Rotorua Canopy Tours' zipline gives high-speed thrills and helps a pest-control project. Photo / Andy Belcher
A Rotorua couple's retreat is full of surprises, finds Rebecca Barry Hill
It's funny what fear does to the brain. We've just been asked to ride the next zipline while flapping our arms and doing our best bird impression. Nervously, I step off the platform high among the branches, and accelerate towards the next tree, chirruping loudly.
"That sounded more like a cellphone," says my husband after whizzing down the line after me, bleating like a pterodactyl.
The point of this monkey business is fun, of course, but this is also a great conservation project, with part of the proceeds from Rotorua Canopy Tours excursions going to an ongoing pest-trapping project. Gary, one of our charismatic guides and the company's conservation manager, explains that millions of birds used to make this forest deafening, now the noisiest birdsong comes from the likes of us.
Now, three years after Canopy Tours began operating, 10 per cent of the forest is under predator control. A curious tomtit even eats a worm directly from my hand.
The three-hour journey takes us through 1.2km of the stunning 500ha mamuku forest, speeding between rimu and tawa, rays of sunlight glinting through the morning fog. It's a bonding experience, too.
A few minutes earlier we were all strangers, now we're on first-name basis, cheering each other on to make that disconcerting step off the platform as we fly, one by one, down the line.
Secured by multiple harnesses and carabenas, it's exciting rather than scary, even although one line has us 45m off the ground, strapped to a 200-year-old rimu. We're encouraged to launch backwards without using hands into the longest zipline that, at 220m, gets up to quite a speed.
After a photo leaning out over one of two swing bridges, our final challenge is to flip upside down on the last zipline.
We'd arrived in Rotorua the night before, nostalgia kicking in as that distinctive sulphur smell hit us on the drive into the geothermal town.
What better way to kick off a weekend without domestic chores than a soak in a hot spa at the Millennium Hotel? This was followed by an hour-long massage that left us almost too relaxed for dinner.
After the thrill of the zipline the next morning and a spot of lunch, it's time to unwind again. This time we head to the famous QE Health, Rotorua's longest-running spa and wellness complex, on the lake front.
A former convalescence home that rehabilitated World War II soldiers, it later became the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. With its long white corridors and simple rooms, it still has an austere atmosphere. Sufferers of chronic pain, rheumatic or arthritic ailments still come here to soak in the alkaline and mud baths and to see the medical professionals, occupational therapists and physios.
QE's fascinating history is captured in black and white photographs on the walls, featuring scary-looking treatments from another era.
Sharing a mud bath is fun. It's an odd but (strangely enough) earthy sensation reclining into a hot, slightly slimy and coarse tub, exfoliating with the healing natural mud. Paraffin wax is another popular treatment for those with rheumatic problems, and leaves my skin so soft, I find myself rubbing my hands together for the rest of the day. Finally we're led to the AIX room where we're massaged under jets of water. It's the ultimate indulgence, the constant heat and pressure of the water adding another blissful element to a pleasurable experience.
Having warmed up from the inside out, we're so relaxed we're jelly-like. I wonder how I'll walk to the car.
That's not too much of a concern at our next stop, Adventure Playground, a few minutes out of the township, for a one-hour horse-riding trek. Set on hilly working farmland looking out over Mokoia Island on Lake Rotorua, this relatively new operation also offers quad biking and claybird shooting. After saddling Julia, a chestnut brown mare, and Monty, a black stallion of imposing height, we head up through the paddock with three other horses, a convoy in the dusky light.
It's unnerving for this horse-riding amateur when Julia decides to trot up the hill, but our young guides assure us the horses are just getting their momentum. Once I'm used to the gentle gait, it's a serene experience made poignant when we descend the hill and pass a cemetery where a family has gathered to sing.
By now, we have worked up an appetite. After its recent $2 million upgrade, Eat Streat is a popular and vibrant hospitality strip full flocks of diners and pub-goers undaunted by this cold night, many of them crowded around outdoor tables, beneath the stylish pink-lit retractable roof.
The Rotorua Blues Festival is in full swing and we get warm at Brew Bar, with an array of Croucher beers on tap and a beer-inspired menu, is where we settle in to listen to the music.
On Sunday we're grateful to have headed up the gondola to the Skyline Complex at 9am as queues are already building. After reacquainting ourselves with the 2km luge track, we head to the zipline. At 383m, this one's closer to a flying fox and has us racing side by side over the Redwoods Forest at up to 80kph.
The QuickJump isn't for those with vertigo — but the 10m freefall from the platform isn't scary once the braking system kicks in. Having worked myself into a panic at the nearby Swoop a few years ago, I can't bring myself to ride the SkySwing, particularly after watching the video that sends otherwise calm types into hysteria.
Riders are hoisted high into the air then, after pulling a ripcord, plummet at 150 km/h over the valley. We head to Stratosfare Restaurant for a buffet lunch with a view instead. I'm on enough of a high already. And I don't want to ruin my blissed-out buzz. That's my excuse, anyway.
Relax in New Zealand's coolest hot spot this winter. There's nothing better than slipping into a state of bliss on a cold day and Rotorua has plenty of amazing options. From world-renowned spas to natural hot pools in the middle of the bush, discover your favourite winter hot spot Your stresses will disappear in no time.
While you're there, why not indulge yourself with one of Rotorua's famous spa treatments? Try a traditional Mirimiri massage or submerge your body in a bath of mineral-rich thermal mud. Your body and soul will thank you for it.
Rebecca Barry Hill travelled to Rotorua with the assistance of Destination Rotorua.
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