Paul from Canopy tours kindly invited our team out to experience 'The Original Canopy Tour' so we know what we're talking about when we recommend it to you.
Our day started at 9:30am at their office on Fairy Springs Road where we were kitted up with harnesses and helmets and given our briefing for the day from guides Jessie and Jono. We definitely had a few nervous nelly's in our group of 7 but these guys made them all feel totally at ease and were a key part of making the day fun and enjoyable so thanks Jessie & Jono, you guys were awesome!!
We were driven out to the forest and it wasn't long before we were in the forest doing the short walk to our first zip-line platform. On the way, we stopped and guide Jono took some worms out of his bag (because everyone at Canopy Tours just has worms in their bag, lol) Their resident Tomtit flew in and sat just above us and with that, three of us were lucky enough to hand feed him a worm each. So cool
We carried on to our first platform and off we went for the day completing all 6 of the zip-lines that make up the original tour. Six zip-lines doesn't actually sound like much now that I'm writing this but the tour quickly becomes about more than just the zip-lining. As we walked and zipped around the forest, guides Jessie and Jono showed us the amazing pest control efforts Canopy Tours are undertaking, the re-generation of the forest as a result and of course gave us tons of information about the beautiful birdlife throughout the forest.
Being a bit of a thrill seeker, my favourite of the day was the longest zip-line at 220m through 'Fern Gully' where you walk backward off a huge Rimu tree. It definitely got the blood pumping and was one of those things you just want to jump back on and do again and again.
Like clockwork, we were back at their office on Fairy Springs Road at 12:30pm and everyone in the van had smiles from ear to ear.
Guides Jessie and Jono took plenty of photos of us all as we made our way through the tour and these were available for us to download free of charge at the end of the tour which was cool.
So having done the tour now, what do I think? Quite honestly, I can see why Canopy Tours was voted the #1 Nature Activity in the World. It's a pretty big deal being voted as the best in the world but the team from Canopy Tours have earned it, delivering a truly world class experience. Thanks Paul and the team - we had a blast!!
