A Redwoods walk with attitude
If ziplines and tree walks seem boring to you, there’s an adrenaline-packed extension amongRotorua’s redwoods that will really get your heart pumping, writes Brook Sabin.
If you don’t like heights – look away. Rotorua’s latest adventure activity is a gravity-defying treetop walkway that involves 25 bridges, three flying foxes, and a leap of faith at the end. You’ve probably heard of the Redwoods Treewalk, one of Rotorua’s most popular attractions.
The 700-metre suspended boardwalk weaves through the city’s much-loved Whakarewarewa Forest. It’s family-friendly and easy for everyone.
Now, the creative force behind the Treewalk has decided to create an experience a little more thrilling: one where you need to wear a harness.
It’s called Redwoods Altitude and starts with a spectacular spiral staircase 25 metres into the canopy, wrapping tightly around a Californian Redwood, the tallest tree species on Earth.
It can look a little overwhelming, but don’t worry, you’re clipped on to a wire from the start of your trip until you’re safely back on the ground.
You also have a watchful guide a few steps away at all times.
The first few bridges are designed to build confidence, then they start testing your bravado as the bridges get skinnier, and less stable. And this is where the odd four-letter word may spontaneously echo through the trees.
Before you know it, you’ve arrived at a ‘‘bridge’’ that is just a net you have to walk over – without railings – 25 metres above the ground. Don’t panic, you are attached to that safety wire.
Each time you reach the next tree and peer around the trunk, you’re greeted with a different bridge that will do unexpected things. Does it wobble? Do the handles move? Does it even have handles?
To break up the bridges, there are three zip lines that run through the canopy and, judging by the squeals of excitement from the group of intermediate school kids in front of us, they were going down a treat.
After 25 bridges spanning 650 metres, there are two options to end the walk: you can jump off a treetop platform and land back to Earth with a gentle thud, or take the ‘‘tree of shame’’, which is a spiral staircase back down.
By this stage everyone, including the 11-yearolds in front of us, had built up the confidence to jump.
The new tree walk was designed before Covid-19 hit, and the price was meant to be substantially higher.
But, for the time being, there’s an opening special of $89 a person or $249 for a family.
For the money, it’s hard to get a better adrenaline rush in Rotorua.
Brook Sabin and Radha Engling are travelling the length of New Zealand on a Stuff Travel nationwide road trip in a Hyundai Kona Electric. The vehicle has 449km of real-world range on a single charge. For more information, visit hyundai.co.nz/Konaelectric.