The top adrenaline activities in Sydney & surrounds

Skydiving 

Do you want to experience the adrenaline rush of skydiving, without actually jumping out of a plane? Make a beeline to iFly Downunder in the western suburb of Penrith. This is the most powerful indoor skydiving facility in the Southern Hemisphere, catering to everyone from experienced skydivers wanting to hone their skills to first-time flyers and junior flyers practicing their moves.   

iFLY Downunder, Penrith

When it’s time to take things to the next level – literally – Sydney Skydivers is Australia’s largest skydive training centre. While jumping out of a plane at 5,000m is not for the faint of heart, freefalling is exhilarating, reaching speeds over 200km/h. And the views are breathtaking, spanning the coastline from Sydney through to Wollongong, the Blue Mountains and the beautiful Wollondilly Shire.  

Sydney Skydivers, Picton

Indoor rock climbing & bouldering 

Indoor rock climbing is the ultimate workout for both the mind and the body. And there are plenty of places across Sydney where you can hone your skills. The Climbing Centre Penrith has climbing structures for all ages and fitness levels, and for everyone from beginners to experts. Other facilities include the Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym, BlockHaus Bouldering (which also comes with a fitness centre) and Climbfit Kirrawee, among many others. 

The Climbing Centre, Penrith

Paintball 

Don your camo gear and a helmet, lock and load, and get set to shoot paint bullets at strangers (or your friends). Luddenham Raceway’s paintball facility features four fields and a variety of games you can play; there’s also a go-karting and a motorsport park on-site. Meanwhile, Die Hard Indoor Paintball offers action across two levels linked by bridges; you can even play at night if you bring your own LED lights. Spitfire Indoor Paintball and Go Karts has a strategic indoor field replete with buildings, cars and street settings. And Heartbreak Ridge Paintball lets you roam hectares of jungles, swamps, creeks, bridges, bunkers and trenches to seek out your opponents, using state-of-the-art equipment.  

Paintball at Luddenham Raceway, Sydney West

High ropes & ziplines 

Want a bird’s-eye perspective of Sydney? It’s time to get high. Treetops Adventure has a number of locations across the city, including St Ives in the north, Pennant Hills, Western Sydney Parklands and also at Taronga Zoo. Expect a range of aerial challenges across each, including high ropes courses, canopy walks, ziplines and night climbs.   

Illawarra Fly Treetop Adventures, Knights Hill

Go karting & race car driving 

Feel the need for speed? At Luddenham Raceway you can get a taste for what it’s like to be a race-car driver, with a pro-circuit that spans 600m. Jump in your go-card by day, or even by night (there are LED lights) and zip around corners with other adrenaline junkies. Still outdoors, Eastern Creek Karting offers super-fast go-karts that you can race around a 2km circuit. If you want to race around an indoor track, head to Hyper Karting in Moore Park. The 410m track allows racers to drive in any weather conditions, with each kart controlled wirelessly. 

 Luddenham Raceway, Luddenham

Abseiling (& more)

Harness up, lower yourself over the ledge of a cliff face, and then push outwards with your legs to descend that cliff… abseiling is an experience that will get your heart started. At Abseiling Adventure in the Glenworth Valley, just an hour north of the CBD, you can develop your skills over the course of the day, then work yourself up to experience lengthy rock face descents, open-air declines and – if you are up for a real challenge – face forward rundowns. You can also take on quad-biking, kayaking and horse riding. 

Quad biking in Glenworth Valley, Central Coast

Ok, so it’s not exactly abseiling. But a BridgeClimb Sydney experience does require you to strap on a harness and scale new heights – over Sydney Harbour. This is a journey to the top of the nation’s most famous and celebrated structure, the Sydney Harbour Bridge. As you ascend to the summit of the world’s largest steel arch, you’ll enjoy stunning 360-degree views over the city while being regaled with fascinating stories from your climb leader; you can also join a climb led by an Aboriginal guide for insights into Sydney’s Indigenous history.   

The Burrawa Indigenous Experience with BridgeClimb, Sydney

Jet boating 

While most of Sydney Harbour’s water traffic goes at a leisurely pace, there are some boats that reach speeds of 75km/h. Welcome to Thunder Jet Boat, which offers thrilling rides that take you out to the extremes of Sydney Heads where you encounter the ocean swells at full throttle – rock out to an Aussie music soundtrack while you zip about. Oz Jet Boating and Harbour Jet offer similar rides, whisking you under the Harbour Bridge and past the Opera House, getting you wet with 270-degree turns.  

Oz Jet Boating, Sydney Harbour

White water rafting & water sports

Whitewater rafting in Sydney? It’s a thing at Penrith Whitewater Stadium. Jump into the natural rollercoaster of a rushing watercourse, initially built for the Olympic Games in 2000. Today, it’s the only human-made river of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere with 14,000 litres per second of raging whitewater, roughly guiding you through a course filled with obstacles.   

Penrith Whitewater Stadium, Penrith

Another place to get wet is Cables Wake Park, also in Penrith and replete with facilities for cable skiing, wakeboarding and knee-boarding across two main cable lakes. The on-site Aqua Park is the perfect place for the young (and the young at heart) to cool off when the weather warms up, featuring inflatable slides, trampolines and obstacles.  

Cables Wake Park, Penrith

Nearby, Jetpack Adventures blasts hundreds of litres of water through specially designed thrust nozzles to enable you to fly as high as 10 metres above the water. And then try the fly-board craze: with a water-jet-powered board attached to your feet you can soar above the water and dive under it like a dolphin. 

Air tricks with Jetpack Adventures, Penrith

Gliding

With just the noise of the wind whooshing past and incredible views of the pretty Camden region, a glider flight experience at the Southern Cross Gliding Club will take your breath away. Starting at Camden airport (45 minutes from Sydney), you’ll be towed up by one of the tug planes and soar over the verdant countryside for 20 to 40 minutes.

Southern Cross Gliding Club. Image Credit: Camden Visitor Information Centre

Obstacle courses

If you watched Australian Ninja Warrior and was wowed at the contestants’ strength and skills, you wouldn’t be alone. But be honest: you were secretly thinking how much better you’d be at some of those challenges, right? Now you can find out for yourself. Round up your friends for the ultimate head-to-head in your own ninja warrior tournament at TruNinja Penrith or Ninja Parc.

TruNinja, Penrith