About Wicked Wanders

  Russell was our knowledgable guide who took us in our mini van round all the points in the tour. He was informative and entertaining. We enjoyed learning about the kiwi... read more fruit, the manuka honey and the avocado. We tasted some of the oils at the avocado farm and of course it would have been good to taste some avocado too but that was not on offer for some reason- maybe not ripened?
Overall, it was an easy going, informative relaxed tour. We thoroughly enjoyed it !

  Very worthwhile tour for cruise passengers. Carol is very informative and friendly. Had a lovely time and still had time for a walk round.

  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!!

  Our guide, Nicolle was excellent: professional, friendly, and knowledgeable. She kept us on track to ensure we didn't miss our ship. The tour was terrific: entertaining, educational, and beautiful.

  Small 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.

  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

  What a fantastic tour guide Carol was can't fault her, very informative and also has a sense of humor which can be hard to come by these days

  The sites are lovely. Russell knew his history. Disappointed about the tea stop being closed but the elms were fascinating

  Cruising New Zealand on Celebrity and booked the trip with Wicked Wanders on line before we arrived - though you could book on the day.. Meet and greet well organised... read more in Tauranga and an excellent tour led by Carol In a small van. Really enjoyed the visit to the Manuka Honey factory and the kiwi farm - great guides in both. Rain held off and saw a good range of the area round Tauranga - felt we learnt a lot. Really good tour and very fairly priced.

  We really enjoyed our 4-hour tour. Interesting and fun. The town is very near the port so you can walk in or take the ship shuttle. We were met at... read more the port gates by Russell and on our return we walked along the beach road which is very close to the ship. It was lovely.

  We booked our trip through Viator, but you may be able to book w/ Wicked Wanders directly online. Wonderful tour around Tauranga with stops for local Tea & Kiwi... read more Fruit tasting. Russell is an excellent guide and I'd highly recommend booking w/ him early.

  This 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.

  If 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.

  Easy to book, quick confirmation, showed up on time as planned, good service. Very happy overall. Thank you.

  When 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.

  Had a tour with Russell and it was fantastic!

Saw lots of interesting stuff, learned plenty of cool facts about what we were seeing, and had a great... read more time all round! Very knowledgeable and helpful, great sense of humour and very approachable!

Highly recommend these guys, cannot speak highly enough of their services!

  Russell from Wicked Wanderers met our cruise ship on time for the 4hr scenic tour of Tauranga. Small group, very comfortable air conditioned van. Tour commentary was excellent & well... read more informed, Russell was very personable & helpful too. The trip needed to be adapted slightly due to poor weather to ensure we had a great time. Well done, Russell!!

  All the trip was fantastic couldn’t fault it. Love Russell he was tops with everything would recommend this tour to anyone who wants a relaxing and interesting tour on Tauranga.... read more Thank you kindly
Natalie and Mark.

  The views was so amazing & our guide who was with us was very informative about the many locations we went to! Such a beautiful trip & highly recommend

  I 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.

  Had 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.

  We had beautiful weather. This is a must to be able to experience the best views. Our guide was good and informative. Downside for anyone unable to walk unaided, not... read more for wheelchair, steps quite steep. Pushchair can manage,
money we'll spent.
PS: I have both knees reconstructed but able to get around the hilly terrain.

  This was a veryinformative tour. Our guide was wonderful! We found out a lot about Tauranga and it's surroundings!

  What a wealth of information Russell was. We learnt so much about New Zealand history and especially liked the avocado and kiwi fruit tasting. Would highly recommend this tour.

  My wife and I have been lucky enough to do a tour with carol today around Tauranga this lady is fantastic her knowledge of the area and itinerary is great... read more we visited the honey farm and kiwi fruit farm and then had a great fish and chips lunch up on a hill overlooking the harbour that our ship was docked a fantastic day and I would highly recommend her if you come this way by cruise ship

  This trip is well worth it, especially if you want to quickly learn more about the history of NZ. We've tried a few other cultural experiences here but they felt... read more impersonal and weren't as fun or knowledgeable.

Since it's a small tour we got to ask a bunch of questions, and Russ knows his stuff. He's also great to have a laugh with & I recommend asking for him when you book.

We went with a family group including parents, grandparents, Aunts etc. but it'd be perfect whoever you're with.

Thanks for the great day!

  We were looking for an affordable excursion getting off the cruise ship. We found Wicked Wanders which offered a four hour tour provided by Carol and was very affordable.... read more We went to the Manuka Honey attraction, a kiwi orchard, stopped at a local place and got take out fish and chips. Carol took us to a scenic place overlooking the water for us to eat our lunch. These are just the highlights, there were other places we went as well. Carol is a wonderful tour guide, extremely knowledgeable about her country. When the time for our tour was up and there were still other things we wanted to see, she asked if we wanted to continue on or go back to the ship. We ended up with a 5+ hour tour which was absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend this tour.

  This is a wonderful tour of Tauranga in a small coach with a local guide. Russell was exceptional. He took us to all the best places and told us so... read more many interesting things. I highly recommend this tour. So easy to find him, right outside the gate at the ship dock. Kiwi fruit trip was the best!!

  Fantastic and very informative time we had with Russell. He was casual but very well informed on lots of general life, history, commerce and found interesting New Zealand focused... read more things for us to see. I think this is the best tour we did on this holiday.

  Russel was a lovely welcoming guide who took great care of us. Very informative and relaxed. Highly recommend it