Cheeky Kiwi Travel Queenstown — Local services in South Island

Did a one way Queenstown to Tekapo with Sonia on 27 April 2025. She lack energy, has low enthusiasm, is angsty and slight road rage, hissing and complaining while she drive. Another couple who did another 2 cheeky kiwi tours and I both agree this is the worst guide that we can go with. She gave us some information on some of the stops but due to her attitude, you wouldn’t have find them interesting or wow anyway.

Hooker valley was closed for maintenance (announcement on 17 April on official website) but I booked the tour back in Feb, so we can only do part of the walk to the first swing bridge (50 mins round trip) and not the whole 3 hour track. In replacement, we did the Tasman Valley walk which was good too. However, if Cheeky Kiwi has told us in advance, I will have cancel my booking since Hooker Valley hike is the part where I look forward to the most. (There is 10 days between the official announcement and the tour date).

In the booking, they also show that you can enjoy salmon slices while looking at lake Tekapo, and is advertised as such. Somewhere in between me making the booking in Feb and the actual tour day (27 April), this stop was removed and not informed as well. Again, very disappointing given the amount of money we pay the tour agency - NZD 399.

All in all, a very disappointing experience with Cheeky Kiwi and especially the guide Sonia because the guide do make or break the tour. Tour is pricey and on hindsight, I should have stick to the intercity bus NZD 79.

Update on 3/5/25: received a call from Rhys on 28/4 (the morning after the tour) for follow up. They did sent an email to Agoda about hooker valley closure but Agoda did not pass on the information. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Also received a refund for the trip which I appreciate. Updating this review to 2.5 stars - 1 for the tour, 4 for the...

This company have no empathy and is unfair in its treatment to customers. We had booked a tour to Milford Sound on 19 Oct 2022 for 5 persons. They informed by email, 1 day before the tour that they could not provide the tour "due to staff shortages and staff sickness". They asked if we wanted to be transferred to another operator, Fiordland Tours. We were in the middle of our 2 weeks road trip on South Island and without much choice, we agreed but also informed that only 3 persons will be going for the tour, instead of 5. My son was not feeling well on the day before the tour and needed another adult to accompany him. Being socially responsible, we didn't want to bring my son for the tour. Had we rejected their offer, we would have gotten full refund since they could not provide the tour themselves. In fact, we informed them immediately after their email that only 3 persons will be joining the tour so that they can plan accordingly. However despite our request to provide refund for the 2 persons who could not join the tour, they rejected our request on the basis that they incurred expenses. Which is a poor excuse because the tour was supposed to provide lunch and they only provided lunch for 3 persons. So how could they have incurred full expenses for 5 persons? Given the recent pandemic, companies need to be more empathetic and flexible in their treatment of customers. Failing which, customers would not be comfortable to engage their services. Please do not remove this review and I hope this will give others a fair view of the treatment of Cheeky...

Milford Sound tour with cruise

We had the best time during our tour with Cheeky Kiwi! The total tour time was 13 hours as we have to drive inland and back out again to get to Milford Sound. There are various stops along the way to take photos and visit the lookouts. We learned so much about the history of New Zealand, agriculture on the island, and geography of what we were looking at!

The cruise portion of the tour was spectacular. We saw seals, penguins, and a few others even saw dolphins. The waterfalls were breathtaking! Getting soaked in the rain was all part of the fun (though next time I’d bring a poncho).

Our tour guide Jeff was absolutely incredible. He was indeed cheeky and had a story to tell for every stop we made! He was so knowledgeable and such an interesting human. With history in professional wildlife photography, working with movie filming, and helicopters, Jeff seemed like a man who has seen adventure. It was so clear he loves what he does and led such an incredible tour. He also had a great playlist! He had us all interacting and feeling like a family by the end.

Tips for your trip: Eat a light breakfast as food doesn’t come till around 9, 10am. The lunch box was delicious!

Dress for wet weather. They informed us that Milford Sound is one of the wettest parts of New Zealand and we did indeed get soaked.

Go out at every stop! The sights were so incredible and each photo op was better...