This week, The Anything But The Gym Girls deliver their verdict on a high-flying activity in two parts, based on two very different experiences.
First up, Emma:
It was a stunning day when we drove into Tree Adventures. As we arrived, I remarked to Sinead that it was a beautiful setting: towering trees, with intricate courses dotted around. It looked like the kind of tree village you would expect to find on a tropical island and I was excited to get started.
Who would have thought that, just an hour later, I would be crying hysterically on a course designed for seven year old children?
It started so well – the team at Tree Adventures was fantastic: jokey enough to make it fun but so vigilant in the safety briefing that I immediately felt like we were in very safe hands. Which is good, because my once-minor fear of heights has apparently upgraded itself to full-blown freak-out level.
Sinead and I started on course three, an intermediate-level course. It was immediately clear that we were going to be very different climbers: Sinead bounded across the first few sections of the course with great enthusiasm, whereas I carefully, carefully dragged my wooden, petrified body across the various sections of the course, my sweaty palms clasped so tightly to the wire I was giving myself chain burn.
Once you are up on a course, you cannot go backwards or get down – you must continue on (no doubt a metaphor for life). At the end of each one, you do a flying fox to return to the ground. Obviously this was straight up torture for me. But I assumed that my fear would simply disappear as I continued. Wouldn’t that be nice if that’s how fear works?
Emma, before the tears.
We had a chat to the lovely Lucy, who was in charge of walking around the park and making sure everyone was safe, happy, and having a good time. She told us to try course two – technically an easier one – in preparation for tackling the trickier ones.
And this is where things fell apart for me, a nearly 31-year-old woman, on a course designed for primary-school age kids. One particular activity – barely 1.2m above the ground – involved stepping off the platform onto a series of wobbly swings that toppled around when you stood on them. There were seven of the X swings, and it was at number two that I started losing the plot.
Beautiful, sweet Lucy heard my high-pitched distress calls and stood underneath me to patiently talk me through every step I needed to make to get across. Halfway through – swing number three – I began to cry. Again, I was 1.2m above the ground – my height is 1.8m – and yet started to experience the closest thing to a panic attack I’ve ever had (my life has been relatively easy).
After reaching safety on the next platform, I cried good and proper. The final straw was the next flying fox, where I had to work myself up to jump off the platform – forcing the eight-year-old girl who had skipped through the course behind me to wait as I sat there and talked myself off the ledge, silently uttering the promise of ‘You never have to do this again’.
So the rest of my Tree Adventures experience was spent from the ground, watching Sinead fearlessly tackle the highest of the highflying adventures like she had been born with wings. Take it away, Sinead!
Emma, who faced her fears on the flying fox.
And now, Sinead:
If you’re a loyal reader of our column (which you really should be) you’ll know that we go into every bizarre fitness class with a ridiculous level of confidence in our ability.
Well for once my confidence was warranted! Without tooting my own horn, I was actually incredible at Tree Adventures. A real natural.
While Emma was busy having a full blown panic attack on the children’s course, I was scaling up the EXTREME EXPERT COURSES with zero fear, while screaming to her “WATCH ME. LOOK AT ME EMMA. I’M A STAR.”
Throughout the day I was convinced that at any moment I was going to be tapped on the shoulder and begged to throw in my magazine job because I was the Tree Adventures instructor they had been looking for.
Sinead in full flight
Unfortunately I have a sneaking suspicion that my outrageous confidence and brand new tree-climbing skills may have had something to do with having accidentally taken performance enhancing drugs the night before (a sleeping pill and anti-anxiety medication to counteract my jetlag from a trip to Japan last week).
I suppose I am basically a professional athlete now so it was to be expected.
Verdict: We would highly recommend this for people who are not afraid of heights or people who are afraid of heights but want to try not to be. You are in very safe hands. I loved it so much that I have actually booked it for my 24th birthday party.
Where we went: Tree Adventures, Boundary Rd, Woodhill Forest
*Sinead and Emma are the Anything But The Gym girls. Bored with standard workouts, they have begun the hunt for new and fun ways to get fit. Follow their weekly adventures here, and in New Zealand Good Health Choices. If you have a suggestion for something interesting for them to try, email [email protected] with Anything But The Gym in the subject line.
The Anything But The Gym Girls are now on Instagram! Follow them @theanythingbutthegymgirls to keep up with their fitness adventures.*
