New Zealand adventure holidays travel guide

New Zealand is a year-round destination for adventure activities: think of it like the UK, with the potential for four seasons in one day, but with the climate flipped 180 degrees, since it’s on the other side of the world of course. Winter (June through August) is ski season, but less suitable for trekking or water-based activities that can be disrupted by heavier rainfall. Summer (December to February) brings with it warm, sunny weather but also big lines on popular trekking routes and in iconic destinations such as Queenstown, Wanaka and the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. Go in spring or autumn then, for generally pleasant weather, fewer crowds and to catch New Zealand’s magnificent scenery, from coast to mountain to rainforest, bursting with colour.

All of these activities tend to have two things in common: 1) no previous experience or training is necessary to have a go, and 2) before slipping into your wetsuit or strapping on your parachute, you will almost certainly be asked to sign a waiver of legal responsibility for death or injury, drastically limiting your ability to seek compensation if anything goes wrong. The likelihood of anything going wrong is minimal of course, but if it does, you may well struggle to find justice in the courts. You can tip the balance of risk to reward in your favour by travelling on an organised tour – that puts the burden of making sure an activity is suitable on the operator, and means that if you have an accident that’s not your fault, you’ve got someone to sue! As Kelly Reid from our specialist operator Exodus explains, you’re in safe hands: "New Zealand is a very regulated environment and our local operator only deals with licensed operators with excellent safety records. There are stringent processes and checks in place in regards to safety that all local activity operators must go through in order to obtain the approved accreditation required to operate. Furthermore, Exodus conducts and reviews risk assessments for all our trips at least on a yearly basis or when we change any part of the tour. Our local team also is required to sign and adhere to our H&S policy which covers areas like this.”

Rare is the New Zealand holiday where you stay in one place for long. This is a country that invites overlanding, spoilt rotten with stunningly picturesque landscapes, and with as many adventure activities as there are sheep, which is to say, a lot. Much of this is what we’d call ‘soft adventure’ – trekking, kayaking, swimming with dolphins; then there are the classics which are not for the faint of heart – skydives, bungee jumps, white and black water rafting, and then there are the quintessentially kiwi activities that are mad, innovative and will leave you buzzing for days – jet boating, or the bizarre sport of zorbing which is about as close you’d probably want to get to being in a washing machine.