Queenstown’s Ziplining Playground

The well-oiled machine

For each of the six ziplines we take on during this trip, it follows a sequence like a well-oiled machine. One of the guides goes ziplining first, along with backpacks and loose items we want taking down the mountain, then they are waiting on the other end of the line for us. That leaves the other guide to attach us one by one to the zipline and give us words of encouragement as we gingerly walk down a staircase that abruptly ends in midair. By “we”, we mean “Robin” at this point. Robin has spent 35% of this 365 days doing 365 activities sh*tting himself during an activity involving heights. Ziptrek is no different.

Flying through the trees… Upside down!

He even takes this literally when we are challenged to go upside during our second zipline! Not too thrilled about the idea of ziplining completely upside down, he gets a lot of laughs out of his ziplining predecessors waiting at the end platform when he comes whizzing through the forest in a sideways toilet-sitting position. We told you, it’s banter central with this group! No one is afraid to laugh at each other or get laughed at!

Meanwhile, once Laura has discovered she can zipline upside down, this is the only way she wants to travel… for the rest of her life. Never mind our crappy campervan! Can we just suspend ziplines across New Zealand, please?

Getting a glimpse of Queenstown

Throwing shapes in the trees

The ziplines get longer, steeper and gnarlier the further down the hill we go. Henri and Amy give us a few challenges to mix things up: leaning back without bending our knees, canon balling to catch speed, singing as loudly as possible… Whatever we do, our eyes still water, the wind blows through our hair, and we get awesome views of Lake Wakatipu between trees.

A hike to the ultimate zipline

To get to our final zipline, it’s a downhill bushwalk along the Tiki Trail of mixed pine and beech forest. Because this is an eco tour, Henri and Amy take the time to talk about the flora of the forest, the wildlife that used to occupy the forest, and sharing the company’s values of sustainability and how we can all apply it to our lives. They refer to information boards on each ziplining platform giving us visuals.

The very platform we are heading for now is eight storeys high. We are going to be ziplining 300m down, possibly reaching speeds of 70kph… This is the big one.

By now, our group are experienced zippers, so take it on with enthusiasm, jumping into the air and hanging upside down, and just enjoying the ride… (Except Robin… Robin is always an exception).

The ziptrekking madness ends with a final walk to the bottom of the gondola. Our group is buzzing from the huge forest playground we just spent 2.5-3 hours zipping through. Epic!