Top 10 thrills
New Zealand is the home of adventure. Take a look at our list of top ten things to get your heart rate racing!
| 1 | Experience the total buzz of flying your own plane with Fly By Wire – another Kiwi-invented adrenaline rush. This adventure ride gives you solo control of a high-speed tethered plane. Fly By Wire is in Queenstown and at Paekakariki, near Wellington. |
| 2 | If you’ve always wanted to try your hand (and feet!) at mountain climbing, hire a guide and give it a go at Mount Cook National Park. Sir Edmund Hillary practiced on the Southern Alps before he conquered Mt Everest. |
| 3 | Feel the freight-train speed of a genuine America’s Cup Yacht first hand. NZL40 is based in Auckland’s Viaduct Basin and they want you on the crew! |
| 4 | Follow the trail of Zane Grey and Ernest Hemmingway and head off into the wild blue Pacific to hook a marlin. Game boats can be chartered in Northland – head for Whangaroa, Russell or Tutukaka. |
| 5 | Take your quest for thrills underground. At Waitomo you can abseil into the Lost World Cave, explore the unbelievable Haggis Honking Holes or float through eerie subterranean tunnels on an inflated inner tube. |
| 6 | Throw yourself out of a plane! Tandem or solo skydives are easy to arrange almost anywhere in New Zealand. In Matamata you can go gliding and experience the magic of unpowered flight. |
| 7 | The highest bungy jump in Queenstown is the Nevis Highwire. You’ll leap from a cable car 440ft above the Nevis River. |
| 8 | Freshen up your ideas with a blast of white-water rafting. A wild, wet raft ride can be found on the Rangitikei, Motu, Tongariro, Shotover and Kawarau Rivers. |
| 9 | To experience the amazing scree run down into the crater of Mt Tarawera, you must first hike up. But it’s worth every step. |
| 10 | Jet boating gives you a major dose of thrill therapy. Blast through the narrow canyons of the Shotover River in as little as 4 inches of water, rock walls only centimeters from the end of your nose. |
