Tackling My Fears At The Adrenalin Forest

“Don’t let the fear of falling keep you from flying”

When Chris and I were invited along for a day out at the newly opened Adrenalin Forest, we jumped at the chance to enjoy the experience. Chris loves adventure and I do too - but when it comes to heights, I’m pretty scared.

I often find myself fearless with Chris because he puts so much fun and energy into activities I would otherwise find scary so I thought challenging my fears and overcoming them at the Adrenalin Forest felt like the perfect opportunity to do so.

Located South of Auckland in Bombay, The Adrenalin Forest in short is an aerial obstacle course in the trees that features over 100 fun filled challenges across six levels. Each level is harder than the last with the obstacles starting at 1.5 metres above the ground, progressing to levels where you’re swinging, climbing and jumping at least 20 metres up in the air. The courses are designed to challenge you emotionally and physically but are also adaptable for all ages and fitness levels to find their own limits.

It’s $48 per adult and $32 per child (under 18, over 1.4m tall) for 3 hours of the entire obstacle course.

We started with a briefing and overhaul of what to expect - as you can see from the above image, we were taking it very seriously. We were fitted into harnesses and put on gloves. We had two gloves for our dominant hand and one for our non dominant. We were taken through a tutorial with examples on the ground to understand how to use the revolutionary Clic-iT safety system to ensure we have a continuous connection to the safety line and gain confident in using them before heading up to the course.

The courses were labelled 1, 2, 2a, 3, 3a, 4, 5, 6. I got a little over confident and as level 1 was busy, we made our way to level 2a. I took one look at how high it was and turned straight back. While we came back to this course later on, I thought I better start on Level 1 to get comfortable with everything.

I knew that my body had the ability to do the obstacles and I also knew I had the safety of the harness if I were to fall but I found the mental challenge really tough - I was just SO scared! Even on level 1 taking the steps along the first wire bridge had me turning back twice!

Despite all my fears, Chris encouraged me along the way telling me to keep the focus on him and not look down.

It’s such a great feeling to accomplish something you didn’t think you could achieve. That instant gratification you get when you feel that “I did it!” moment.