Creating immersive experiences right here in our backyard
Wicked Wanders is a boutique tour operator specialising in providing personalised history and tasting tours of the greater Tauranga area.
Tours
Wicked Wanders Trips & Tours
Russell Christian is the owner/operator of Wicked Wanders Tours. He has lived and worked in Tauranga for ten years and is passionate about the history and culture New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty region has to offer.
About Wicked Wanders
“Wicked” A New Zealand colloquialism meaning ‘Amazing’, ‘Fantastic’ or ‘Astonishing’.
Established in 2015 Wicked Wanders is a boutique tour operator specialising in providing personalised history and tasting tours of the greater Tauranga area. We are a Silver rated Qualmark sustainable tourism awarded business, which is an assurance from Tourism New Zealand that we offer quality tours and deliver a quality visitor experience.
Experience the Bay of Plenty and surrounding areas with informative tours that take in a little bit of everything the Bay of Plenty has to offer. Choose from a customised day trip, a visit to the Hobbiton movie set, the steaming geysers and mud pools of Rotorua or a walk through some of our stunning native forests. Wicked Wanders can recommend and tailor an experience to met your interests, expectations, level of fitness or itinerary. If you are joining us from a cruise ship we guarantee we will have you back in plenty of time to board your ship.
Reviews
Our Happy Customers
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excelent attention to detail, small group of 10 Water bottles placed on each seat. Mobility an issue & a step for entering & exit the minibus, just there... read more not to be asked for & on our orchard visit he had a seat for me in the shade. Russell it is the little things that count the most, best trip ever,,
Thanks
Recomend any time.
December 11, 2022The Kiwi farm was fascinating and our Kiwi sample tastings along with Ripe NZ Avocados and NZ cooking oils dipped in bread were a treat. Russell was most interesting in... read more his history and culture of NZ along the way. We enjoyed perfect stops to embrace the views, ocean, rose garden and shady green ancient Monmouth Redoubt. Russell is a good driver and clearly embraces a keen knowledge for all questions.
November 29, 2022 -
our group of ten people toured the area of tauranga when we stopped there on a recent cruise. the tour guide, carol, gave clear instructions where to meet, and... read more she helped craft a tour that catered to our wishes. we were comfortable in her clean van as we cruised past beaches, mounts, lakes, and kiwifruit orchards. carol, in a familiar and pleasant way, offered informative commentary along the way. a picnic (on our own dime) was enjoyed at the government gardens. the things that we especially enjoyed on the tour were the stops at whackarewarewa in the geothermal area of rotorua where we saw a living maori village and were entertained by the maori people with song and dance, and the visit to the kiwifruit orchard where we learned about how the fruit is grown and had the opportunity to sample products featuring the fruit. carol was an excellent host...well-prepared, helpful, informative, but never intrusive. the price of the tour was significantly lower than the prices we paid for other private tours in new zealand, yet the quality remained comparable! well done wicked wanders!
November 17, 2017We are delighted that we booked this tour instead of one of the cruise ship tours. Russell was well informed and interesting, and his knowledge of the... read more district and history was impressive. We enjoyed every aspect of the excursion. The vehicle was comfortable. We appreciated being part of a small group, it seemed friendlier and more relaxed.
January 25, 2023 -
Our tour guide, Russell, picked us up at the dock as soon as we arrived. We drove to Hobbiton and had a delightful time visiting the movie set followed... read more by a delicious lunch. On our return, we stopped and walked trails through a beautiful park with waterfalls. Russell was very knowledgeable and able to answer all our questions and give us details. It was a grand day on our trip and all our expectations about seeing the beautiful New Zealand countryside were met.
January 17, 2023Our experience with Wicked wanders was EXCELLENT. Carol was an excellent guide showing us Tauranga. great value for money and we saw so much, Had a great... read more lunch at a farm on top of the hills over looking Tauranga. Fish and chips lunch was cheap and was ordered before so we just needed to drive there and pick it up. Well organised. Wood train blocked our way but Carol knew another way to get through. Very informative lovely person and great driver. Great overall. Was a great adventure in Tauranga.
January 16, 2016This was a terrific way to see Tauranga and the surrounding area. Russell was extremely knowledgeable and lots of fun too. All the stops were great and so was the... read more ice cream. You should take this tour.
