Xue Rong Kok
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South Island ▷ Nelson Region ▷ Abel Tasman ▷
Abel Tasman Canyons
5.0/5
Canyoning with Abel Tasman Canyoning was the best of our experiences in NZ (we tried skydiving at wanaka and dolphin watching at Kaikoura as well, among others).
Right from the start, the guides (Lana and Tim) were really friendly, in particularly Lana, who was unbelievably spirited and chirpy. They said they would try to make this one of the top 3 experiences in NZ, and I would say it was the best. I had a really wonderful time in the canyon, it was a full day programme which was worth every bit of the money spent (skydiving for instance was over too quickly for me). We abseiled, zip-lined, jumped and slid in the canyon, whenever I thought it was over, there would be more. The guides brought juice, lunch and snacks to quell any hungry tummies, and the group size was just nice (about 10 of us?).
And the best part? They take many photos of you, all for FREE. I was pleasantly surprised that the canyoning team is really out to deliver a memorable experience that isn't too commercialised. It was a warm, cosy, and fun experience that I highly recommend.
What an awesome review Xue! It sounds like you really enjoyed all the different elements of the day. We love hearing that!
Thank you very much!
Toine Houtenbos
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5.0/5
We were blessed to have really awesome weather where the sun was shining brightly (apparently, this is quite rare in the Milford Sound area).
The crew was friendly, informative, and always willing to share information about the Sound. The cruise also went very close to one waterfall to collect the fresh water in 2 jugs for everyone to take a sip (poor guy was all drenched from the spray). I thought it would be a very touristy and overrated experience but this was not the case, there weren't that many people on the morning cruise and it was a large cruise so there was always lots of space around. It was also a full 2 hour cruise and the views were great, we couldn't have asked for more.
Tip: Morning cruises are apparently the best (so says the crew)!
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South Island ▷ Wanaka Region ▷ Wanaka Township ▷
Skydive Wanaka
3.5/5
The skydiving part was great, the views were indeed majestic, safety wasn't an issue, but what disappointed me was the staff.
Not those at the reception counter, who were very friendly, but the instructor and the camera flyer.
It was all good up till the part where we were all dressed in the gear and waiting to board the plane. The instructors then came calling out the name of the person they were skydiving with, and those who opted for a camera flyer (someone else to take a video of you) would also have him come finding you. The instructor didn't appear enthusiastic but I guess that was fine, then came the camera flyer, who didn't really introduce himself and just thrusted 2 GoPros into my face and asked a series of questions (what's your name, where are you from, anything to tell your friends/family back home). During the flight up, the camera flyer seemed more interested in talking to his fellow colleagues than filming. Once in a while, he would place the GoPros at the window to take the scenery, but that was about it. I thought they would have taken some shots of me in the plane, but nothing of that sort. The final video wasn't nice in my opinion, lots of scenery shots onboard the plane, as if there wasn't enough footage to fill up the length of the video.
Ultimately, I felt both the instructor and camera flyer were pretty transactional. Like, this was the umpteenth time they were flying and they were just doing a job, rather than delivering a memorable experience where you "strap yourself to a beautiful stranger", which is Skydive Wanaka's motto. They could have introduced themselves better and prepared customers for what is to come (e.g. camera flyer could have briefly explained how he would film you, and not just thrust the cameras in your face and expect you to react immediately on the spot), and most importantly, be livelier and more enthusiastic! I guess it depends on your luck as well, some instructors and camera flyers seemed better.
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South Island ▷ Kaikoura Region ▷ Kaikoura ▷
Dolphin Encounter Kaikoura
3.5/5
We heard a lot about this and went in with high hopes.
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to swim with the dolphins because of a rather silly procedure. When you register, you have to fill in a form indicating your swimming abilities, among other questions. The question asked how confident we were in our swimming abilities, and being on the conservative side and unaware of how conditions may be out in the open sea, we indicated that we were not confident of our swimming abilities even though we can swim. We were under the impression that if we chose this option, the crew would just give us more attention which wasn't a bad thing.
However, as the sea conditions weren't too optimal that day, the staff at the registration counter didn't allow us to swim, citing that we indicated we weren't strong swimmers. We argued that we were just being cautious. It also seemed very arbitrary and subjective, if we had indicated we were strong swimmers, we would be allowed to swim with no questions asked. As they have no way of really determining everyone's swimming ability, who's to say just because I state I'm a strong swimmer means I'm really one? Despite our pleas, they wouldn’t let us swim, and we had to switch to watching the dolphins instead.
While I fully understand the operator's need to take precautions, I don't agree with their method of sieving out those who "can" swim from those who "can't". Instead, the questions asked should have been more factual, such as whether you can swim unaided under certain kinds of conditions. Whether I'm a confident swimmer or not really doesn't say much about your actual swimming abilities. When we saw the other people allowed for the swim option, some really weren't "strong" swimmers as they had claimed, and we felt we were definitely on par if not better poised to handle the sea condition at that time.
While it was disappointing to be unable to go into the water, seeing the dolphins out in the wild did somewhat make up for it.
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South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Christchurch ▷
Budgy Campers
2.5/5
We chose Euro Campers because of the positive reviews here on Rankers, but our experience was disappointing.
The campervan had a faulty fuel gauge (was at “empty”), told us to call them if it’s still not working the next day. Somehow, they thought the fuel gauge would come alive after one day, which did not happen. The garage we went to couldn’t fix it, and notified us that the spare tyre was missing as well. In the next few days, we discovered more problems with the campervan, like we were opening a pandora’s box: No matches to light up the stove, headlights were spoilt so we couldn’t drive after dark, inaccurate speedometer (faster by about 12 - 20km/h), air-conditioning wasn’t cold - the coolant was probably spoilt so on a hot day, the air-con was blowing hot air out despite being turned to the coldest and most powerful. Oh, and we were actually not given a full tank on the first day, which we discovered after filling up almost a full tank despite only travelling slightly over 300km (a full tank easily travels twice that distance).
Throughout, Euro Campers was pretty nonchalant about the troubles we were facing. Liaising with them was painful, and it wasn’t easy making calls on the go as many places don’t have reception. More than 10 emails went back and forth. Ultimately, they refused a vehicle exchange, claiming that the faulty fuel gauge wasn't a real issue, just pump every 200km, and we could call AA for help if there were tyre issues. They told us to go to another garage to fix the headlights, which made us feel that they were just using us to fix problems which should have been addressed before giving out the camper.
There were more unhappy episodes but I am limited by the word limit. In short, I definitely wouldn’t recommend Euro Campers. They are not customer-oriented but transactional. The only reason why I didn’t give a rating of “1” is because they had the decency to offer compensation, which wasn’t fantastic anyway.