We were blown away by the care Furhana took to ensure that we got the best out of the trips we planned.

The depth of her background knowledge was amazing, but matched by her ability to communicate this clearly and effectively. Probably the best trips we have been on anywhere in New Zealand and, if you want to know why, read on for a more detailed discussion.

In the last quarter of our lives we thought this was likely to be our only trip to Stewart Island so we wanted to ensure that we got the most out of it. We therefore did a fair amount of due diligence and came to the conclusion that Ruggedy Range/Aihi seemed to be the operator that had the best track record for customer satisfaction, plus their tours were just a little bit longer with a hint of rather more depth than many of the other companies. We were not disappointed and Furhana ensured both our Paterson Inlet wildlife cruise and Ulva Island tour were truly magical experiences that we will certainly treasure.

On Ulva we were on our own and the first thing Furhana did was to take the trouble to teach us how to walk as a group in a way that would allow us to see clearly and avoid disturbing the more nervous birds. As a result we had excellent views of almost every species on the Island – presumably the kiwi and ruru were fast asleep. We were so impressed by Furhana’s powerful academic background and during the 4½ tour we probably learnt more about the geological and botanical evolution of New Zealan

Reviewed about 4 years ago