When I first started seeing Karn, one of my favourite things was the adventure dates he would plan for us. It was such a nice change from the old meal or drinks-related date ideas (although we’ve had a lot of those too!) and a really great way to get to know each other outside of the ‘usual’ date situations. It was also an excellent way to test whether he was brave enough to tackle my overly-competitive nature. [side note: thankfully he was.]
Fast forward a little and I still emphatically believe in the power of adventure dates. After all, spending time with my best friend plus doing something active is pretty much the best thing ever. In my (learned) opinion, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve just started dating or you’re looking to inject a little more fun into your long-term relationship, adventure dates are the answer! And because I’m feeling extra specially helpful today, I’ve put together a list of my top six adventure date ideas. Note that all of these are based here in Sydney, but with the help of trusty Google, you’ll find similar places in cities, larger towns (and even small towns in some cases!) all over the world.
Skypeak Adventures – St Marys
Oh. My. Lord. Seriously. This place is the epitome of active/adventure dating. Just 45 minutes from the Sydney CBD, Skypeak is the ultimate adventure park, with over 80 challenges for you and your date to try. There’s a 12m free fall, tree scaling and a bunch of aerial challenges that take place up to 5.5 stories high. And if you’re looking for an adventure date that you can take your kids to, this is an excellent choice – it’s got a course specifically designed for little adventurers! Pro tip: booking is recommended for this place as it’s super popular.
Cost: Prices vary, depending on which ‘Adventure’ you want to try. The Skypeak walk goes for an hour and is $7, Momentum (the free fall) is $29, and Atmosphere (which has over 50 challenges and can keep you entertained for up to two hours) is $59.
Explore Your Surroundings – wherever you are
Now let’s get into something that isn’t going to cost you any more than you want it to! It’s a bit sad how poorly most of us know the city or town we live in. We love getting out and exploring new parts of Sydney, whether that’s with a day trip to Cabramatta or somewhere close to home. The important thing is that you ditch the car and just walk EVERYWHERE. Take in the sights and sounds, walk down streets you’ve never been down before and just basically spend time together, discovering new things.
Cost: Free-sies!
Moore Park Golf Club & Driving Range – Moore Park
I’m a recent golf convert (now there’s a few words my family never thought they’d hear me say) and I love this place. The driving range is open until 10pm Friday to Monday and midnight Tuesday to Thursday (not that I’m ever up that late on a school night!), and it’s actually a pretty epic place to watch the sun go down. It’s really un-intimidating too; once I got over my initial oh-god-i-have-no-idea-what-im-doing moment, I realised 50% of the other people there had no idea either.
Cost: Non-members get 135 balls for only $26 and you can hire an iron for $6 or (my personal favourite ‘cos it makes an excellent noise) a driver for $10.
Sky Zone – Alexandria
If you haven’t been to Skyzone, you haven’t lived. I didn’t realise how much I’d missed bouncing on a trampoline until I came here. Whether you try Sky Fit (I did this with a bunch of clients a while back), Sky Climb or you just want to jump around and bounce off the walls, this place is an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G location for a date. If you’re not having a good time at Sky Zone, you’re not doing life right.
Cost: $20 per person for one hour of ‘general jumping’ which includes a pair of special grip socks or $18 for an hour of general climb time.
Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym – St Peters
Indoor rock climbing is the bomb diggity. Sure, I abseiled 33 stories off a building last year, but I didn’t have to actually work for it, you know? This place, on the other hand, give me a great workout, and it’s fun at the same time. Plus I get to hold Karn’s life in my hand while I’m belaying, which makes me feel pretty powerful. There are plenty of different courses with varying degrees of difficulty, and it’s open seven days per week (including until 9pm on Saturday and Sunday and at least 10pm every other day! My only recommendation is that you avoid Sunday afternoons unless you like getting run over by small children.
Cost: Casual entry is $28 per person, including shoes and harness.
The Park – just down the road, probably
We have the best time just taking a football down to the park and kicking it around together. Now, I accept that not everyone enjoys football-related activities, but there are plenty of other things you can do to keep yourselves entertained in the fresh air. Take a set of boxing gloves and pads down and practice that right uppercut; muck around on the outdoor gym; see how high you can swing on the kids’ swing set (although maybe skip this idea if there are actual children around); throw a frisbee, play with dogs… there are so many options if you think outside the box a little.
Cost: Zip, zilch, nada!
So there you have it, my six favourite active/adventure date ideas! If you’ve got any more I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.
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