Rotorua – Redwoods Treewalk

Just 5 minutes outside of Rotorua is the Redwoods Treewalk.  One of New Zealand’s largest exports is lumber, and they have been planting various species of trees over the years trying to get the best bang for the buck.  The Redwoods grow really fast here, so that has been a boon for them.  New Zealand imported a large quantitiy of redwood seeds from California in the 1860’s to replace native trees that had been cut down.  An older grove of redwoods, dating back to 1901, has been kept from harvest and used as a tourist attraction called the Redwoods Treewalk.

They offer a night version of the walk and since the rest of our day was taken up with sulphur works and the Moari experience, we went around 8:30 at night.  Even then it was a 30 minute wait to get in!  This place is very popular at night.

The walk consists of 28 suspended bridges and 27 platforms around the trees.  The various lights used are very cool.

The next photo is the tallest tree in the grove, at 246 feet high.  You have to hike up the stairway on the left to get to this high point.

Several of the connecting bridges were lit up with ropelight.

At the top of the beginning platform, they are projecting a light on the ground to depict various bug or animal activity.

Creepy….we saw these at ground level while waiting in line but they don’t have the same effect unless you are up on the platform, about 50 feet above.  I paticuarly loved the shadown effect of the fish.

A very cool experience.  They offer a daytime and nighttime package so if we were to do this again I would definitely do both, as you really don’t get a feel for the beauty of the place at night.

Next up, East Cape.