{"id":11759,"date":"2012-11-17T08:01:39","date_gmt":"2012-11-17T08:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=11759"},"modified":"2012-11-15T09:08:17","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T09:08:17","slug":"canopy-tours-zip-wires-and-kayaks-new-zealand-day-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2012\/11\/canopy-tours-zip-wires-and-kayaks-new-zealand-day-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Canopy Tours, Zip Wires and Kayaks – New Zealand Day 19"},"content":{"rendered":"

We woke up a bit later than usual today, had breakfast in the camper and then had our final soak in the pools at the Waikite Thermal Valley complex before heading ever onwards on our road trip around New Zealands North Island.<\/p>\n

Rotorua and Canopy Tours<\/h1>\n

We drove into Rotorua again, this time to do some activities, either a maze that Morgan wanted to do or a ‘Canopy Tour’ that involved a forest walk and some zip wires. We checked out the Canopy Tours HQ first to get the low down on the tour. I didn’t really expect Anna to want to do it, especially after her SkyTower experience<\/a> but she seemed really keen. The tour involved walking through an undisturbed area of forest, crossing some swing bridges and zip-lining through the trees, all hooked up to safety wires of course. As well as the adrenalin-pumping side of things there was an environmental aspect too as the tour guides would point out various trees and wildlife and give a talk about the various threats to New Zealands endemic species.<\/p>\n

It was one of the more expensive things we had done whilst in New Zealand but Anna seemed really keen and we managed to talk Morgan into as well (he still wanted to go to the maze). We booked places for the afternoon and then headed into Rotorua city centre for a walk along the lake and lunch in the museum. My parents had raved about the beer-battered chips in the museum cafe so we had to check them out. They were nice as chips go but a little too salty for our liking and\u00a0certainly\u00a0not that special. The quiche, coffee and cakes were nice though.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>

On the shore of Lake Rotorua<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Fun<\/a>

Fun in Rotorua<\/p><\/div>\n

It was then back to Canopy Tours HQ to get kitted up with helmets and harnesses before jumping into the minibus for a short ride to the forest.<\/p>\n

\"All<\/a>

All Kitted Up<\/p><\/div>\n

The guides (Gary and Colin if I remember correctly) were really nice and tried to get us to know each other on the way there whilst telling us a little about themselves too. Once we got to the forest it started to rain, and rain quite heavily at times, but once under the cover of the trees we barely noticed it so I guess it was a good activity to be doing considering the weather. If we hadn’t already booked we may not have bothered and would probably now be sat in the camper or wandering around the museum trying to avoid the rain.\u00a0Instead we were soon hooked up to the safety wires with a number of carabiners and about to throw ourselves of wooden platforms in the forest along Zipwires.<\/p>\n\n\t\t