtaking. Queenstown was our next stop where we crossed the lake on the steamship and rode the Skyline. Snow topped Mount Cook was our next destination before we travelled onto Lake Heron Station, which is definitely New Zealand’s best kept secret. Here we rowed the lake and was taken on a tour of station, whilst being fed excellent meals by our host, Anne. Our final night in Christchurch visiting Governor’s Bay before a stopover in Singapore and return to the Uk.

We contacted John from Silver Fern Holidays to plan our trip to New Zealand. We indicated when and for how long we wanted to be away, together with a few things we definitely wanted to do and places we wanted to visit. We also mentioned that we were active but not athletic. With all this information John put a proposal together. He hit the nail on the head first time and we did not have to amend any detail.

We had a wonderful 4 weeks driving around New Zealand in November 2023, incorporating a number of half and full day walks. Overall, everything went very smoothly, the itinerary worked well and we were largely pretty fortunate with the weather. The big highlights were the walk in the Abel Tasman National Park, the helicopter flight at Fox Glacier, the day trips to Doubtful and Milford Sounds and the stay at Mount Cook. We also particularly enjoyed our stays in Auckland, Wanaka and Queenstown.

John at Silver Fern was extremely helpful during the planning stage, adapting the itinerary to meet our wishes whilst also making helpful suggestions. One nice touch was the Zoom call a couple of weeks before departure to go through any final questions we had. We had a slight issue when we arrived in Auckland which was quickly sorted out by the New Zealand partner company, using the number on the card we had been given.

Tailor made self drive touring holiday in New Zealand

Silver Fern arranged flights, stop over, car hire and all accommodation. Also some tours and excursions. They suggested the itinerary. Excellent service and communication

We would like to thank John Lightwood, the team at Silver Fern Holidays and Pacific Destinations for a great holiday in Australia and New Zealand. The experience very much lived up to our expectations. The itinerary ran perfectly in both Australia and New Zealand, with every pickup arriving on time and every booked tour expecting us. This took away the stress and worry for the trip, so we were able to fully enjoy ourselves. The gift of two water bottles on arrival in Auckland was a nice touch. Overall, we were very happy with the chosen hotels and boutique B&B’s. We especially liked Te Awa and Sunlovers Retreat, and the 4- and 5-star hotels largely met our expectations, with the Park Hyatt in Melbourne who excelled themselves. We enjoyed all of the excursions particularly the Kuranda, Te Pa Tu, Hobbiton, Tranzalpine, Waimangu volcanic valley, Ridgeline 4WD and Otago peninsular tours. We also enjoyed the Tane Mahuta tour but as numbers were insufficient, we upgraded this it a private tour. We were extremely impressed with Singapore airlines with every flight leaving on or before scheduled departure and reaching their destinations slightly early. The Quantas flights were fine although every flight were 15-30 minutes late. Overall, we had a fantastic time and acknowledge that Silver Fern and their partners played a big part in this. When we go back to New Zealand, we will definitely use Silver Fern to book our trip.

Silver Fern Holidays prepared us with a custom tailored holiday for 5 weeks in New Zealand, 2 weeks in Australia and a 4 day stopover in Singapore. Although they are a specialist operator in New Zealand (their knowledge is really good) they happily arranged our trip to Australia as well.

We spent 32 days in New Zealand, on a self-drive holiday on both North and South Island. All the pre-booked accommodation and trips went to plan, leaving us free to enjoy lots of new experiences. We particulalry enjoyed the wonderful mountain scenery and the wildlife, especially the birds.

Silver Fern (John) was extremely helpful right from the time of our first tentative enquiry. He went over and above to make sure all the arrangements for our holiday were as we wanted them, communicating via email, telephone and zoom. Nothing seemed to be too much trouble for him.

John put together a 25 night self drive tour that included some specific requirements (starting and ending in Auckland to visit friends) and a full range of activities to keep all the family including 2 teens and a LOTR fan happy.

John and his team organised an amazing trip that included something for everyone. We absolutely loved our time in New Zealand. I also want to mention how helpful Kalwant was as when snow meant we were going to be delayed driving to Franz Josef, so changed our plans and decided to stay a couple of extra nights in Queenstown instead. We will have to save Franz Josef and that bit of the West Coast for our next trip!

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.