When I asked the family who would be interested in flying through the trees of a rainforest suspended on a harness by a wire, everyone jumped at the idea with great excitement. A positive but surprising reaction I thought!! With the vote cast, we booked in to the 9 o'clock "flight" of the Stormsriver Canopy Tour. After getting introduced to our guides (Tarky and Tandy) watching our instructional video and selecting lunch from the menu, it was off to the gear up room. It was about this time that we began to notice one amongst up getting a bit apprehensive. Safety harnesses buckled up, helmets donned, gloves on and final nervous wee stops taken we were off to the bus for the short drive to the launch pad.
The tour was a series of zip line cables strung between the trees which you are suspended from on a pulley, and your speed is governed by how game you want to be and how hard you can pull down on the cable - apprehension level 2 kicking in!!
First up was Sean, itching to have a go. Tandy went first, showing us what to do and how to brake. Once at the other end, she also controlled a brake mechanism on the cable in case you hadn't paid attention to any of the instructions (maybe someone had wished them up to our boys!!).
Next came Tim and Ash (who had done this before on a school camp). Apprehension levels were approaching was level 4 but after a few calming words, including if Tim can do it anyone can, Leanne assured me that she was ok and went next (although I still wasn't convinced she fully trusted the three points of attachment, two safety cables and the fact that thousands of people had done it before). Fortunately Tarky was bringing up the rear so there was no chance of her doing the bolt!!
Practice runs successfully completed and apprehension levels restored to normal, we all had a fantastic time flying from treetop to treetop, sometimes slow and scenic, sometimes fast and furious (as one dared). Tarky told about the ecology of the rainforest along the way and for reasons beyond all of us, even managed to spot a tiny chameleon in amongst the canopy!!
After our adventure excitement of the morning, we took a leisurely drive into Stormsriv Tsitsikamma National park to take boat ride up the river. This was supposed to be a spectacular trip as the river passes through a very narrow and very steep gorge. Unfortunately our luck with boats was still not with us as we go there only to find it had broken down and would not be running for the rest of the day!! Not to worry, the walk along the boardwalk was almost as good and rope suspension bridges that crossed the river mouth completed our Tarzan theme for the day!!
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