Hanging out at Kids Adventure Outdoors

Kid’s just don’t spend enough time outdoors these days.  Thankfully there is a festival designed with the purpose of getting kids (and parents) outdoors by engaging them in activities that will hopefully lead to more time spent outdoors in the future.  This is our round up of the Kids Adventure Outdoors festival, held annually in Anglesea on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road.

My seven year old had his first surfing lesson at the festival

Held over two weekend days Kids Adventure Outdoors offers parents the opportunity to enrol their kids in various adventure activities.  The activities themselves were run by a host of independant organizations that operate out of Anglesea.  Go Ride a Wave, Ecologic, YMCA and Camp Wilkin were a few of the organizations providing the infrastructure, supervision and know how to expose the kids to the activities.  With the help of a whole heap of other volunteers the festival was a success.

Archery at Kids Adventure Outdoors

Bush cooking at Kids Adventure Outdoors

The list of potential activities at first seemed limitless – surfing, stand up paddle boarding, biking, fishing, canoeing, climbing, skateboarding, archery and many more.  Parents have two options – enroll their kids in a day of three activities, or have them do three activities over both weekend days.  I chose activities that catered the the particular interests of my boys on the first day and they, individually sampled archery, surfing, fishing, a ranger activity and stand up paddle boarding.  On the second day of the festival they both participated in a low ropes course, rock-climbing and bush cooking.

On a ranger guided walk in Anglesea Kids Adventure Outdoors festival.

Buses transported kids to each activity from a central festival area.  We were told that we could send our kids on their own to the activities but wasn’t convinced this was a good idea given the supervisory numbers looked a little low.  Indeed when I turned up with my son at his surfing lesson I was promptly handed a wetsuit and told they needed more adults in the water to help, I’d better jump on in.  I was happy to do this but only because my toddler was back at our accommodation with my husband was it feasible.  Similarly active assistance from adults was necessary at the climbing and ropes course.  I’d suggest that whatever the organizers say, supervising your own kids during these activities is mandatory and parents should be wary of just putting the kids on a bus off to do the activities by themselves.

Low Ropes Course at Kids Adventure Outdoors

Low Ropes Course at Kids Adventure Outdoors

Families attending the Kids Adventure Outdoors festival have a few options for accommodation.  There was a very reasonably priced camp out option included in the registration.  We chose to instead hire a holiday house for the weekend which suited our own families needs and there are also resort options nearby.  For the duration of the festival there was a carnival set up with low tech active games for the kids.  The children loved this space (including my two year old) however access to it did cost an extra $10 per child when really I think the cost should have been included in the overall price.

Carnival at Kids Adventure Outdoors

Surfing lessons were led by the folk at “Go Ride a Wave” who runs surf schools around Australia. FYA my son stood up 5 times.

What I loved about the Kids Adventure Outdoors festival:

• Most adventure activities are only open to older kids.  There were no age limits specified for this festival, and the broad range of activities meant there was lots suitable even for very young children.
• The carnival at headquarters was a hit even for with my toddler.
• The organizers of Kids Adventure Outdoors are committed to accessibility for kids with disabilities.
• My boys are really different in their interests but both were engaged by the wide variety of activities.
• There was no winners or losers at Kids Adventure Outdoors, or perhaps we were all winners.  By removing any element of competition the focus was completely on having fun.
• My kids loved it!  Kids Adventure Outdoors was absolutely the highlight of their school holidays and they are already asking to go back next year.

And just a few things I would do differently next year:

• The weekend was FULL ON.  With the level of supervision I had to give my kids doing these activities it meant I went home exhausted.  In retrospect one day would probably be enough for our family.
• While I loved that the different activities engaged my very different kids it did make it challenging for us to adequately supervise them, particularly with our toddler in tow.  Next year I will enroll them only in the same activities to streamline the experience.
• I will pack picnics.  There were plenty of food outlets near the festival however with only an hour for lunch, and queues at the food outlets as a result of all the families attending we really didn’t have enough time to feed the family.

Learning about native animals at the ranger activity

Congratulations to the team at Kids Adventure Outdoors for organizing such a wonderful family event!  We look forward to attending next year.

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