Adventure Trips – From the Extreme to the More Laidback, New Zealand Has it All!
Adventure comes in many forms and for most of us it’s moving out of our comfort zone and having an unusual or exciting experience where often there is danger or some kind of risk involved. There are a huge range of extremes – for some people booking a first-time international air ticket is enough but others thrive on taking holidays where the whole trip must be an adventure; from having no contact with the outside world, to getting robbed in broad daylight, to negotiating dodgy transport that even the locals won’t use.
The vast majority of travelers want exciting activity options with the hazards outlined clearly, degrees of fitness (or madness) required and reviews of the activity posted up on the internet for everyone to see. New Zealand has been a mecca for adrenaline junkies for years, and the increase in commercial activity tourism was arguably kick-started in 1987 by a crazy Kiwi guy jumping off the Eiffel Tower in Paris, attached to a super-stretchy elastic bungy cord.
A J Hackett’s stunt took the world by storm and the following year he created a site in Queenstown, New Zealand to become the world’s first commercial public bungy. Originally inspired by the “land divers” of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu – young men who jumped from tall wooden platforms with vines tied to their ankles as a test of their courage and passage into manhood – A J Hackett became the ‘father of bungy jumping’ expanding his adventure business from New Zealand to Europe, America and Asia.
Queenstown took the new bungy jump attraction to heart and as more tourism operators started, the town was labeled the ‘adventure capital of the world’ – a title it still claims today, twenty years later. Now tourists in New Zealand can choose from a wide range of exciting activities in the air, on land or in the water. At the quieter end of the extreme scale you can go horse trekking for a day or on a guided walk through ancient limestone caves, while building yourself up for G force tandem paragliding, aerobatic stunt plane rides or maybe a spot of heli rafting.
The best thing about planning your adventure trip in New Zealand is that the whole country is in on the ‘adrenaline’ buzz so you’re not tied down geographically. As a lot of these activities are weather dependent – if for example your sky dive is cancelled in Paihia then you can try your jump in Taupo and moving southwards in your trip, you’ll easily find more providers to fulfill your skydive dream.
New Zealand operates to international guiding standards and is leading the way in regulation assessments in a number of areas including rafting, kayaking and canyoning. Having qualified companies all over the country gives travelers less excuses to not take the plunge and look their fear in the face! Whether adventure is a state of mind, an addiction or a one-off life changing experience for you, then a New Zealand trip is full of endless possibilities.
