Timara Lodge - Blenheim

How amazing is Donna! We used her and her team to plan our honeymoon in Feb 2011. She put together a 2-week driving tour of the South Island, which was simply the best vacation of our lives. What was so terrific was that she listened to our more vaguely described interests (e.g., 'being outside', 'being airborne', 'looking at the sky', 'lots of scenery') and crafted a finely-tuned itinerary that exceeded our desires (e.g. guided/unguided hikes, overnight fjord cruise, observatory night, helicopter-glacier hike, guided fly fishing day, sailing day, etc.) These activities were woven into the driving tour, which put us, gobsmacked, in the middle of the incredible NZ scenery. The activities and driving were perfectly balanced against downtime at a place. We loved the guides she works with (necessary for both the fishing and Routeburn hikes)--they are hilarious, knowledgeable, lovely kiwis. And the B&Bs she booked us into were also terrific--the hosts were enormously friendly, detail-minded, and informative (and made delicious breakfasts!), and the accommodations were pristine and all overlooked some delightfully gorgeous view. Her day-by-day itinerary, detailed maps/directions, easy accessibility (toll free number from NZ), and intermittent check-ins to our hotels to ensure our safe arrival made us feel cared for and secure. Her associated flight specialist, Jae Dee, was equally attentive: when we were flying post-blizzard and couldn't leave Newark, she booked backup flights and made all kinds of contingency plans, and neither she nor Donna went to bed until they saw our plane had departed! What attention to service. We could not recommend Donna and NZ Travel more highly, and have been insisting that our friends and family use them when they go to NZ themselves. Donna's abilities are superlative, and we plan to return to NZ (and maybe Australia too!) with their guidance.