Activities

Experience the ultimate ‘get down and dirty’ ground-gripping adventure on your New Zealand holiday. Like 4WD Safaris, motorbike tours are a great way to view spectacular backcountry while having a truckload of fun in the process.

Is there a latent speleologist inside you waiting to get out and explore the limestone labyrinths of the underworld? Caving opportunities abound in New Zealand, which has extensive areas of karst limestone landscape. Serious caving enthusiasts can stay in the Tomo Group Lodge at Waitomo.

Aerobatic action flights are a relatively new development on the adventure tourism scene. This is moderate to extreme adventure for thrill seekers and would be ‘fly boys’ and ‘fly girls’. Looping the loop in a Pitts Special stunt plane is not for the faint hearted.

Trust the Kiwis to come up with some red-hot action adventure in freezing water-filled caves. Their cavalier, can-do attitude was amply demonstrated in 1987 when a Waitomo guide casually floated through the Ruakuri Cave on an inflatable tube.

What adventure sport offers the maximum adrenalin rush with the minimum risk? You simply can’t go past bungy jumping. It’s a complete head game where you have nothing to fear but a massive air rush and a surge of adrenalin that can last for days.

Imagine the pleasure of drifting serenely on a mirror-smooth lake with snow-capped mountains reflected in its surface, or on a crystal clear stream meandering through lush rainforest. New Zealand is a paddler’s paradise, being completely surrounded by ocean, dotted with a thousand lakes and criss-crossed by over 1500 rivers.

New Zealand is a great country for cycle touring on picturesque backcountry roads. On our many touring routes you can experience the freedom of the open road with the wind in your hair, the sun on your back and the tarmac barrelling along under your wheels.

Can you visualise yourself in a rocket ship soaring through space at breakneck speed? You are encased in a part-plane, part-rocket machine as it hurtles around in a circle, tethered to a steel cable. Fly By Wire is a self-drive flying machine unique to New Zealand.

Escape to a world of peace and tranquility and see the dawn break over a silent land. There’s nothing quite so romantic and exciting as soaring skyward in a balloon and cruising effortlessly over a changing landscape.

Have you tried the ultimate wilderness ski experience? New Zealand has thousands of hectares of untouched powder snow on virgin mountain slopes - the stuff of dreams. Heli-ski operators cover a vast area of off-piste territory, ranging far and wide along the Southern Alps during the July to October season.

Have you ever dreamed of cantering along a wild, white-sand beach, or riding a high country ridge with views forever? New Zealand has horse trekking operations in almost every corner of the country. Ask your nearest Visitor Information Centre for the pamphlet ‘Where to Ride in New Zealand.

Take a hike on a massive river of ice sliding inexorably down the precipitous slopes of the Southern Alps. Glacier walking is one of New Zealand’s top attractions. Experienced guides can lead you into an alien world of blue-tinged ice caves, seracs and pinnacles on the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers.