Damian was a fantastic tour guide…read more He gave us historical and cultural data all about New Zealand. He told fun stories and anecdotes about life here. For example, we had no idea about all of the free bush cabins! We took the Hobbiton & Glowworm Cave Tour. We never felt rushed, just enough time to see everything. After rewatching all of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies, it was very special to see the movie sets in real life. Such amazing detail. Be sure to ask for Damian as your tour guide!

During our trip to Auckland, high on our list of things to see was Hobbiton and Waitomo Caves. As…read morenone of us can drive, we can't just "rent a car" (as many people suggest) and drive out to Hobbiton or Waitomo Caves, so we had to find a tour company to take us. My sister researched tour companies and settled on Bush and Beach, as they offered a smaller tour group, as opposed to a large coach with 50 people. (In addition to my sister, husband, and I, there were two other people with us, a mother and son from New York, who were lovely people.) For $395NZ per person (the current price is now $450), the price included admission to Hobbiton (the tour and lunch combo) and Waitomo Caves. While $395 is not cheap, considering it included admission to the attractions (which is now $158 and $75, respectively -- it was probably cheaper last year), transportation (we spent several hours driving), and the driver's time (a full day -- we were picked up from our hotel at 6:45am and returned around 12 hours later), the price was very reasonable. It was a great day, but what made it such a memorable experience was Damian, our driver. Damian is honestly the highlight of my trip to Auckland. He was just so AMAZING. He was friendly and personable, and you could tell he really liked his job and meeting people. On our drive he told us interesting tidbits about the area and history of New Zealand and made the drive very interesting. He was so engaging. If that wasn't enough, he bought all of us "hokey pokey" ice cream, which is apparently a famous flavour of ice cream in New Zealand, and on our way to Waitomo Caves from Hobbiton, he took us to see Waipapa Dam and the surrounding area as we had some extra time. Seeing Hobbiton and Waitomo Caves is a great experience in itself, but Damian pushed it over the top. [Yelp collections: NZ/Fiji 2023; New Zealand 2023]

I mainly wanted this glowworm tour because they allow pictures to be taken while in the cave. The…read moretour date I was looking at was fully booked but you can email them to be added to the waitlist. I asked to be added to the waitlist for 2 on October 12, and got off the waitlist on November 9, for a tour on December 28 so don't give up hope if it is originally fully booked! I did the spellbound explorer tour which included a walk through a cave as well as a boat ride through a cave for the glowworms. The tour guide was great and allowed pictures during the first back and forth on the boat ride and asked us to put away our phones during the second. This is because the first go-around allows for the eyes to adjust and see the glowworms better so the second go-around the glowworms are much brighter. The cave walk was also a nice add on for 20 NZD but if the tour with the cave walk is not available the regular boat ride is perfect on its own. I loved this tour as our tour guide took pictures for each group that wanted some with glowworms and also provided us with personal pictures of glowworms taken with a nicer camera with a longer shutter speed.

Oceane was an informative and friendly guide. We were able to see so many glow worms! It was like…read moreseeing the milky way! Ask her about Mama Mia if you like aquatic wildlife.

This is the second time I have been on the Sandringham Spice Tour run by Eat Auckland and honestly…read morethe only time I had been to Sandringham. What a great world of Indian cuisine I had missed. Food writers Lisa and Mary will take you on the short walking tour and along with the owners of the establishments they will educate you on 6 different Indian and Sri Lankan restaurants and 3 spice markets. They will teach you how to make a Mango lassi and even give you recipes to take away. You will try traditional Indian sweets, Poori that bursts in your mouth, and succulent tandoori chicken. It's also home of Paradise, a very popular Indian restaurant that you must dine at. I'm looking forward to when they start up some other ethnic foodie tours in the near future.

Absolutely love to Seqway…read more Have near experiences in US and in several European nations... Yes - Do it Start with review lessons - there may be a person or two who just does "not get it....." Lovely tour with neat stories I still am not convinced that a Seqway is useful for my personal transportation

Oh, for goodness sake people! Just DO it!!…read more So much fun, and surprisingly a little bit of a workout, as you are forever conscious of your balance. You end up feeling like a determined demon as you lean in to make your segway go faster, and like a BOSS when you manage to stand on it, hands free to take photos. Yeah. Thoroughly recommend it, and, just a tip, if you are thinking about walking up to the summit of Mt Victoria. Don't..It's a killer hike. Get a segway instead! I wish we had!

Lasting three hours on Sunday afternoon, the Auckland Big Foody Food tour walked our group of nine…read morethrough various eating establishments. With underground mass transit being further opened up in this area, it gave our guide plenty of opportunity to impart his knowledge. Cost was $107 USD (it had been prepaid through Viator) per participant. Because Auckland is so walkable, we didn't have to walk very far to get to the 5 food locations. We met outside the Britomart Train Station in Te Komititanga Square, very close to the cruise terminal where we had entered Auckland. Our guide was Jono, friend and sometimes co-worker of the owner. We finished the tour at the last stop, which was quite close to where we began. Stops in order (could definitely argue this isn't the ideal ordering): The Shuckers Brothers: had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, shared mussel dish, and a seafood croquette. Miann: one scoop of gourmet gelato. Hotel DeBrett: shared cheese plate in a beautifully restored interior bar-room Honest Chocolat: 3 gourmet bon-bons, along with cocoa shell 'tea' Gochu: Korean-inspired fried chicken slider, cabbage roll In terms of the value and new tastes compared to other food tours I've taken, this would probably rank near the bottom...tasted nothing I haven't had before (and no taste jumped out); you definitely need to eat before starting (it's smart for them to start at 2:30, after lunch but before dinner). But Jono's enthusiasm and knowledge really pumped up the entire tour. And I would definitely come back to the Hotel DeBrett for cocktails with good company, the next chance I get.

Took a 3 hour Big Foody Tour in Dunedin on the South Island New Zealand. What a great fun…read moreexperience. Jono was our tour guide and did an excellent tour. Visited a total of 5 different locations and each was prepared for us and the food and drink were exceptional. Great value for the price paid for the tour.

We booked this activity through Viator several weeks in advance. We received confirmation and…read moretickets. We arrived at the pickup location early and messaged the operator to ensure we were in the right location. We did not receive a response. Contacted Viator directly who spoke with the operator wan advised that we had not been out on their calendar. We had one day in Auckland and were left with no tour as everything else was booked. So unprofessional and they didn't even respond to us. I would give them zero stars if I could. Nothing was offered to compensate for this oversight.

We took many wine tours during our New Zealand vacation and this was by far the best. John, the…read moreowner operator provided our group with a great selection of Auckland area vineyards and wineries. We didn't just visit the tasting rooms, John provided us a detailed cellar tour where he explained the entire wine making process. We were given excellent commentary on New Zealand, various trends, and the economic forces at play. It was a very informative drive through the region as we made our way from winery to winery. It was a perfect way to spend our final day in New Zealand as we were also able to hire John to transport us straight to the airport at the conclusion of our tour. I highly recommend NZ Wine Pro.