The "Sir Edmund Hillary Explorer" Tour Reviews 

The tour was well organized and gave us broad exposure to New Zealand's natural diversity. We also enjoyed learning more about New Zealand's culture and history.
Our tour group was composed entirely of Australians, except me and my Wife who are from the US. We believe we learned so much about Australia as a result and, best of all, believe we made some good friends. We hope to see them at their homes sometime in the near future. Because, you know, were getting old.

It allowed me to catch up on experiences that over the years living in NZ I had missed. It was paced so that you were never really rushed and had time to take all the sites in. Great tour guides and they created a great atmosphere amongst the travelers and they created many laughs all along the trip. The accommodation was outstanding and located well within the towns we stayed at

The holiday was superb ! The route was well thought out to take in most of the places that we wanted to visit in South Island, and was so well organised. The guides ran a smooth operation and were most helpful when rain prevented tours on one day. We met some lovely people, had a lot of laughs and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Recommended !

Having never been with a larger tour group before we were a bit hesitant about this trip. We didn't need to be! The Pounamu Tourism company were very helpful with our booking. Having local guides gave us the opportunity to get a better understanding of life in the areas we were visiting. When natural weather events led to changes in the itinerary the guides ensured that we enjoyed alternative activities. We would thoroughly recommend the Sir Edmond Hillary Explorer Tour.

We love New Zealand! We had wonderful vacation with the Pounamu tour. The guides! The Hotels! The Trains! Even the super comfortable Coaches! All the towns had their unique attraction, the Mouri cultural sites were insightful for us, Mount Cook's Hermitage and program from Sir Edmund Hillary's grandson was awesome, and on and on. When we had a need, we were helped right away. Next time we visit NZ we will contact Pounamu again.

From start to finish this experience was amazing. Accommodation,food,experiences & guides were exceptional. Everything was as stated & the commentary and knowledge of the guides was amazing.

Helpful guides, good accommodation great scenery.

Excellent organisation & pre tour communication. The daily bulletin board was a useful tool remind you key times for the days itinerary. Train travel was certainly a highlight & the info app was useful to provide commentary. Guides were friendly & efficient. I did feel that some needed to do a bit more homework on their commentary & be familiar with key bits of info, rather than reading from a script. The coach driver jumped in several times to clarify info. Appreciated the two nights in most places, made for a more leisurely feel to the trip. Hotels were generally very good with excellent meals. Worst one was in Kaikōura. Poor quality rooms & meals were pretty basic. Find somewhere else. Some of the lunches were not great - croissants on the train & lunch at Oamaru were not the best. Highlight was Mt Cook, hotel & food were great & a chance to meet Alexander Hillary was a treat. Glowworm trip & Lanarch Castle tour are well worth doing and of course Milford Sound. You get see to see the spectacular scenery & changing landscape from all modes of transport. The fun awards given out by guides attend of trip was a good way to wrap up the tour. Overall this was a very good tour & would highly recommend it.

The guides were fantastic. They really made the trip memorable.

It's was great in every aspect , accommodation, guides, transport , meals, bus drivers and best of all, the views and company to share it with.

The first half of the tour was great, well organised and run and would rate this section 5 star.
However, at the halfway point, on arrival in Dunedin, I contracted Covid from other guests that were obviously sick on the coach tour from Mt Cook.
I was quickly ejected from the tour and was forced into quarantine for 10 days.
I was very disappointed that there was no help offered from the SEHE Tour organisers. We had to arrange an Air B&B and out transfer to it from our Hotel when we were not in a very fit state.
At no point did the organisers contact us to see how we were faring, if we were OK which I consider is very bad for customer relations.
On return to Australia, the company did supply a letter so we could apply for Travel Insurance compensation.
That date of this event was 30th April 2023

This was an incredible trip! Our guides and driver were exceptional! We are early 70’s but fit and the pace of the trip was perfect. We loved that we moved around the South Island by bus, train and ferry. The hotels were great and we got a pretty comprehensive trip to the major sights n the South Island. The trip ended with a ferry ride to Wellington and we spent 5 more days independently exploring the North Island. We spent time in Rotorua and did Second Breakfast in Hobbiton.

This was a wonderfully organized trip and all the hotels and food stops were very good. We pulled into Mt. Cook on an overcast afternoon and woke to calm and clear skies he next day for our hike and Glacier Lake boat trip. This was a perfect 1st trip to New Zealand. We will be back again in the future.

Every day is full of wonderful surprises! The destinations are remarkable but the beauty of this trip is all of the carefully thought out stops for coffee, ice cream, views, waterfalls or even short walks with very few other tourist groups. I highly recommend this tour. I’m doing a repeat!

The South Island is the true heart of New Zealand, and I can't think of a better way to experience it than with this particular tour. Trains, boats, and coaches took us to all the spots worth seeing, often in a better-planned fashion than other tours we observed. Friendly, helpful staff, excellent meals (even for us vegetarians), along with cooperative weather made this perfect. And personally chatting with Sir Edmund Hillary's grandson was icing on the cake! Highly recommended.

Thank you for such a brilliant, well organised adventure.
From day one to the last day everything flowed like a well oiled machine.
We were very fortunate with the weather being able to see snow capped mountains, cascading waterfalls and glistening lakes.
Highlights are too many to list.
Accomodation and meals were what was to be expected.
Our guides, Trevor, Heather and Brian, backed up by driver Brad (very little contact with other driver Steve) helped make the journey enjoyable.

As a young person I never appreciated the beauty of the South Island, when I saw this tour I thought I must do this.
The guides were superb and the back office staff made sure that everything ran smoothly. The manner in which everything just jelled it was essy to see that the whole team has a lot of experience in putting a tour such as this together. It was a good mix of train journeys and coach trips.
The Distinction hotel in Dunedin was an added bonus with a washing machine and dryer in each room.

The organisation of this tour was first class. I am New Zealand born but have lived in Australia for many years. Going back "home" was great and the guides and drivers gave an excellent commentry and insite into New Zealand culture. The trip covered all the South Island highlights. The helicopter trip to the Tasman Glacier was unforgettable.
I thought one thing that could have been added was more emphassis on the New Zealand cuisine. Much of this is probably controlled by the accomodation provided but I thought could have been done better.
One disappointment was the greenstone experience in Greymouth being run by Indians with very poor launguage skills.

Words can not describe the beauty you will see, the wonderful people you will meet and the fun you will have on this tour.
From the start when you book your tour until your final day on the tour it’s all so easy and they look after you, they care. A truly unforgettable experience.

A fantastic trip with all the magical sights of the South Island mixed with the fun of many train journeys. The organisation and communication was exceptional with nothing too much trouble or complicated for our guides to manage. Highly recommend this tour!

Everything well organised. Guides & drivers were fantastic.