Creating immersive experiences right here in our backyard

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

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

  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.

  Great city tour with a visit to a honey farm, kiwi farm with great tasting kiwi ice cream and a avocado farm.

  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.

  This was a great tour with Russell so informative he certainly knows his stuff!
Definitely recommend this tour to anyone wanting a bit of history as well as small... read more tastings of the wonderful kiwi fruit and avocado that we definitely don’t get at home !

  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!!

  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.

  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.

  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.

  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

  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.

  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

  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!

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

  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

  Russell has a van that holds 6 people. It is a perfect size for a four hour tour. The atmosphere was relaxed, Russell was knowledgeable and friendly; he provided very... read more interesting information as we drove through beautiful countryside. The tour was well paced and thoroughly enjoyable.

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

  This was an absolutely amazing day trip and a great way to see more secluded thermal lakes. The walk down from the top of the valley was stunning with so... read more many plants and manuka bushes around you. Following the thermal river all the way to the lake provided some really interesting views and finished with a trip on the boat around the lake. Our guide was so knowledgeable with a was real pleasure to be shown around by him. Definitely recommend.

  Our 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.

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

  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.

  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!

  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

  had a ball,Carol the driver operator had a idea of where we wanted to go but was very accommodating & suggested changes to the original ittinary that we had asked... read more for, her knowlage of the local area was excellent .can highly recommend this company to anyone visiting this area .

  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!

  Our guide Russell was a local man who was at the pier to greet us. The tour showed us around the town of the "Mount", beaches, harbour, the adjoining... read more community of Tauranga, working port, shopping precinct. We then headed out from there to a honey producing company and samples the famous Manuka honey and other blends. Coffee break welcome. Then to a small farm seeing avocado trees laden with fruit (no sample sadly). We did though sample the oil from same. Following this we headed to another farm producing the famous Kiwi fruit and were told about the two main varieties (green and gold Kiwi fruits). Overall I enjoyed the tour and found Russell to be an engaging and helpful guide, but we (as older persons),found getting in and out of the mini bus a bit of a challenge. I enjoyed the visit to the greenhouse on the harbour, but would have liked to go inside the old missionary complex instead of looking from the street.

  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.

  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.

  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.