We had never done a "guided" trip before and I now tell friends it the only way to go, especially with Active Adventures! First of all we cannot say enough about the amazing job all our guides did. They were so kind, knowledgeable, and caring in making sure we had the best experience on our tour. They were the best! They made each day an "Adventure" and shared their love and knowledge of New Zealand with us. On top of being super guides they also can cook! The meals that they prepared for us along the way were more than one would expect out of a chilly box. We looked forward to sharing these delicious meals together with our fun group. Traveling with our group in our mini bus was a pleasure. There was plenty of room, comfortable ride, good music and there was always plenty of fresh fruit, snacks and water available for us. The schedule is obviously well planned and we looked forward to each day and new Adventure that was scheduled. The guides were well aware of any limitations and worked around these so that we could still fully enjoy and make the most of the day. There were many days of feelings of accomplishment for doing what we did and we always slept well at night. We felt that this trip gave us a wonderful first time tour of the North Island. The accommodations that we stayed at were excellent. Always clean and comfortable and some had the most amazing views. It was always a treat when you spent two nights in the same place. When the guides weren't cooking, the places that we ate were always very good. My only complaint is with myself because I did not take the advise about how much clothes to pack and I packed way too much! The majority of the places we stayed had laundry facilities so we could do laundry. I am now much more aware of this for our next Adventure. We've travelled quite a bit in our 48 years of marriage and we tell people that this is the first time we can honestly say that we loved EVERYTHING about this trip, New Zealand and the people we met along the way.

| January 1970