The last thing we expected to find in Rotorua, New Zealand, was a bunch of California Coastal Redwoods. But find them we did. The British and their far-flung relatives are notorious for transplanting botany around the world, and a bit over a hundred years ago they brought a bunch of coastal redwoods to New Zealand. They are now pretty darn tall and some folks in Rotorua have made a bunch of cool tree platforms so you can walk around in them. While it is advertised as a "canopy walk," it is not even close to that. The canopy of a coastal redwood is way the heck up there at around 60m (200ft) feet or more, and these were about 12m max.
In the visitor's center there is a round cut out of a Radiata Pine (another native of California) grown in New Zealand that is about five feet in diameter and only 46 years old! The growth rings on that sucker are the size of my thumb! Why it is in the museum for the redwoods was beyond me, but it was pretty cool anyway...
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| Gary with 46 Yr Radiata Pine (Pinus Radiata) |
Here's what the redwood forest looks like today. The small trees are not redwoods; I can't remember what they are. Recent research has shown that there is a very large variation in how well individual redwood trees do in New Zealand's soils and climate. By careful selection they are breeding trees which will do well, produce good lumber, and grow reasonably rapidly. One of the things they have discovered is that a moderate growth rate produces better trees than rapid growth.
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| Forest | |
The rest of these photos are mostly reference material for me as I'm in the process of building a similar tree platform around one of the big Ponderosa Pines behind our house.
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| Platform | Platform and Bridge |
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| Image to Estimate
Platform Cable Length Relationships |
Platform Underside |
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| Platform Net |
The platforms are suspended from the trees by large "chokers", nylon / polyester straps wrapped around the trunk. A cable is attached to the choker and then to the platform. There are no nails or lag screws in the tree itself, so the tree is not harmed in any way. There is a separate choker for each cable. The chokers in the images below are part of walkways (suspension bridges) between platforms.
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| Tree Straps (Chokers) | |
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| Platform Tree Collar |
The platforms are held away from the tree proper by blocks which can be adjusted in and out. This allows the blocks to be let out as the tree grows.
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| Platform Tree Block | Platform Tree Block Underside |
I can't remember how many platforms there are in total; something like 30. The platforms start out about 20 feet from the ground and get up as high as 45 feet or so. You get from one platform to the next via a suspension bridge.
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| Platform And Straps | Straps | |
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| Bridge To Platform | Bridge |
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| Bridge to Platform Joint | |
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| Bridge Deck Support |
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| Bridge Deck Joint |
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| Bridge Deck Flex Joint |
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| Bridge Deck Joint Underside | Bridge Deck Flex Joint Underside |
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| Bridge Rail Joint | |
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| Bridge Rail Joint | |
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| Bridge Suspension | Bridge Net | |
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| Picnic Tables |
This page last updated on 2016-11-22.
