Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

Travelers Jeff Grinspoon and Jon Foley found a rainbow near Sterling Falls in Milford Sound, New Zealand.

Jeff Grinspoon and Jon Foley found a rainbow near Sterling Falls in Milford Sound.

I have never heard my husband spontaneously declare days after our return home: “That was the most amazing trip. We are so lucky,” which he had done repeatedly and continues to do. And I completely agree.

New Zealand was everything we expected and hoped for and so much more and we plan on returning (the husband is considering buying there). We traveled three weeks in March, which is their late summer, and we had a delightful array of weather but we also traveled the expanse of the two islands, which include several micro-climates. It was a bit cooler than we expected at times so would consider going a bit earlier in their summer, perhaps.

Sarah was our trip planner, and her team was exceptional in every way and every step of the way. Our trip was pushed back twice by COVID lockdowns and once by an unfortunate hip-surgery and while we’re sure the workings in the background were demanding, they made the changes seem so easy and clearly, we didn’t miss out on a fabulous place or incredible experience.

We were blessed with a delightful variety of locations and experiences, and they were all wonderful, though people’s preference will affect how much they appreciate the wine-tastings versus the hiking and hunting. The planning misstep was that one location, Huka Lodge, was a base for us to hike the Tongariro Crossing and an unseasonably early cold-front came through, rending that no longer an option, but, surprisingly, there wasn’t much else to do around Taupo. We had a great day with a great guide, but he let us know that had we had a backup plan for alternative activities pre-booked would have given us more options.

Sarah’s office was holding our hands the entire way with backup plans for all transportation risks and we felt the love the entire time.

We highly recommend traveling by helicopter when possible. We often take helicopter tours when traveling, but had never used it as a primary mode of getting from point A to B and New Zealand is a perfect place to do this. They have a strong helicopter culture with plenty of skilled pilots and reliable machines and there is no direction to which one would travel that it’s not beautiful.

Our favorite stay was at the Minaret Station, but a close second was The Landing and both were very different. The Minaret Station being an actual working station (ranch) that is dependent upon helicopters for running the station, each day they flew us to a new adventure and it was unforgettable, from grappling lobster pots from the west coast seas to hiking the Tasman Glacier to hunting Himalayan Tahr. And even without all of that, the excellent lodging experience in such a stunning, remote location made it very special.

Sarah’s team did everything perfectly and it’s humbling to think how a trip that we might have arranged ourselves would compare to the extraordinary experience created by them. At every lodge and experience, they knew the owner personally and spoke highly of the quality of work they do and the quality people that are on the team. Not only did they put together one of the best travel experiences we’ve ever had (and we are very lucky in that department generally), we know that they leveraged their reputation to provide us with deep and rich micro-experiences all along the way. We’ve already recommended them to everyone we’ve talked to since we’ve returned and will continue to do so.

And, of course, we will continue to find other amazing tour planners of this quality through Wendy Perrin.

We are not sure where to start. The Sarah/Sara team and others there made this trip not only memorable, but seamless and fabulous. They really listened to what we liked, what types of places we like to stay at, and even ok’ed us making changes that they thought might have added a bit too much to our plates (of course those decisions were ours but they did it all with a smile). They were great at making sure we were well taken care of at each accommodation and found a way to end the trip in an extra-special way—we are pretty sure they elevated the trip in ways we will never know because of how well we were treated and even upgraded. Their dinner recs were spot-on as well. They even arranged great weather for us! Well, maybe that was not their doing. Highly recommend them to everyone!

The trip was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us. It was by far the longest holiday we’ve ever taken and the furthest location to which we have traveled.

Sarah and Sara in New Zealand and Jacki and Stuart in Australia did an amazing job creating, organizing and coordinating our itinerary. All the individual guides were wonderful. We stayed in 9 different locations during ~3 weeks. There were a lot of flights involved. We used Cranky Concierge and they were excellent also. They constantly kept us informed of any flight changes or delays and had alternatives ready if needed. This really reduced the stress of all the traveling between locations.

New Zealand
Our stay at the Huka Lodge was wonderful. The accommodations overlooking the Waikato River were quite memorable. Our highlight there was a day spent hiking through the bush followed by an afternoon boating on Lake Taupō with fresh snow on the peaks of the mountains.

We then flew to Nelson and stayed at a B&B, Pihopa Retreat. The breakfasts there were terrific. For dinners we ate at local restaurants, which quite frankly was a welcome break from the over-the-top meals at Huka Lodge. Our favorite experience here was a full-day private cruise of the Abel Tasman National Park coastline. We also got the chance to do some hiking and sea kayaking.

We then flew to Queenstown through Christchurch. We stayed in Glenorchy at Blanket Bay. The natural beauty of being on Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by the snow-capped Southern Alps, truly was spectacular. The suite we stayed in was luxurious with the same gorgeous views. Our favorite adventure here was the Dart River jetboat ride into Mt. Aspiring National Park.

Sadly we then left New Zealand but continued our trip to Australia.

Australia
We stayed 3 nights in Sydney at the Park Hyatt. We spent our time around the Harbour, walking the gardens and visiting the Opera House. Our 2 favorite activities were the Sydney Harbour Twilight Cruise and an independent walk we did along the coastal boardwalk from Coogee Beach to Brontë Beach to Bondi Beach.

We then drove to the Blue Mountains and stayed at Spicers Sangoma. The food was wonderful. Our favorite outing here was hiking the Wentworth Falls.

We next flew down to Hobart to begin the Tasmania portion of our trip. We truly loved Tassie.

We started in Hobart. The highlight here was spending a full day on Bruny Island hiking above Adventure Bay. This is were we had our best guide, Andrew (shout out).

Next, we drove to the Freycinet peninsula and stayed at the Saffire Freycinet. Here the accommodations and food were truly outstanding. Our favorite activity was a 2-hour walk holding hands exploring an isolated beach in a moderate rainstorm. We got soaked and truly enjoyed this very romantic experience.

From here we moved on to Melbourne. We enjoyed what felt like a less touristy city than Sydney, but certainly multicultural. We explored the city on foot and used the tram in the CBD.

When we left Australia our flight was connecting through Singapore, so we spent a day and a half exploring the various ethnic communities. Here we enjoyed a relaxing evening having dinner and walking around Sentosa.

This truly was a sensational trip. I’m very satisfied that I used Sarah and Stuart to plan out the trip. I also used your recommendation for the flights (Cranky Concierge).

Next time that we return, we will plan to spend more time at less locations.

We had a trip to New Zealand & Australia which was partly a cruise and partly land. The land arrangements were handled by Sarah Farag’s and Stuart Rigg’s offices in each country. This is a review of the New Zealand portion, but our contact throughout the process was Sara Devenie. Sara planned our January 2024 dates which included both North & South Island cities.

Sara was absolutely wonderful! She was responsive and helpful, giving advice on things to see and restaurant choices. We had an idea of things we wanted to do on our first trip to NZ and Sara steered us in the right directions. She had listened to our interests and made suggestions that were right for us. She had everything planned thoroughly and we had detailed information on our itinerary as it was fine-tuned. We had not really been interested in the WETA Workshop in Wellington, but she encouraged us to go there and we LOVED it! We also wanted to go see a sheep farm and she made that happen. It was one of our favorite days. She suggested candidates for a hotel in Auckland. We chose the Hotel Britomart and it was perfect—intimate but in a great, lively area. If we return to New Zealand, we would absolutely use Sarah’s company.

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