February 21, 2020 -
Could not find a tour that suited us with the cruise line, so found Wicked Wanders online. really enjoyed the small group, the well thought out tour, the super tour... read more guide, Carol, and the Fush and Chups!!, and talk about service, Carol returned my Jacket to Australia after I left it on the bus
February 24, 2017If you arrive by cruise ship with no plans for Tauranga, check out Russell Christian's Wicked Wanders tours. He's on the Pier (when his small group, mini van... read more tours have room) where you can talk to him regarding his offerings. We wanted to get out of the city without going all the way (1 hour +) to Rotorua and his 4Hr Tauranga tour was perfect. Great mixture of city/landscapes/farms/food tastings and an odd ball visit to unique toilets! Russell was a perfect guide - we didn't get the "canned" history speech to sleep by, but a lively discussion mixing a bit of everything about the area and country. Appreciated his willingness to answer all questions and recommendations. His price was considerably less than the cruise ship for a very similar tour and we were a small group, not a bus load of 40! Highly recommended and I would book ASAP - we were very lucky he had openings.
January 22, 2023We were on the Queen Victoria and we absolutely loved this tour! So happy our daughter booked it and happy we didn’t book with the cruise company such a better... read more experience very personal!
I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn about the culture and have a great personalized tour! Our guide was wonderful! Love from the USA !
February 26, 2023 -
This was a really enjoyable and informative experience! Russell's encyclopedic knowledge and engaging personality made it a relaxed and interesting trip.
April 21, 2022Mum and I thoroughly enjoyed our day out. The tour guide picked us up from our accommodation and took us back the end of the day. The tour... read more guide was very informative and we learnt a lot about redoubts, kiwifruit and avocados. We enjoyed our fish and chip lunch at Maketu. Would recommend this tour to others.
March 24, 2021I enjoyed this tour quite a bit. Russel was very well informed and professional. The stop at the Elms was great. The history of Tauranga was very informative and the... read more grounds were stunning. The stop at the kiwifruit farm was also good and informative. Other stops to here history and to look at the view were great. My only negative about this tour was the ship docked mid morning which meant the tour had a late start and there was no lunch break and we were very hungry by he time we got back at 3pm. The stop at the farm we got to try some kiwifruit and avocado but it's not enough. We were provided with a bottle not water which was appreciated but I think some amendments could be helpful when the tour has a late start. Overall this was a great tour and would definitely recommend it.
January 7, 2023 -
We were on a cruise ship and wanted a low key tour that didn't go too far or for too long. Wicked wanders tours was the perfect choice. Carol was... read more prompt, professional, and pleasant. Her pride of her lovely hometown was evident in the great information she provided along the way. She made several photo stops. The highlight for us were stops to see how manuka honey was made and how kiwis grew. Interesting...
We enjoyed seeing lovely tauranga with a local expert. Thanks, Carol.
March 25, 2019We were very lucky to be the only ones on this trip that day, our guide was excellent new what he was talking about and answered any questions we had... read more also the van was very clean. Started with a tour of the city then made our way to a kiwi fruit farm was very interesting and lots of different foods to sample bought quite a few things, the honey farm was good has a nice little cafe also very interesting. The just a quick visit to a avocado farm were we sampled some amazing avocado oils yummy. All up a great day would recommend this tour.
March 8, 2020Small bus was lovely. Very informative and flexible. Enjoyed by all of us including the teenagers. Need ot be able to walk on uneven ground but we are not particularly... read more fit and were fine with the walking so it's not a big issue.
January 9, 2023 -
We were on a cruise that unexpectedly visited Tauranga for 2 days. The fist day we did a hop on & hop off bus tour around Tauranga. The second... read more day we booked a tour with Russell who took us on sight seeing tour around the town and told us bit of history of the region - very interesting. We then headed out of town to Comvita Manuka Honey factory, then to a kiwi fruit farm & finally an avocado farm. Russell was an informative, welcoming & good humoured host - very enjoyable.
March 14, 2020When cruising it is easy to book excursions directly from the ship. We have found these can be very expensive and very impersonal. You have 50 on the coach and... read more time taken to get on and off can be wasteful. On our recent trip to NZ and Oz we compared the ship's prices with independent operators. They were often almost half price and everyone worked out really well.
