A Rotorua attraction is set to take visitors to new heights, with a unique 20m-high viewing platform, allowing a new perspective on Rotorua's famous forest.
The Redwoods Treewalk now gives visitors the opportunity to take the experience to the next level, making their way up a suspended staircase and on to a 30sq m platform.
Visitors looking for a bit more of a thrill can stand on one of two glass viewing panels, similar to Auckland's Sky Tower, and see the forest floor about six storeys below them.
Co-founder and director Bruce Thomasen said the new platform, which opened this weekend, was part of $500,000 worth of developments over the coming months.
The new platform is suspended around one of the largest trees in the Redwoods Treewalk zone, fixed to the tree with slings to ensure it is ecologically friendly.
The new platform will be open as part of the day experience, and is included in the ticket cost.
"With bridges ranging from 6m to 12m above the ground, the Treewalk gives an amazing, elevated perspective of Rotorua's iconic Redwood Forest. But this new platform is even higher again, 8m above the Treewalk, and adds yet another stunning dimension to the experience.
"To be able to stand on the glass and look down to the forest floor and see the trees and ferns below really gives a bird's eye perspective. The Redwood is the soul of the city and this is yet another way to experience it."
The new suspended platform took two weeks to install, but had been in the planning and manufacturing stage for the past eight months, Mr Thomasen said.
The new platform:
- Believed to be the first treewalk in the world with a glass floor section
- 20m high
- 8m higher than the Treewalk bridges
- Opportunity to stand on 80mm thick clear viewing "floor windows".
- At 6m in diameter, the platform is set around the biggest tree in the Treewalk zone with a 2.1m diameter.
- Can hold 35 people
- Access included as part of day-walk entry cost