Off devices: Kids holiday action in Whangamata

ON YER BIKE: E-bikes from Pedal and Paddle Whangamata, has a school holiday competition for kids to go in the draw to win a MGP Scooter. PHOTO/Alison Smith.

Whangamata retailers have cranked the gears on ways to get kids off devices and rolling outside these school holidays.

From affordable e-bike hire to quadricycles that will get families working as a team, there's options that make the town's flat streets a fun place to explore.

There are numerous retailers that hire bikes. But to test run for myself, I went to Pedal and Paddle on Port Rd with my 11-year-old son Freeman and his friend Zanda Hishon.

Pedal and Paddle's owner Chris Combes is passionate about getting more people on bikes and offers bike hire for $10 hour, $15 two hours and e-bike hire for $20/hour for both kids and adults.

He also hires mountain bikes for Whangamata Ridges MTB Park. This is approx 4km out of town in a commercial logging forest - so check on access at www.whangamataridges.nz - and you can hire bike racks for your tow ball from Chris and the team. For passes, check with bike hire retailers or Whangamata Information Centre.

After a quick safety check we blasted off on e-bikes and made it along the waterfront roads to Island View Playground, a beachfront nature-based council playground with flying fox, climbing wall and rope swings that are enjoyed by kids up to intermediate age.

Stopping for icecreams at the estuary store, it was a doddle to make it all the way back into town where we returned our e-bikes and stopped for lunch, before another ride - this time on the 'croc bike'.

This is a four-wheeler with pedals and seats for four, and a crocodile-themed canopy that kept us out of the light rain showers.

The great thing about Whangamata's croc bikes is the smiles they illicit from those we passed by. Perhaps it's because we looked a little goofy, but more likely because riding a crocodile-themed quadricycle made all of us giggle and wave.

The Croc Bikes can be hired for up to three people from $15 and up to six people from $25 - and it's a good way to teach kids about working together to lighten the load (or for a mum to get a good workout, peddling more than her share).

After this it was more wheel time, at the Whangamata skatepark, where the new skating addition to this iconic bowl can be enjoyed by skaters, scooter riders and those on BMXs and mini bikes like Zanda's wildcat mini BMX.

Pedal and Paddle is offering an incentive to help get kids active with its School Holiday Fun competition from September 25-11 October 11, where kids can go in the draw to win an MGP Scooter by using a map to explore Whangamata, answering 11 cryptic clues correctly.

It's free entry, one per person. Grab an entry form and map from Pedal and Paddle - 700 Port Rd, Whangamata

Holidays Hire Rates
Bike Hire - $10 Hour $15 two hours
E-bike hire $20 Hour (Kids & Adults)
4 wheel croc bikes up to three people from $15 and up to six people from $25