This was our first excursion from our cruise ship and we were not sure what to expect. It was an excellent tour and Carol was a great driver and guide. She was very informative throughout. We visited a small town and the countryside that really gave us a view of NZ life. We visited a Honey farm, Kiwi farm and Avocado farm. She was very knowledgeable about all the growing processes. We tasted honey but were advised not to buy any honey products as banned from Western Australia and we were disembarking in Perth. We were introduced to Golden and Green Kiwis and she bought us kiwi ice creams. Finally she provided bread to enable us to taste the oil at the avocado farm. It was a most enjoyable trip which gave us our first introduction to New Zealand.
March 24, 2019I took a private tour of the Karangahake Gorge, Minden outlook and the Owhanga Falls, with lunch and a little train ride. I really got the feeling that there is... read more not much to do or see in this area - and that the guide was hard-pressed to take up the day showing us around. Scenery was pleasant, it was a nice sunny day, lunch was unremarkable; food average, service terrible. (I can't even remember where we ate; that's how blah it was). Owner/guide was engaging and fun - so it wasn't a bad experience. Just not over-the-top exciting, or something that I can recommend as a "must do"!
February 6, 2016 -
We had an amazing day with Russell who showed us the beauty of Bay of Plenty. We stopped in Mount Maunganui where Russell told us the history of New Zealand... read more and specifically about Bay of Plenty. After a nice drive down to Hobbitland we were able to explore the fascinating set from the Hobbit movies.
Russell also took us to one of New Zealand beautiful waterfalls after the tour at Hobbitland.
The BIGGEST plus was definitely the orca Russell spotted near the beach in Mount Maunganui. For us who’s never seen an orca before, this was an experience of it’s own! I highly recommend Russell if you wanna have a tour with great experience.
May 19, 2023Great city tour with a visit to a honey farm, kiwi farm with great tasting kiwi ice cream and a avocado farm.
January 28, 2019Having booked a small group tour of Tauranga on-line were we really didn't know what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised when Carol took us on a relaxing and very... read more informative highlights tour. Carol is passionate and professional and we were so glad we didn't decide to be part of the "cattle class" on one of the larger tour coaches.
We highly recommend this tour to anyone stopping off in Tauranga. Thanks Carol for providing one of the highlights of our New Zealand cruise.
February 3, 2019 -
Four of us got off the cruise ship at Tauranga and started looking for a small van tour for several hours. We found Carol of Wicked Wanders right at the... read more wharf and signed up with two more women from our ship. What a wonderful, fun, informative time we had for the next four hours! Carol was fun and full of great information which made our tour special. We loved the fresh fish and chips she picked up and then drove us to the perfect picnic spot to enjoy. Be sure to check our Wicked Wanders when in Tauranga!!
February 27, 2016Had a fantastic tour in Tauranga, Russell was superb on the tour and I would recommend this tour over the excursions offered by the cruise lines. He takes you to... read more genuinely interesting places where you have time to absorb the stunning scenery.
December 28, 2022 -
Russell Picks you up from where the cruise ship docks. He is very knowledgeable and makes the whole experience very interesting. We were lucky enough to be the only two... read more on the trip due to a glitch in the booking system (good for us!) two tour sellers joined us. We visited a kiwi farm and had tastings and ice cream, Manuka honey factory and avocado farm and some lovely beach spots it was all really interesting and enjoyable. I would definitely recommend.
March 5, 2020What a great time. I was up from Christchurch at a conference in Tauranga with some time to kill and decided to do this tour. Russell was a great guide... read more and made the trip really enjoyable. The guides at Te Puia were great and I learnt a lot about the local geography and local culture. Highly recommended.
October 2, 2022On a recent New Zealand cruise we visited a number of ports. Tauranga is a stunning place and our memories will be all the more special because of this... read more excellent shore excursion. Carol from Wicked Wanders was there to meet us when we disembarked with a very warm welcome. There were 8 of us on the tour and the van was very roomy and comfortable. The tour was diverse in that we saw the popular beaches of the area, visited a Manuka Honey farm, a kiwi orchard and an avocado farm but all in a very relaxed and informative way. Both my husband and I could not recommend this shore excursion highly enough.
May 9, 2019