Three years ago on this day, I was walking a treewalk in a town called Rotorua, in the North Island of New Zealand.
My iPhone photo app triggered this post by reminding me of where I was and the pictures I took at that time. I had promised to capture that day in the form of a movie or slide show but, here I am blogging it.
Carpooling and Bachs
We drove with friends who wanted to show us this town. Going with friends helps cut down expenses. We carpooled and shared a bach (a rental like an airbnb).
Since New Zealand depends on tourism there are some amazing bachs all over.
We set out from Hamilton, New Zealand which is about an hour’s drive from Auckland.
As we drove through the beautiful countryside, we noticed that there was a strange smell of sulphur. At first I thought one of the kids in the car had forgotten they were in a small enclosed vehicle and not at home in a bathroom.
My friend must have read my thoughts. She asked if I needed to roll down the windows. I hurriedly said yes.
No relief from the stench.
Some giggling and not so discreet actions ensued.
And then it dawned on me – I remembered that she had told me the town was on a volcanic crater!
Anyways, we reached our Airbnb and settled our stuff in before heading out again to go for a tree walk in the Redwood Forests. This is a must do for your bucket list if you have not done this before. To find it click here.
Redwood Tree-walk
You can get into the place for approx $35 dollars. Children 5-15 are $22.
Of course, I am afraid of heights and rope bridges too but I had to do this or I was going to be made fun of by my 15-year-old and her friends.
We decided to do the tree walk at night. It was sort of a relief since it protected my overactive imagination. I could not tell how far and quickly I would have to fall to become part of the forest trail.
The walk was gorgeous. We walked on swinging (I saw ‘swinging’, because the kids insisted on rocking the bridges as we walked)suspension rope bridges and would stop on platforms that wrapped around the trees at the end of each of the 28 rope bridges.
The rules are to limit 7 people to the tree platform at the end of the suspension bridges. So we had to make sure the people in front of us had cleared the platform before starting out on the rope bridge to it.
The paths we walked along were lit with beautiful lanterns.
There were even projected holograms on the paths below. And a gorgeous massive tree that was in existence before Jesus Christ walked the earth.
Needless to say, I would love to do this tree walk again. This time in broad daylight as I think I have gotten over my fear of falling from swinging rope bridges. (Not!).
To take a look at the details of this amazing experience click here.
Would you ever walk on a rope bridge swinging from trees in a forest?
Do we even have one of these in America?
Answer me in the comments below.
