- Auckland Adventure Tour-
-Adventure Tour-
Auckland Adventure
Wet, Wild and Wonderful Come canyoning! Explore canyons hidden in dense rainforest! Abseil, swim, slide and jump into the best adventure in Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula! 4 reasons to join the adventure:
Canyoning is great fun! No experience is required. Canyonz provide friendly, experienced and qualified guiding. Discover rare native birds, sparkling waterfalls, strange rock formations, volcanic pinnacles, wild beaches. The adventure starts only forty minutes from Auckland City
The Auckland region, along with the Coromandel Peninsula which is not formally part of it, is a narrow piece of land deeply indented by the sea. There is a strong contrast between the west and the east coasts. The west coast is straight and simple and, open to the prevailing westerlies, its seas are rough. It is a wild and exhilarating place. Looking south from the slopes of the Waitakere Ranges towards the Manukau Harbour and Cornwallis Peninsula. Photo NC. By contrast the east coast is extremely indented, with harbours, bays, and peninsulas. This is the Hauraki Gulf, a vast expanse of gentler waters studded with many islands. Nowhere in the region is more than a few kilometres from the coast.
While the sea so dominates at first sight, the region owes its character at least as much to the action and the products of volcanism. Most striking of all are the numerous (nearly 50) little basaltic cones that are spread across Auckland Isthmus and make it a unique setting. The Auckland Volcanic Field has formed progressively over the last 150,000 years approximatively, and is still active by geological standards. Youngest of all is Rangitoto Island, nowadays the dominating landmark of Auckland Harbour, which first erupted about 600 years ago. Some distance south the Franklin Volcanic Field is a comparable basaltic field, slightly older, centred around Pukekohe and the Bombay Hills.
Both the Waitakere Ranges and the mountains of the Coromandel Peninsula originated in volcanic phases of much greater extent. They belong to two parallel volcanic arcs that were active between approximately 24 and 5 million years ago, caused by the subduction of the Pacific Tectonic Plate underneath the Australian Tectonic Plate. Along both arcs a series a huge rhyolithic and andesitic strato-volcanoes, comparable to or larger than the present day Ruapehu and Taranaki, were built and eroded over time.
Like the rest of New Zealand, the Auckland region was densely forested prior to human settlement, although not the isthmus itself. This region, as well as the Coromandel and the whole of Northland, is the realm of the giant kauri, one of the largest and oldest living trees on earth. The kauri forests that once extensively covered these regions have been felled almost entirely, but a few large survivors remain in both the Waitakere Ranges and the Coromandel Peninsula. It is the role of the Waitakare Regional Park and the Coromandel Forest Park to protect them, and to favour the regeneration of large tracts of native forest.
The seas around Auckland are home to a profusion of wildlife. Seabirds are especially conspicuous and many can be seen from the shores or a short distance at sea. They include gulls, shags, terns, gannets, skuas, shearwaters and petrels. Blue penguins are common in the Hauraki Gulf and can easily be seen from boats. Most spectacular perhaps of all marine wildlife are the dolphins, orcas and whales. Dolphins are a common encounter in the Hauraki Gulf, and orca are seen regularly. The large species of whales, once common, were decimated during the whaling years of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Occasional visitors to the Hauraki Gulf include minke, humpback and Bryde's whales. New Zealand fur seals are re-establishing themselves, especially on the west coast, after having been decimated by Maori and European hunters.
On land the forests are home to a number of native bird species, including tui, New Zealand pigeons, fantails, and grey warblers. Other species now absent on the mainland can easily be observed on the sanctuary island of Tiritiri Matangi. They include bellbirds, saddlebacks, stitchbirds, kakas, kokakos and kiwis.
BLUE CANYON: PRICES & CONDITIONS
Prices per person and including GST. Discounts apply for groups.
Maximum 20 participants.
No previous canyoning or abseiling experience required.
Standard trip NZ$ 145.00
Full day, 9:30 am departure from Auckland, return 5:30 pm - Other departure
times can be arranged on request.
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Half-day trip NZ$ 125.00
Departure 12:00 noon - Other departure times can be arranged on request.
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SLEEPING GOD CANYON: PRICES & CONDITIONS
Prices per person and including GST. Discounts apply for groups.
Minimum 4 participants, maximum 12.
Standard full day trip NZ$ 225.00
Full day, 7 am departure from Auckland, return 7 pm.
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Abseiling practice + Standard full day trip NZ$ 295.00
Abseiling practice is done the day before the trip (or another day as arranged:
please contact us), and is available both in Auckland and in Thames.
CANYONING COMBO
Blue Canyon + Sleeping God Canyon full day trips.
Can be done on consecutive days or within 3 months.
Standard trip NZ$ 345.00
TO PLACE A BOOKING
Our email: info@canyonz.co.nz
Freephone:
(NZ only) 0800 4 CANYONZ
(0800 422 696)
Our phone: -- 64 9 815 9464
Our mobile: -- 027 294 7724
Our fax: --64 9 815 9462
Our address: Canyonz, PO Box 68-057, Newton, Auckland, NZ
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this site was last updated Feb. 1, 2003
