New Zealand Tour Review: Guided Walk in Tongariro National Park, Te Papa Museum, Mou Waho Wildlife, Lake Wanaka Ecotour, Gardens

I would insist that the New Zealand based company, the tour operator, that was our contact while in the country, keep in closer contact with us to advise us of any potential issues that we should be concerned about while traveling along our planned itinerary. Specifically, they should have advised us that when we arrived in Fox Glacier, with the intention of hiking the Franz Josef Glacier the following morning, (something we'd made clear we were planning to do when we were discussing our plans with our planner, and was written in our itinerary), that it would be inadvisable and possibly dangerous to proceed with that plan because torrential rain was predicted along our travel route (this was the first time we would be self driving in a car with the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car, and driving on the opposite side of the road - and driving around steep and precarious curvy roads that had just been washed out due to heavy local rains over the past weeks and months). We were lucky that at checkin in our motel (beyond Franz Josef - we would need to backtrack to see it the next day), we mentioned, in passing, our plan the following morning and we were told by that person instead to rush out of town and skip Franz Josef in the morning so we would be safe, something we were glad we did. The rain was, in fact, very heavy and we were concerned about what might have happened to us had we gone ahead with our original intentions, not knowing the rain was going to be that strong.
Also, the tour operator should have let us know far enough in advance of our planned Milford Sound excursion (it was supposed to be a private driver from Queenstown to Milford for a cruise and then a fly back to Queenstown, surely a very pricey trip) that there was a real strong possibility that we either might not be able to get to Milford Sound at all (it was closed to everyone for weeks due to flooding and nobody at the travel companies brought this up to us for a serious conversation at all either prior to or during our trip despite the fact that numerous other travelers along the way with whom we chatted mentioned having to cancel or modify their itineraries because of this) or that we would have to abandon the flying piece of the trip causing us to be driven a total of 12-13 hours for about a 2 1/2 - 3 hour boat cruise on Milford Sound. We were never told what the cancellation policy was (apparently it was a week in advance!) so when we decided that the prospect of so much driving for such a short time there was not something we wanted to do, we did need to pressure the travel company to let us cancel the trip and refund us for it (something we don't even know the true cost of because the entire trip was billed to us in a lump sum with nothing broken out in detail). They did tell us, in the end, that they would refund us the value of this trip, but again, we will have to see if this happens and if it feels like the amount we are refunded is a realistic amount for the trip we had had booked.
This may seem like a lot of complaining but you are asking how to improve, so these are the things that caused us stress while we were away. The trip was truly amazing and we absolutely loved it, and other than these issues, it was planned terrifically and I would work with trip planner again because he listened and heard all of our concerns, modified our trip in advance in any way we requested, and he provided us with wonderful and special experiences with guides who were fantastic at every step along the way.  
TRAVEL COMPANY COMMENTS:
Dear Nancy,
Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed overall positive review of your trip, and for your kind words in regard to working with me. I appreciate your feedback regarding both the aspects of the trip that you enjoyed the most, as well as those that were not so positive.
Reading both your review and the trip report from our partners in New Zealand, it appears that the issues you experienced were a result of the inclement weather that you encountered on the west coast of the south island. As the unseasonably bad weather there was changing daily during your trip, our partners in New Zealand were following the local conditions and advising each of our clients on a case by case basis how the weather might affect them. We always include wording in our documentation to inform our clients that sightseeing flights in the area are often canceled because of bad weather and that if this is the case we will refund the cost of the canceled flights, but I understand that due to the large amount of information we provide, sometimes small details like these are lost in the text.
In accordance with our policy, we refunded you the full cost of your canceled Milford Sound tour, as well as a reimbursement for the luggage fees that you had to pay. Checked luggage should have been included in your ticket, but a glitch on the airline’s website prevented it.
Thank you for traveling with us, it has been a pleasure working with you in planning this trip, and I look forward to being of assistance in planning another trip to one of our other destinations to show you a true 5-star experience.