Summer travel ideas: Family-friendly outdoor adventures

Tauranga-based Dolphin Seafaris has a 95 per cent success rate of finding dolphins during the summer months. Photo / Bay of Plenty NZ

In these times of regular home-schooling and staying in bubbles, keeping the kids busy often means plonking them in front of a screen (no judgment). But this summer, it's a chance to get them outside and filling their lungs (and souls) with exciting adventures. Here are five ideas around the country to get you started.

1. Find forest magic in Hanmer Springs

Hanmer Spring's Forest Amble to Fairy Springs Door Walk is a 30-minute trail and the ultimate game of "I Spy". Challenge your kids to be the first to spot all the creatures along the way, including a friendly giant, abseiling possums, a dog, an orangutan, and countless colourful sprite-sized doorways. Also in the area is the Dog Stream Track — a more challenging three-hour return tramp to a 41m waterfall — which is bound to appeal to older kids and teenagers (even if only for its Instagrammable qualities).
hanmerforest.co.nz

2. Kayak without paddles in Kaikōura

The only tour of its kind in New Zealand, Seal Kayak Kaikōura uses Hobie Mirage Oasis tandem pedal kayaks (think paddleboats, but kayak-shaped) for its three-hour wildlife watching tours.

Suitable for ages 3 and up, you're guaranteed sightings of the area's population of playful fur seals, but you also have a chance of spotting other marine life the coastline is known for, including Hector's dolphins and whales. Tours start at $69 for children 7 to 12, and $105 for ages 13 and up.
kaikourakayaks.nz

3. Experience a family adventure on the Shotover River

Family Adventures is a white-water rafting company catering to multi-generational groups, and is the only company in Queenstown licensed to carry children under 13 on the Shotover River.

Its five-hour tour ($120 children; $199 adults) sneaks in history lessons among the fun, much like you might hide zucchini in chocolate cake. You'll start at Skippers township, a mining settlement in the backcountry, before gearing up and getting the water. The float itself is mainly scenic, with a few bursts of adrenaline courtesy of grade one and two rapids and cliff jumps, making this truly an all-ages excursion.
familyadventures.co.nz

4. Get zippy with it at Coromandel Town

The late 2019 addition of CoroZip, a ziplining adventure through the native bush, helped solidify Coromandel's Driving Creek Railway as a destination worth revisiting time and time again.

Family passes are $377 and there are eight ziplines to choose from. Best of all, it includes an 18-minute ride on the railway that started it all.
drivingcreek.nz

5. Swim with dolphins in the Bay of Plenty

With tours departing from Tauranga Bridge Marina, Dolphin Seafaris has about a 95 per cent success rate of finding dolphins during the summer months, and an 85 per cent chance of swimming with them. After donning a wetsuit and snorkel mask, you'll enter the water, where you'll hang on to a swim bar at the back of the boat and watch the dolphins swim around you. The only requirements? Water confidence, some snorkelling skills, and children should be at least 7 years of age. A family of four costs $379.
nzdolphin.com

This is an edited version of a story that first appeared in NZ Herald Travel on March 30, 2021. For more great holiday ideas, go to nzherald.co.nz/travel