One of Christian’s favourite activities to do with his sons is the Adelaide Tree Climb. The Treeclimb adventure is suspended about 10 metres off the ground in the Adelaide Parklands. It is an assault-course of high-wire activities to get your blood pumping.
The Adelaide Parklands location is super convenient for an adventure. It takes five minutes to get from the centre of the city to the Treeclimb course, and there is parking on Greenhill Road right out the front. When you arrive, you get a coloured wrist strap. Then staff set you up with your harness and trolley assembly. You receive a safety briefing and undergo training on how to use your safety equipment.
Your belt harness attaches to the rigging, ensuring you are connected to the course wires at all times. The ‘trolley’ has two wheels in a metal frame, and it rolls along the steel ropes along the entire course. You don’t detach it until you get to the end of the course. There is also a carabiner that provides an extra level of safety and comfort.
Despite all this safety, Bianca found the course particularly challenging. She experienced terror throughout much of it due to her fear of heights. However, she bravely continued and managed to complete the entire course. What a sense of achievement she felt at the end!
You can choose from multiple routes on the course, each designated by a colour indicating its difficulty. The simplest courses are the green and blue ones. These have sections that move only slightly, and there are wires that you can use as handrails. The more challenging courses are red and black and they skirt the entire perimeter. These have more difficult sections that require good upper body strength. The wires that suspend the steps on these courses are longer, making them swing a lot more.
We were both impressed by the way the course is designed around the trees, focusing on minimising any damage to them. Very few nails or bolts were used, and we didn’t observe any instances where a tree was cut into or otherwise damaged.
Along the course, there are some signs that point out environmental facts around trees. These are interesting to read whilst you are waiting for the people in front of you to complete their section of the course. But the really fun bit is the zip-line at the end of each course. Sliding down the suspended wire in to a platform gives a great thrill that we all enjoyed. Whilst Bianca was glad that she overcame her fear and got through it, you might have some trouble convincing her to do it again!
