Get the heart racing

From jet boat rides, aerobatic flights through to treetop adventures high in the canopy, Newcastle offers plenty to get the heart racing.

Strap on your helmet and brace yourself for a wild and bumpy ride.

Wind your way through gum trees along Glenrock State Conservation Area’s 14kms of purpose-built bike trails – a chorus of cicadas and bell birds ringing in your ears.

Dirt tracks wind through open forest and woodlands and thrill seekers will love the jumps and rough technical descents on the downhill run over boulders, tree roots and purpose-built jumps. Tracks are graded – green circle for beginners, blue square for intermediate and black diamond for advanced.

Be sure to catch your breath at vantage points overlooking Burwood Beach and Glenrock Lagoon.

Explore a magical world high in the tree tops.

Get up close and personal with native Australian wildlife and magnificent soaring gum trees as you climb, weave and fly through Tree Tops Adventure Park’s self-guided rope course.

Test yourself mentally and physically with more than 100 elevated obstacles with rope ladders, wobbly bridges, tunnels, cargo-nets and zip lines

Freefall over Newcastle’s beaches and Lake Macquarie then land on the beach.

Sky Diving Australia take participants from nearby Lake Macquarie Airport (Belmont) up to 15,000 ft (5000m) offering vistas of Swansea Channel and Newcastle’s beautiful coastline as you freefall.

Get ready to get wet on this ocean extreme thrill ride.

Leave Newcastle Harbour in your wake as you head out into the wide-open seas. Cruise along local beaches such as Stockton and Newcastle and prepared to cop a soaking.

This 45 minute jetboat tour includes head turning spins and power brake stops, sending water flying. Nowhere else in NSW offers the opportunity to head into the open ocean and surf along the waves in a jet boat.

Jet Buzz's 'Ocean Extreme' tour offers departures from Newcastle Harbour at select times throughout the year and on special request. Regular departures run on nearby Lake Macquarie.

Soar like a bird over Newcastle and experience the exhilaration of free flight with a hang gliding or para gliding flight.

Get an aerial view of Newcastle city and coastline on a tandem flight with an advanced, certified tandem instructor. Flights last approximately 20-30 minutes and you can capture the experience with an in-flight video.

Air Sports flies from a number of different sites in Newcastle from coastal ridges to the inland mountains of the Watagan National Forest.

Feel the wind in your face as you race along Newcastle’s spectacular coastline with this adrenalin-pumping helicopter ride – with the doors off!

Strap in for the 20-minute scenic flight aptly named ‘Coastal Rush’ taking in Nobby’s Head, the Bogey Hole, Strzelecki Lookout, the ANZAC Memorial Walk, Merewether Baths and Glenrock Conservation Area.

Chopper over Redhead Bluff, Lake Macquarie’s Swansea Channel and Moon Island before looping back and landing at Aero Logistic’s heli pad alongside Newcastle Harbour.

Along the way see stunning beaches, spectacular cliffs, rocky outcrops and, if you’re lucky, dolphins, whales and sharks. Flying with the doors off makes for great photos.

Head out on the open water, explore Newcastle’s coastline and get up close and personal with breeching whales and cavorting dolphins.

CoastXP operates coastal sightseeing, whale watching (Jun - Nov), cruise and event tours departing from Honeysuckle Foreshore.

Participants have the opportunity to see dolphins, seals and get up close to magnificent humpback whales.

Experience the rush of unlimited aerobatics in the Red Bull Extra stunt plane owned by pilot Matt Hall, Australia’s only competitor in the sport.

Hall’s two seat, state of the art aircraft is fully certified to 10G and passengers fly either with the former RAAF wing commander and seven times race winner himself or one of his hand-picked pilots.

The action-packed flight includes aerobatic manoeuvres such as high G turns, rolls, spins, loops, vertical flight, upside down (gulp) and tumbles over Lake Macquarie and Newcastle’s beaches.

Adrenalin stuff not your thing? Be a spectator instead.

Head to Empire Park Skate Bowl opposite Bar Beach and watch skaters drop in to the golden bowl.

See nifty ninja and parkour moves at Ninja Park Newcastle or head to Strzelecki Lookout to see hang gliders and para gliders soaring on the currents.

If you’re in town during a big swell or east coast low see surfers brave big waves at Nobbys, Newcastle, Bar Beach and Merewether beaches.