Boughs, brides, and bogans.

We woke to a crisp (ie two degrees above freezing) Launceston morning, breakfasted and prepared for our visit to (dun, dun, dunnn!) Hollybank Treetops Adventure. Giving the friendly golden retriever from next door a pat (he was waiting at our front gate), we set the coordinates and were off.

In virtually no time at all (curses!), we reached Hollybank and started signing forms and getting weighed in. Despite being a touch on the light side, Lily was allowed to go solo - Hamish was with Jen, and Joshie was with me. We were divested of any item that might work its way lose to fall from a great height and then led to the fitting room. Surprisingly, they not only had a helmet to fit me - I even had to tighten it (barely, admittedly).

Trussed up like turkeys at Christmas - we marched on out to the training area, which consisted of a zip-line approximately 30 centimetres off the ground. The group mastered the basics and were let loose on the course proper. We started out at a measly 3 metres, which quickly escalated to well over 20 metres (and over 50 metres up between the trees).

Team Martin

Nothing like being stopped half-way across
and asked to smile for the camera.

Being 24 metres in the air didn't diminish Lily's need to pose.

How high?

Oh - about this high.

The station pictured above was truly terrifying - the highest of them all, and required a 200 metre zip across a creek-bed over 50 metres below. Fortunately, the following station was a relatively comfortable dozen or so metres off the ground. The final zip-line followed the creek-bed for around 400 metres.... and was  awesome. Joshie and I reached speeds of over 70 kilometres per hour. Lily on the other hand, did not have our combined mass. She pulled up short of the far station and had to walrus (a rocking/arm-flinging motion that gradually edges you along) the final section to safety. One of the instructors said Lily was a fantastic walrus, which set her to beaming.

I did not drop to my knees and kiss the dirt upon our return to terra firma, but it was a close thing. Even better, I managed to enjoy at least part of the experience (for some reason hurtling along at speed, suspended on a wire felt less scary than standing on a platform).

I admit to a survivor's sense of elation as we made our way out of the car park and along a forestry road - noting quite a fancy-looking vintage car in front of us, and then noticed another behind us. Embarrassingly, we had somehow entered a bridal convoy - and sheepishly passed a crowd of confused photographers and wedding guests around the next bend.

We called into a take-away establishment in Mowbray (a suburb in Launceston), and were left slack-jawed by the sheer number of diners coming in with clearly-soiled track-suits. I wonder if they had been to Treetops also. Lily helpfully alerted us (and nearby patrons) to 'all the gangsters' in the vicinity. We made it out without drawing the collective wrath of Mowbray, and stocked up on groceries at a nearby shopping centre - including a carrot for the bunny with a sweet tooth due tomorrow.

...and the carrot hasn't even been peeled.
Great.