Testimonials

I could not mention all the highlights because there were so many. It really was a fantastic trip. We did not have any of those “I wish we’d made time to do that instead” moments, which is real testament to your expert local knowledge and your understanding of what we wanted to do. THANK YOU!!!

Fantastic experience all round.  All the accommodations were superb. Many thanks for your help with the doctors and pharmacies!

We thought we’d email you to express our thanks to you for organising the holiday, it went like a dream.  Right from being met at Christchurch airport by your representative and being handed the book of vouchers and road atlas (which was priceless).  Every voucher worked without a hitch (amazing). The Milford track, Abel Tasman, Muller hut at Mount Cooke, Tongariro crossing and many of the other walks you suggested were stunning.  New Zealand is such a well organised country and the people so friendly and the roads so empty. The car hire worked well and we’re pleased we decided not to have a camper van with the mileage we were travelling a car is so much easier. Again many thanks to you for the hard work you have put in to making our holiday a success and the link up with Emma and Josh went really well.  

Friends recommended Silver Fern to us, and we, in turn, would not hesitate in recommending Silver Fern to anyone who wants a tailor-made, hassle free dream of an experience in New Zealand and Singapore. John's knowledge of New Zealand is incredible and his recommendations about bases, accommodation, excursions and fun activities were all spot-on for us - and for our budget. We covered both islands, taking in 10 areas, and the well-planned, detailed itinerary, which included driving times, accurate directions and precise arrangements for car hire, internal flights and transfers, ran like clockwork.  Nothing was too much trouble for Silver Fern - even when circumstances dictated that we had to cancel everything and rebook it all later. We have fantastic 60th birthday trip memories of our stay in New Zealand and Singapore.  Every bit of it was special! Thank you, Silver Fern!  We will be back soon, asking you to organise another trip for us!

Travelled on a Silver Fern Small Group Journey The Million Dollar cruise on Lake Wakatipu was absolutely brilliant – the guide was very knowledgeable and we would highly recommend this trip. Our meal on the Mission Estate was one of the best meals of the holiday and the gardens at Hamilton were a real surprise. But the main highlight has to have been the Milford Mariner overnight cruise – not the best of weather, we couldn’t get out on the kayaks – but a wonderful experience.        

The organisation through the whole trip was marvellous – much better than if we’d planned it ourselves.

As you know this was my first holiday since the death of my wife, and when she was alive we had talked about adding a trip to New Zealand onto one of our visits to see our son and his wife in Sydney. I was not sure whether I was ready to do it on my own. I decided that the first move was to talk to someone so I spoke to John on the phone and arranged to come and have a chat. We had a long meeting and it all sounded ideal. All I needed to do was convince myself. Once I made the decision everything was so easy thanks to you. You kept in touch right up to me going and I always felt that I had a good contact if I had a problem. Now onto the tour. Not much to say. It was even better than I had expected. The coach and driver were top class, the hotels and food were very good and the itinerary meant we visited everywhere we needed to see New Zealand. However, as you know the highlight of my 6 weeks away was meeting my 5 month old grandson in Sydney. That said, I am so pleased I made the trip and even more pleased that I arranged it through Silver Fern Holidays; everything was first class. “wonderful” “exceeded expectations” “exceptional driver – very experienced” “the mix of people only added to the enjoyment”

We were introduced to Silver Fern through Hyde Barker, both companies based in Southwell.  We were planning a trip to New Zealand with some stopovers there and back and Laura at Silver fern was able to put together an excellent draft itinerary.  After making a few amendments, the result was a seamless trip which went absolutely according to plan.  The attention to detail by Laura was excellent, all hotels, cars, flights, campervans and trips were booked in advance and one great thing about this was taking away the worry of getting it right ourselves and days of searching for information on the internet.  It was wonderful to be met in Auckland by the resident Silver Fern representative and being presented with all tickets and information required for the four weeks ahead. David & Yvonne, Nottinghamshire

We had a fabulous holiday...not sure I can pick out the best bits! Tiri Tiri Matangi trip, Bay of Islands (dolphins), Kauri trees, Cathedral Cove, Tongariro, Queen Charlotte Sound in to Picton, Kaikoura Peninsular, Lake Matheson, Glaciers, Wanaka, Milford Sound, shotover jet in Queenstown, Mt Cook Hooker Valley walk.....all of it really! The accommodation was all superb and we loved the book of prepaid vouchers...I know we've paid but not having to think about how much we were paying as we went along  made things more enjoyable somehow, especially given the excellent B&B's and hotels you found us and the 5 star nature of some of them! I also want to say that directions to the various accommodations given in the final itinerary were spot on and took us straight there every time..I don't think we ever got lost which is impressive! Everywhere we stayed we found ourselves ideally positioned for whatever we were there for which was much appreciated and well thought out. We loved the scenery everywhere we went...as one fellow tourist commented at the top of Mt Ruapehu it doesn't seem fair that one country should have everything! We never felt it was time to go home since there was always something special to look forward to the next day and the one after that...the four and a half weeks just touched the surface but we're so lucky to have been able to make the trip and will remember it for years to come. Thank you for helping us to have the holiday of a lifetime. We are certainly recommending Silverfern to everyone we talk New Zealand to!  

We are seasoned world travellers who generally travel independently and make all our own arrangements. However as we had an extended trip of the Far East culminating in a road trip round New Zealand we were delighted to be recommended to Silver Fern. Both Barbara and John spent a considerable time with us finding out what we wanted to do and then imparting their considerable local knowledge to put a wonderful itinerary together for us. The accommodation they recommended was exactly as we had requested according to the budget we have given them, driving distances were well planned and we were even met at the airport and given a detailed itinerary and plenty of local information about getting around New Zealand. Suggestions were also made for places to visit that we would otherwise not have considered. Just before we were due to leave we had to change our travel dates and Barbara seamlessly rearranged the accommodation where required. We cannot recommend them highly enough. Thank you John and Barbara.