Push to make Western Sydney a one-stop shop for local and international adrenalin junkies

NEW Zealand has Queenstown, that magnet for thrillseekers, and Australia will soon have Western Sydney — the nation’s impending home of adventure tourism.

NEW Zealand has its Queenstown; that glistening gem that draws thrillseekers to its enchanting surrounds.

Australia will soon have Western Sydney — the nation’s impending home of adventure tourism.

Tourism and business chiefs are formulating a plan to turn the region into a hub for adrenalin junkies, buoyed by the growing number of adventure activities that have popped up from Penrith to Campbelltown, and aided by the green light given for the Badgerys Creek airport.News_Image_File: Vikki Campion finds the mammoth zip line at Sydney Tree Top Safari is a real scream. Picture: Bradley Hunter

The NSW Business Chamber and Destination NSW are set to launch a Western Sydney tourism body tasked with exposing the region’s adventure tourism opportunities to the world, and forging relationships between operators to sell Western Sydney as an all-in package.

JONATHON MORAN TAKES TO THE AIR IN A JETPACK

IFLY INDOOR SKYDIVING ATTRACTS THE BIG NAMES

For decades, tourists have belted down the M4 in search of the beauty of the Blue Mountains, ignoring the indicator and thus all the opportunities the off ramps present.

But bold operators are this year heralding an impressive trend that justifies the millions of dollars in investment to build such drawcards as IFly Downunder, Jetpack Adventures, Treetop Adventures, Penrith Whitewater and Wet N Wild.

They are coming. In bus loads. And they want nerve-rattling action.News_Image_File: Just hanging out on the zip line. Picture: Bradley Hunter

News_Image_File: It’s almost a bridge too far for Vikki Campion as she and Andrew Carswell (behind Vikki without sunglasses) climb towards the zip line. Dean Gorddard, executive manager Tourism Council NSW, said there remained a wonderful opportunity to build a collaborative strategy to further pull the masses to Western Sydney.

“We very much see tourism as a growth industry in Western Sydney and there are already some very good products out there in various areas,” he said.

There is no reason why Western Sydney can’t be our adventure tourism capital

- Dean Gorddard, NSW Tourism Council

“The key thing for us is to see an established structure that helps grow the market in Western Sydney because it really doesn’t have the option of tapping into the match-funding programs.

“So we are now in discussions with various parties to see how we assist in the development of some sort of entity, to build a co-operative marketing effort to drive growth in this market.

“There is no reason why Western Sydney can’t be our adventure tourism capital.”

Since opening in April beside the behemoth Penrith Panthers, iFly Downunder is already having to hang its sold-out sign in the windows some days.News_Rich_Media: iFly Downunder in Penrith invited The Telegraph’s Fair Go For The West campaign to hop into their wind tunnel for some simulated skydiving.

Each weekend, more than 200 thrillseekers fork out a crisp green note to feel the gees of 280km/h winds that replicate the feeling of skydiving, making the prospect of paying off the $10 million investment slightly more palatable.

A few kilometres away on a spare lake at the Penrith International Regatta Centre, the inventive folk at Jetpack Adventures are attracting busloads of tourists from around the world to a Buzz Lightyear-esque experience like no other.

In the first three months of 2014, they launched 5500 jetpack flights.

“People have flown in from China just to have a go. Everyone can fly here, and everyone wants to try it out,” said manager Greg Weige.News_Rich_Media: Fly through the air at 60km an hour, 30 metres above the ground in this flying fox adventure.

In the Western Sydney Parklands at Abbotsbury, TreeTop Adventures is experiencing similar unstoppable growth.

Manager Pip Scott-Allen admits that growth will explode even further with any collaborative effort across the region.

“We have already made some contact with some of the other adventure businesses to work together to promote each other and bring larger groups for full-day adventures or multi-day adventures within the area’” he said.

“Having a body where operators can meet with all the other agencies and discuss things would be wonderful for everyone, so that tourists know they can come out to Western Sydney not just for one day, but for two or three days.”

Western Sydney, he said, could easily become our very own Queenstown.

Of course, sans the snow.

High flying in the treetops on Australia's longest zipline

By Andrew Carswell and Vikki Campion

THOSE sneaky guides. They walk through the Cumberland Plains woodlands with eyes pinned to the ground. Not on the leafy delights above, the gorgeous gums that paint the skyline, the birds in song on bare branches.

They don’t want their customers to look up. They are hiding something.

Perhaps that piece of wire dangling above the walking track, skipping through the tree tops and stretching out of sight; otherwise known as mainland Australia’s longest zip line at an eye-popping 360m.

Yeah that would be it.

“If people see that too early, they may chicken out,” is the logic of Canadian-born manager of Western Sydney’s TreeTop Adventures Pip Scott-Allen.

This way it’s too late to back out. You’re going to get an amazing Tarzan-esque experience whether you like it or not. You’ll like it.

Buried within the Western Sydney Parklands, over the disused Sydney Olympics mountain bike track, is this latest adventure tourism centre drawing the multitudes to the city’s suburban heartland — a venture that somehow marries the serenity of being immersed in nature with that natural drug called adrenalin.

In its third year of operation, TreeTop has grown to include a zip line safari, an adult adventure playground to test the fortitude and balance of all comers, and a kids ropes course.