Quad bikes for kids

A month ago I asked young Master Six what he wanted to do on his 7th birthday. It took him all of 10 seconds to shout “Quad Bikes!” Now given his somewhat accident-prone introduction to Hamilton Island, I felt a little hesitant. But I took a deep breath and said with a smile (that was a little like a grimace) “Of course, what a GREAT idea!!” Thankfully he doesn’t know what sarcasm is yet!

We booked into a session of Quad Bikes 4 Kids at the Tour Desk in the Outrigger Resort Centre. We saw Jade there who checked the boys’ ages (Quad4Kids is available for 6-14 year olds). There was a big high-5 for the birthday boy and we were off.

We made a quick trip out to the Palm Valley activities area and the boys were distracted by the sounds coming from the shooting range but instantly refocus as they catch sight of the green quad bikes. The sessions were running a little behind time so we took the opportunity to watch the group already on the track.

The set of three competitive cousins (or perhaps the dads on the sidelines were the competitive ones?) zoomed around the track, occasionally pruning the vegetation in the centre or making the odd daring passing manoeuvre on the home straight. The grins stretched from ear to ear as they took off their helmets following their session. Their estimation of the family holiday went up a notch I think!

Our turn came and after a quick tutorial, our boys were off!  Two other riders joined them on the track and after a few slow laps they got the hang of things and away they went.  At one point we got a demonstration of the remote control ‘kill-switch’ held by the instructor which turns off the bikes if needed.  In this instance, one of the riders had driven straight into the garden and was closely followed by his mate.  The families watching on the sidelines were laughing as they watched the boys waving their arms from the bushes (as instructed).  The Hamilton Island Instructor stopped the other bikes and pulled the boys free.  Within a minute all four riders were off again, no harm done.

The session was about 15 minutes long and I think it was just long enough.  The weather was glorious and the spectators had been sitting out in the sun at the picnic tables watching the action, but there was little shade in view of the track.  Next time we will take drink bottles out with us as there were no refreshments available there.  The boys loved every minute – their thumbs were sore from using the accelerator but they would have gone straight back to the track if they could have.  Their little sister can’t wait until next March when she will be six and can join in too!