Fabulous South Island adventures you can do with your kids

People always say that you can’t travel and adventure with kids. In fact, they told us to get it out of our system before we had kids. So we did. We had a last hurrah trip to Everest Base Camp before our first child was born.

I mean, there was no way we could keep up all the best adventures with kids right? Gosh how wrong we were. In fact, we have done far more adventurous activities now than we ever did before.

What makes it just fabulous with kids, is doing something new for the very first time together. It’s that shared experience; the butterflies churning as the hot air ballooning jiggles as it takes off, or when you look at each other in awe from seeing dolphins underwater for the very first time. This is what quality time is all about.

Here are some fabulous South Island adventures you can do with your kids.

It is so hard to find a kayak tour that will actually let you take young kids along. But Franz Josef Wilderness Tours offer an amazing family-friendly tour taking kids as young as 3 years old.

Located on the beautiful Lake Mapourika, you can kayak across to the Okarito Kiwi Sanctuary and that's where the magic comes alive. You can walk through a Jurassic forest cut by owner Dale himself.

Kayaking is easy, even with the younger ones, and you can pop them in a “middle seat” and they can ride along. We’ve found having a family of five means excluding a child, as operators often cater to even numbers only. So if you’re like us, you won’t have any problems here!

Or head to Milford Sound with Southern Discoveries and jump on a cruise and kayak tour. Not only do you get to experience the vastness of Milford Sound, kids from 5 years old can double with a parent to kayak.

The tour makes it easy for first-time kayakers with a kayak lift that lowers you into the water and calm, tranquil surroundings. Note: families with younger kids will need an even ratio of parents to kids to make this work).

Children can jet boat from the age of 2 with Fiordland Jet and it's such a rush. Whipping down the Waiau River, almost careening into the shallows and turning at the last-minute is absolutely exhilarating. Our 2-year-old loved it.

Top tip: Bring warm clothes and gloves as it can get quite cold as well as sunglasses. Why? The wind hurtling into your child's eyes will force them to close them and you do want them to see something right? Also get a good grip on them when your driver does a 360. Little people tend to slide a bit.

On top of this you’ll also get a local tour, learning about the history, Lord of the Rings film locations and if you’re lucky, your kid may even get to drive the boat and do a 360 (my boys’ absolute highlight) A boatload of fun for the whole family, and one of the best jet boat tours we have done in New Zealand.

Kids aren’t always up for a 9km walk, so why not bike it? Aspiring Hut, in the incredible Matukituki Valley outside Wānaka is the perfect family mountain bike adventure.

It’s a bit rocky in some places, so you will have to dismount a few times but in essence the trail has small undulations, some good flat sections and there’s one big hill. We jumped off our bikes and pushed them up this section, but it didn’t take too long.

As a guide: our kids (aged 6 and 8 years) do a bit of casual mountain biking and are generally pretty fit, and it took us about 1 hour 45 minutes each way.

The historic stone Aspiring Hut is a great hut for the family, sleeping up to 27 people. It does get busy during the holidays, so do make sure you book it in advance. It’s a great first hut for both trampers and bikepackers alike.

Kea at the hut will see your bike seats as a challenge to peck through, so hide your bikes in the forest or remove the seat while at the hut.

Sailing across the ocean on Kaikōura's Dolphin Encounter vessel, fresh sea air fills my lungs, I feel at peace… and then “Muuuum” screams my 8-year-old. The idyllic scene disappears, but I now understand his excitement as we spot a pod of over 100 dolphins ahead.

We race over to put on our flippers and zip up our wetsuits, protecting us from the freezing Pacific Ocean and then it's “go, go, go,” says the instructor. Your chest tightens as you hit the water and feel that rush of adrenalin.

These beautiful majestic creatures are just everywhere and we are encouraged to make high-pitched noises to attract and play with them. Snorkel in mouth, my eyes lock with my sons. We can’t say anything, but the exhilaration is in both of our eyes. We know just how lucky we are, but there's no time to talk. We have dolphins to swim with

Kids should be confident in the water, because as adults, you’ll spend most of your time with your head down. They do offer floatation devices if you need extra assistance.

If the idea of hurtling up to 100kmh over the forest canopy sounds like a bit of fun, then you’d be right.

Those over 1.2m can ride on Cable Bay Adventure Park's Skywire experience and while it sounds scary to start with, it's more like soaring through the air. The best part is that you get to experience it backwards as you return to base.

But if that's not your jam, they also have a raft of other family activities such as archery, mountain biking, paintball and an animal petting zoo. It’s a truly unique experience in the beautiful Nelson region.

Franz Josef Wilderness Tours' classic kayak adventure starts from $155 per adult and $95 per child (aged 17 and under). See:

Southern Discoveries Milford Sound kayaking from $179 per adult and $308 for a double adult/child kayak (aged 5-14). See:

Fiordlad Jet's Pure Wilderness jet boat tour from $169 per adult and $84 per child (aged 5-15). See:

Aspiring Hut from $40 per adult and $15 for those aged 11-17. Children 0–10 years are free. Seasonal bookings required. See:

Dolphin Encounter's swim and watch experience from $220 per adult and $205 per child (aged 8-14). See:

Cable Bay Adventure Park's Skywire experience from $110 per adult and $80 per child. See: