Man Up For Adventure

The boys are back in town in Queensland Australia and after a few nights clubbing in Brisbane and the Gold Coast we decided to burn off the beer and kebabs with a bit of high adventure.

Thunderbird Park, Tamborine Mountain

Thunderbird Park on Tamborine Mountain between Brisbane and the Gold Coast had been flagged as a top spot by someone we met so we decided to give it a go. Checked it out on line, discovered an amazing range of adventures and on site camping so we loaded up the Wicked vans and headed for the hills.

My mates were staying on the Gold Coast and we had hooked up with a few others from Brisbane. It took less than an hour for both groups to get to Thunderbird Park. First impressions were great, awesome scenery, a huge rainforest property, friendly people in reception and shaded campsites.

Tree Top Challenge

It got better, the Tree Top Challenge Ropes Course has to be seen to be believed, it’s high and it’s huge. The Canyon Flyer zipline promised some adrenalin pumping fun and if we had any energy left we could go horse riding or book a team game of Laser Skirmish.

By the time we had set up the vans next to our cooking fire-pits, we were all starving so we tucked in to the best homemade pizza in Oz on Thunderbird Terrace. They cook the pizza in a wood-fired oven, not sure if that’s the secret or if it’s the farm fresh ingredients but we loved ‘em.

Onwards and upwards, literally. We headed over to the ropes course, climbed in to the harnesses and hooked up for an amazing adventure. We faced our fears and hit the heights on Australia’s largest and highest high ropes course.
We climbed ropes, flew through the trees on the flying fox and dropped through tunnels. With more than 100 adrenalin pumping challenges spread over six courses across nine acres of unspoilt natural bushland this looked to be as good as it gets. Then we went on the Canyon Flyer.

The Canyon Flyer is an adrenalin junkies’ dream. We saw the video online but nothing can prepare you for the experience. This adventure started with a trip in a four-wheel drive to the top of the canyon. I admit to the heart thumping, stomach churning feeling of going higher and higher.

We were all pretty quiet so I guess I wasn’t the only one getting nervous. I followed the instructions on my shirt, just do it seemed a good way to go. This is an extreme adventure, it’s one of Australia’s largest guided zipline rainforest canopy tours.

There are seven zip lines zigzagging Cedar Creek Canyon at 60 metres above ground and at speeds of up to 70 klms an hour. The zipline tour takes about three hours and includes up to 10 adventurers. It’s the ride of a lifetime.

The day was drawing to an end and we were all pretty exhausted as we headed back to camp. A hot shower followed by a cold dip in the natural rock pools livened us up and we sparked up heaps when we discovered the Terrace was still serving food and there was a licensed bar.

We didn’t cook dinner on the fire pit that night. Horse riding, laser skirmish and a competitive game of mini golf were planned for the next day. The exercise and rainforest sounds ensured a good sleep.

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