Ask any true-blue fan of adrenalin-pumping extreme sports what’s their favorite destination for the next big thrill, and you’ll get just one answer – Australia. Extreme sports and Australia – somehow these two have gotten fused together. With good reason too, we might add. Have you tried out these 10?
1. Kayaking
Just the two of you in a delicate looking tapered kayak, surviving due to the strength of your arms and your navigational skills. The deep sea is below, large waves beat your kayak and the myriad huge marine creatures wait to eat you. Sounds thrilling? It is, and dangerous too! Head to Hitchinbrook Island, or to St. Kilda, Melbourne. Shark, anyone?
2. Bungee Jumping
Get to Minjin, Cairns this summer and try your hand at bungee jumping. Challenge the limits of your mind. Test your fear to the fullest. Leap off from a height of 50 meters into a teeming rainforest. Feel the ground hurtling towards you. Swing over the rainforests at a 100 kilometer speed. No safety net, no one to hold you – just pure adrenalin.
3. Skydiving
Not an experienced skydiver? No problem. Best of all, there are any number of skydiving drop zones where you can tandem skydive, strapped to a tandem master. Invest some time into the Accelerated Free Fall (AFF) course and you can skydive without any help for the rest of your life. Check out skydiving hotspots at Wollongong, Sydney and St. Kilda, Melbourne and also in Perth and Brisbane.
4. Rock Climbing
Lead rock climbing at its best at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, and at Morialta National Park, Adelaide. Face huge rock formations with deadly drops. You rely on your lead rope and the harness at your waist to keep you from falling. You have to use every inch of strength in your arms, legs and even fingers to climb vertically up a rock face.
5. V8 Car Racing
Drive a 450 HP V8 Race Car for 6 laps at Drive Eastern Creek, Sydney. A V8 instructor will ride with you. The V8 race car you’ll be riding has all the features of a top-of-the-line V8 Supercar, including the Carrera Cup slicks, 6-pot brakes, racing gearbox and Bilstein suspension. Experience the g-forces and the crazy excitement of V8 performance racing at 200 KPH!
6. Caving
How would you like to lower yourself into the depths of an underground cave? You’ll be climbing, stretching and scampering through narrow spaces as though you were a mole. The Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains are a spectacular labyrinth of deep caverns full of stalactites and stalagmites.
7. White Water Rafting
White Water Rafting is action-packed. Think about making your way down rapids graded from the toughest 1 to the easiest 6 just with the power of your arms. Of course, you’ll have your team with you – everyone’s rowing has to be synched if you are to make the rapids alive. Enjoy the amazing scenery around the King River, Melbourne, as you plow down rapids at incredible speeds.
8. Off-Road 4-Wheel Driving
Here’s a totally unique off-road motor sport experience at Alberton, Gold Coast. Experience the raw and brutal V8 power on open, off-roads. Your professional driver will take your four-liter Lexus V8 engine powered buggy through awesome jumps and serious sideways action. The action is fast paced, and you can upgrade to the unbelievably action-packed Off-Road V8 Race Buggies Extreme Drive course!
9. Outdoor Trapezing
If you want to know what a trapeze performer feels, head to Homebush, Sydney. Get into your safety harness, and swing from a high trapeze. Learn to perform a number of tricks, as per your skill. Feel the utter freedom of throwing yourself off your trapeze as you fly to another one. Safety belts and nets are present – still, it’s only you and the fresh air at that height when you swing.
10. Wake Boarding
Murray River, South Australia and Hawkesbury River, Sydney are two ultimate wake boarder’s paradises. Rip across the river on your wakeboard from behind a Ski Nautique boat that’s built for wakeboarding. You can perform countless tricks on the water, feeling the rush as the rope goes taut. Jump the wakes and go as high as you want and soon you’ll feel you’re flying over the river!
Writer/adventurer Nermeen has written 100+ articles about experience gift ideas like skydiving, hot air ballooning, and helicopter flights. Look out for more of her work online!