We love exploring new places, getting outdoors and doing fun, adventurous things together so Silverdale Adventure Park immediately ticked all those boxes and when we arrived it was even better than we had thought it would be. After surviving week one of the school holidays we thought that we would treat ourselves and 3 kids (plus an extra to even up numbers) to a day up at Silverdale Adventure Park. The kids had already checked it out on the site so would do pretty much anything to get a day up there – which fortunately for us included washing the car! Situated in Silverdale just across from the road that heads down to Stillwater (the place that James and I met 27 years ago) we arrived through some awesome purple gates that most certainly weren’t there back then. In fact all of this is new – opening at the beginning of 2016 and judging from some of your comments over on Facebook, still a fairly well kept secret for some. 
The carpark was full when we arrived but over the day nothing felt over crowded and we never had to queue for more than a few minutes for anything. So enough of me talking – what did we love about Silverdale Adventure Park?
The Polaris
This was seriously cool – an off road 4 x 4 that you get to drive yourself and take it around a muddy, bumpy track on the hills of Silverdale. Awesome!! You get fully kitted out in helmet and overalls (you need them – you are going to get really muddy) and then head off in a small group (a guide + 2 or 3 others) for about 10-15 minutes getting some airborne off road action. It’s a grown up ride (16+) and I was a bit too scared for this one so this one was all about James! He went on it twice and loved it! The guide was awesome and for someone hard to impress at theme parks and the like James loved it. 
They even had a mini version next to it for the kids which our lot loved – despite driving the poor guy running it mad with crashing into the tyres all the time (another 6 years to improve on that before they are on the road for real thankfully! 
The Zipline
This was my jam! I’m not usually a big fan of the adrenaline type activities. Give me a great walk, a leisurely boat ride with a glass of wine in my hands or a great scene to photograph any day. But for some reason today was different. This zip line had my name on it. I blame the sunset – with a scene like this who wouldn’t want to launch themselves into it. 
It was surprisingly un-scary as it turns out and as you can see from my little dance mid-air (who does that!) it was so much fun!! I’ve got a bit fancy here and put the end in slow motion which James informs me is exactly not what everyone wants to see – it was really fast – I just thought you all might want to enjoy the sunset for longer…
The vertical bungy
So this is NOT like the jumping things at the mall. This one fires you up (really high) into the air at a max of 4G! This was another one that was firmly in James camp and he went on it 3 times. You can really see how the value for money gets pretty good when you can go on everything so many times. 
The Luge
The 4 kids adored this! It’s a relatively short track if you are used to the likes of Rotorua and Queenstown but the luge themselves were a lot easier for the kids to handle with brakes rather than the push forward/pull back of the others and the views going down were spectacular. 
Heading back up the hill was easy and quick with a trailer converted with some seats (love that kiwi ingenuity) pulled by a ute up the hill every 10 minutes or so. James and I both went along and it was fun but I can’t say it compared to the Zipline or the Polaris for us but I think thats kind of the point – it’s all about having something for everyone.
The play area
We had to haul the kids away from here because they spent just a little too long playing here and we wanted them to get their money’s worth with something they couldn’t do anywhere else and so we could join in too (sigh) but they loved it! With a mini pirate ship, slides, rockets and a merry go round it had lots of cool things to play with and being undercover was a welcome retreat from the occasional rain. 
The tube slide
I lost count of how many times the kids went on this. It works just like a water slide but with no water and at a speed that was safe and accessible to even the most cautious of the 4 girls. 
It’s awesome to see some great family entertainment in Auckland that really embraces and uses their environment and offers something for everyone. The place and the staff were down to earth and it was an awesome way to spend the day. We went with the kids which was awesome but while we were there we talked to another couple who had left their 4 kids at home this time and were racing each other on each ride and that looked pretty awesome too – maybe next time James… 
Silverdale Adventure Park is great value at $165 for a family pass or $55 per adult for as much as you can handle in a day – head on over to their website to find out more.