New Zealand adventure activities

New Zealand's landscape and temperate climate lends itself to outdoor activity. The country is renowned for its wide range of adventure pastimes, with the best known being bungy jumping, jetboating, rafting, snowboarding and skiing. Adventure means different things to different people and the best aspect of the New Zealand adventure scene is that it provides activities rated from 'soft' to 'extreme', from walking/hiking and waterskiing to mountain climbing and caving. The adventure tourism industry makes the most of having a country surrounded by sea, criss-crossed by rivers and lakes, covered in native bush and with a central spine of spectacular snow-capped mountains. There's something for everyone who enjoys the outdoor lifestyle and the special sense of freedom the relatively sparsely populated land provides.

New Zealand offers bungy jumping, gliding, paragliding, parasailing, rafting, 4wd tours, jet boating, jet skiing, kart racing, motorcycling, quad biking, zorbing, skydiving, skiing, mountain bike tours, caving/canyoning, hot air balloon safaris, hunting, shooting, fishing, whale watching, swimming with dolphins, windsurfing, snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding, indoor skiing, water skiing, kite boarding, rally driving, rock climbing, abseiling, mountaineering, sky jumping, sky wire, flying foxes, canyon swing, horse riding/treks, canoe/ kayak tours and diving.

This list increases everyday with the entrepreneurial New Zealander thinking up new ways to get your adrenaline flowing.

New Zealand being a small country offers all these adventure activities in a compact area. Within a day you could experience a number of activities. Queenstown near the lower South Island is known as the adventure capital of New Zealand with many activities a stones throw from the township.

You can enjoy your adventure activity with the assurance that New Zealand has very high safety standards. There are very high penalties on any company that fails to meet the safety requirements of their given adventure activity.

Take the time to seek out the activities you want to do, strap yourself in, close your eyes, open your lungs and enjoy.