Hinterland Adventures product reviews

KILL.. KILL.. KILL

This is what i'm thinking driving 10 mins from Dinsdale, off to have a game of paintball at Hinterland Adventures.

I found it to be well sign posted as i found it straight away, lots of carparking rite next to the game. I was met by friendly staff that explained the rules and signed my name on the dotted line...Off we went to get geared up (overalls,masks,guns)

With a team of 8 we split into 2 teams 4 each side, and off we went to start our game of paintball. Each team had a home base (starting point) and each had to protect their flag aswell as cacture the other teams flag.
Game starts as does the POP POP POP of the guns.
Truely enjoyable fun to be had by all.

I would recommend this to any groups of people, birthdays, or just a fun get together with neighbours.

Laser tag is also avalible for those who are 10yrs & under or those who prefer not to get paintballed...

Good fun for all ages...

POP POP POP!! That was the sound left ringing in my ears after an afternoon playing paintball at Hinterland Adventures, just north of the big Fonterra factory at Horitiu on State Highway 1. In fact it's location makes it a great option for anyone from Hamilton, the Greater Waikato area or even day-trippers from Auckland (only 1hr 30mins drive) wanting to have a different paint-ball experience.

This was my first experience at Paintball after playing more Laser Tag over the years and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Upon arrival we were greeted by friendly staff who took us through the mandatory health and safety rules and regulations, before getting us kitted out in overalls, protective head-gear and assigning our weapons. I can't recall the name of the brand of gun however we were informed that it was one of the top on the market.

From there we embarked on our first game in the gully course. Tip #1 - listen to the rules. That was our teams big mistake as it ended in misery with 3 of us returning to base while one of our team hadn't even gotten out of the starting blocks. When heading out to start it is important to note where both yours and the the opposition's base and flag as unlike some other paintball/lasertag arenas these were actually in two separate places. With the gully course it does also matter which end you start at as in my opinion it is easier playing from south to north.

We also got to play some game variants on the speedball course which gave you the opportunity to get in some high octane close action combat as you ran between the man made structures and tried to get the "bomb" on to the oppositions half of the arena as well as capture their flag.

Obviously there are lots of different options particularly being able to play on different courses and the 200 paintballs we got each served us well over the afternoon. The fact that my team lost every single game was irrelevant in the end.

Tip #2 - Remember paintball is a contact sport. During the course of the event you will get hit, and it will probably sting a bit, it may even leave a bruise. If you are worried about having too much damage inflicted on you there are protective vests that you can also borrow, and regardless I would suggest wearing heavy clothes under the overalls for that added piece of mind. Also as I found out, paintballs can also cut though your skin if you get hit the wrong way - I was hit on the knuckle creating a nice red stripe of blood through the yellow paint leading to one of my few disappointments of the afternoon, that they didn't have a first aid kit on hand to patch up a minor injury. That being said I just mopped it up with tissues and water and played on :=) Tip #3 that I was given afterwards by a serious paintball player, wear gloves.

As I said - thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon out at Hinterland and would certainly recommend the facilities. Looking forward to going back at some point and playing in their new course which, like the gully , is also forest based.

Now THIS was the way to spend a day... running around a muddy creek gully with 7 other people, shooting little balls of fluro yellow dye at each other!

Easy to find, and with a fair whack of parking on-site, you get an idea of your various play-zone options right away... since you are parking right behind the Speedball Range, and next to the Pine Gully run. As we arrived a little early, and there were teams in play, it took a little bit for us to be noticed by staff... Personally, I think this is a GOOD thing, since they SHOULD be focussing on the players in-game, and not on the fresh combatants just arriving. However, I do think something like a portable LCD TV hooked to a loop-play promo/educational/informative DVD would have been a nice touch. No grumps, just an idea.

Safety First was something drummed into us from the minute we were greeted by Tom, and something always repeated whenever the opportunity arose. Whenever you are in the game zone, your mask is ON. Taking it off is grounds for immediate halt to the game in play until you either retire to the safe hut, or put your 'game face' back on and resume. This is vital, and clearly understood the first time you hear a -twap- and suddenly half your vision is gone under bright yellow goop dripping down into your cheek. Had your eye been there instead of the facemask, you would be able to enjoy a lifetime of perfect "pirate" impressions as soon as you got your parrot.

As part of the review package, we were each issued 200 rounds and free use of overalls, as well as the basics - gun and facemask. A normal game has you starting with 100 rounds, a mask and marker (paintball gun), with extra charges for overall hire, and more paintballs at the rate of $15 per 100. This is a great time to whip out those supermarket dockets and pick up an extra 50/100 rounds. With 8 of us, that was 1600 rounds, plus a purchase of 200 extra part-way through the game. 1800 rounds... that lasted us a good 2 hours of blasting, with 4 games down in the Pine Gully run and three games up on the Speedball range. Not too shabby really.

