Skyline Rotorua Luge & Zipline – Day 293

Today we’re going to be Luging down the mountain in Rotorua.

This morning the weather is finally on our side in Rotorua so we are heading up the gondola.

So we are finally making it up the gondola that is the third time we’re making it up the gondola. One time was in Crankworx we went for a sneaky Luge but this time we’re gonna do much more than one sneaky Luge.

Advanced track!

Advanced track here we come.

The Skyline Gondola is taking us up the slopes of, bear with me guys, Mt Ngongotaha and the little capsules that we’re in have some open sections of the windows so we get some uninterrupted views.

There are so many activities to do at the top of the gondola but the first thing that we’re going to be checking out is the views and then we’re going to be checking out the Zoom Zipline.

The man just called me fat.

Our ziplining guide, Sean, is going through all the different gear we’re gonna be wearing for the zipline putting the harnesses on and giving us a bit of a briefing.

You’ll be seated like this lady here and you’re going to go down forward about 35m high and somewhere near 8ks alright.

After the very quick briefing is done we make our way toward the zipline pad it is in front of an amazing view of Rotorua and the beautiful lake and island right on the background the zipline is gonna take us 383m down the slope it’s absolutely epic and it’s gonna be super fast.

As soon as sean pulls on the trigger we start getting some speed and first it’s kind of a slow mellow pass through but as soon as we arrive near the trees the sensation of speed is de-multiplied it feels like we are literally flying through this awesome forest.

Around the end of the zipline there is a massive smash that shows our speed and then the team is helping us unhook from our harnesses from there it’s a long way down the trees. Apparently we learned afterwards that we could have jumped from the tree to make it down even faster that’s awesome.

Anyway speaking of options there are heaps of entertaining options at the top of Skyline and the next one we’re gonna be taking is the Luge it is world famous and if you guys recall we did that in Queenstown a few months ago check out the card up there for this video too.

But word on the street is that the Rotorua Luge is longer, steeper and has more tracks than Queenstown so we are stoked to get going with this awesome activity.

But before you take on any of those other tracks you need to do the scenic lane first and this is the one that you pretty much practice on to get used to these karts.

And Luging is kind of a mix of go-karting and tobogganing where you basically sit in these go-kart like karts and let gravity do its thing.

The way these karts work is with the handlebars you use the handlebars to steer round the corners and things but you also pull back the handlebars to brake to slow down you speed and release them to get some more speed. And that’s pretty much what we want to do we want to get some more speed we want to get to the end of the scenic track as quickly as possible so we can start moving onto that advanced track that we’ve heard so much about.

Nevertheless, the scenic track still puts you through your paces with lots of twists and turns to maneuver around even a fun little tunnel at the end and it’s really awesome luging through this redwood forest there’s a mix of native trees in there as well it’s super awesome.

It’s only around the end of the scenic track that I actually realise that this little refresher was very much welcome. Doing the Luge is actually very unnatural that movement that you have to go through to actually be able to manage you speed are very different than anything else that you can ride so it was very much welcome as we’re about to tackle the most epic Luge track in New Zealand.

Seriously, we’ve heard so much about the Luging in Rotorua we’ve heard that it’s super fast and that it puts you definitely through your paces and it starts with some couple of sharp turns before starting to get us a lot of speed it doesn’t look super fast on the camera right now but I’m telling you when you’re that close to the ground the sensation of speed is absolutely insane.

But to be quite honest, it actually only depends on you you decide on your speed so Laura and I start o go nuts on the Luge but if you feel like you want something a little bit slower it’s definitely up to just pull on the handle and actually control your speed much more than what we’re doing but we’re here to play Mario Kart in real life so hell no, it’s full speed ahead.

the thing that definitely gives us the most speed is some really steep slopes which are actually quite short and if you actually release the handlebars as hard as you can to make sure you have as much speed as you can you actually get super fast at the end of this thing. It was really cool and it was really an absolutely action packed run and as soon as we finish Laura and I want to do one thing. It’s going again.

Well Robin, that’s why they at the Luge that once is never enough but it’s actually closing time that makes us go back down the gondola back into Rotorua where tomorrow we have more awesome activities ahead. We’re gonna be seeing a real life kiwi chick at Rainbow Springs so make sure to join us then and subscribe for more awesome episodes.

There’s all sorts of bumps and lumps along the way and there’s even a part of the track where it splits off into two and you have to decide which way to go so many choices so many decisions just not enough time to make them on the Luge. Everything is going so fast.