The zones... right, Pine Gully is, as the name suggests, a small gully planted with pines. At the bottom of the gully runs, well, limps, a small stream that has a bridge at one end, and a dirt overpass at the other. Teams obviously start at bases at opposite ends and on opposite sides of the stream, and they have to defend/capture flags that are set about 10m in front of the bases - and also on the opposite bank of the stream. Thus, each team has to cross the stream to defend their flag, but have s straight run down the same side to target their opponents flag. This adds some fun strategy to the battle... though it was agreed by all that because the gully zone is so short, strategy sometimes fell back to "avoid incoming paint and run forwards fast!" since to win, you need only grasp the opponent's flag. As soon as a hand is holding it, game over.

The Speedball range - originally, the website stated this zone was as big as a football field and had more than 80 obstacles... This information was out of date, as the zone was shrunk to make more room for the new Zone 3... the new Speedball range is more compact, has about 60 obstacles (I still debate a number that high, but hey) and is about the size of a moderate 20-25 car parking lot. Still plenty of room, and the "Capture the Bomb" add-in to the gameplay adds enough of a twist to shift the scoring suddenly. THIS is the playing area you are most likely to pick up bruises.

The new "Zone 3" - alas, since a game was in play this time, we didn't get a chance to play this zone. Hopefully, we will be able to bring you an update at a later date.

Overall, this was a fun day. Some rule changes would have made the games more fun, but this was only clear in hindsight. Little things like "Capture the Flag and Return it to YOUR base" or "Hit-Location based movement modifiers" (eg. if you get hit on a leg, you are still "alive" but MUST crawl/drag yourself, a hit to the arm means that arm is dead and you can only use the other arm for shooting, but a shot in the back/chest/head is a clean kill.) One word of advise, expect to buy more paintballs, unless you are an experienced shooter. The guns are quite accurate - surprisingly so - but the pellets seem to disappear all too suddenly. I am more of a long-range sniper myself, so snapping off 3-5 round bursts is normal, but I still chewed through 240 rounds over the 7 games and could easily have blasted a good 100 more if I had them, especially in the last game on the Speedball range.

Hmm... Where's the best place in the north island for a game of paintball you ask? Well, there is one place that is PERFECT for paintball, and that's "Hinterland Adventures"! This was a great place to go to for the day, it made me anxious to go again. The website was laid out well, the description of the activities was awesome; however, with the section on paintball, the description on the "Speedball" course said that it was the size of a football field with 80 obstacles, when it was a lot smaller and didn't have as many obstacles.

I liked the fact that we each got 200 free shots, and it was also good that it only costs $15 per refill, and each refill was 100 paintballs! My favourite course was the bush one, all the trees made me feel like I was actually in a real battle, shooting real bullets! The guns looked great, and the range nearly blew my mind. I tried shooting a paintball from the viewing station at the top of the gully, and it went over the stream and exploded on a tree at the other side!

The starter pack was at a fair price, only $35 per person, and that's for 100 shots, 1 paintball gun, a safety mask, 2-3 games on 1 field, and overalls can also be borrowed for $5 per person. The video of people playing paintball was awesome, it is certain to attract loads of people! I'm glad they have a picnic area, if I get to go again I might bring some munchies with me, so I can sit down at a table dressed in an overall covered in splattered paintballs, and enjoy some delicious food before my next battle.

If there is one place to go for a fun day, Hinterland Adventures has got to be one of the best. Have fun!

I was lucky enough to be able to go along and try out the Paintball recently. Having been quite a few years since I played, I was very much looking forward to it.

Hinterland Adventures offers 3 Paintball fields, a speedball course with obstacles to hide behind while you race to claim the flag of the other team. Next there is the Pine Gully, pretty much as it says, a gully with a stream through the middle to navigate and plenty of bushes and trees to shoot out from behind. Again in this one you race to claim the flag from the other team.

There is also now a third playing area of swamp, stream and bush which offers further scenarios to play out, such as rescue missions. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to play this one as it was all booked up.

Surprisingly to me, I didn't find a huge difference between the Speedball area and Pine gully save for being able to strategically hunker down and act as a sniper in Pine Gully. I did find both games were extremely fast paced and in fact the first game was over before I knew it! I would have loved more challenging scenarios that kept the game going for longer, such as not just claiming the other flag but also getting back to your home base with it, this being a version I have played before. I also think that the speed of the game in Pine Gully may be because the area was smaller than I was expecting. Again I would love to have a larger playing area to draw out the length of the game.

For a fast paced game, the speedball area was a lot of fun and was where I earned all my war wounds! There is no chance of being able to play the sniper in this area, it's more a case of seeing how long until someone cuts and runs for the flag risking a hail of paintball pellets!

While I may have been a little disappointed at the speed of the games that is the only fault I could find. The staff member who ran our games was excellent and informative. He really seemed to know his stuff. Safety was paramount above everything else, headgear a must when out of the base tent at all times. There were even back and chest protectors provided if desired (or as I preferred, to suggest you were too much of a pansy to turn down! heh). Overalls are also provided so you don't have to worry about paint splattered clothes.

Our group of 8 had a lot of fun and laughs, I think though we could have done with at least one extra person per side....scratch that....2 extra people on OUR side. I would definitely go play again and am VERY keen to check out some of the other options available such as archery and clay bird shooting.