two obstacles in course 1
For our visit to Noumea, New Caledonia on Carnival Splendor we booked an excursion called Tree to Tree Adventure. Our adult daughter Sheri came with us on this cruise. She’s a competitive ninja so this excursion was right up her alley. Her competitions have obstacles similar to those seen on American Ninja Warrior except they are over mats instead of water and not on TV. Hers are mainly in Australia since that’s where she lives. Competitions like that are where the people on the show get their experience before they are ever on the show.
Sheri harnessed up and ready to go
The excursion turned out to have a very small group for a cruise ship excursion with a van of just 10 people. About half an hour’s drive up a mountain brought us to an adventure park called Koghi Parc. All of the courses were built entirely by the couple who run it, which took them about 2 years.
Sheri on course 3
The small group from the ship were the only ones there besides the owners for our 2-hour visit. There was a bench people could leave things on that they couldn’t take on the course, but might want access to between courses and a place to lock up things they brought, but wouldn’t need while there. There was also an outhouse near the starting area.
John ready to start an obstacle in course 2
First we were all given harnesses and leather gloves. It’s important that the gloves not have holes in them since you use a gloved hand to brake at the end of the ziplines. Sheri’s gloves had holes so when she asked about it she was told to throw that pair in the garbage and given a new pair. Stopping yourself on a zipline with a gloved hand used to be standard on all ziplines, but it’s been years since we’ve seen one that didn’t have some sort of self-stopping feature at the end. Most often a giant spring, but we have seen other gizmos. The ziplines at the Tree-to-Tree Adventure are not as long or as steep as a lot of the self-stopping ones we have been to in recent years. Those were all zipline specific places whereas the tree-to-tree adventure is more of an aerial obstacle course with ziplines to transport people from one obstacle to another.
practice course
Once everyone had their gear the owners explained how to use it including how to hook and unhook the carabiners that are used on the safety lines throughout the course and how to use the bit that rides along the top of the ziplines. There are 2 very small practice courses there where everyone has to make sure they can properly use all of the equipment before moving on to the actual courses. People have to be able to clip and unclip the carabiners on each obstacle and to place the pulley bit onto ziplines by themselves. When not on a zipline it hung from a loop on the harness or sometimes fell off, which could mean a smack in the leg.
Sheri on a zipline in course 2
On the zipline courses we have done there was always a pair of people who worked there that did all the clipping and unclipping of equipment and lines, but on this course people did it all themselves. Sheri said ropes courses she has done are also do-it-yourself with clipping and unclipping the equipment so it seemed normal to her.
obstacle on course 1
The cruise ship excursion includes the option of doing 3 of the 4 available courses, or if you don’t want to do a harder course you can repeat the easier ones. Course 1 is the easiest and course 4 the most difficult. Everyone was required to start with either course 1 or 2.
John on a rope obstacle in course 2
We started on course 2. You have to work your way through various obstacles to get to the ziplines, of which there are several on each course. Obstacles are mainly made of ropes, logs, and cables. There are nets to climb through, tunnels to crawl through, and quite a variety of different hanging things where you move from one to another to cross to the next platform. Some of the obstacles are easy, but others take some effort to get through. Everyone else started with course 1 so we had course 2 to ourselves.
platform at the beginning of course 1
Both carabiners are hooked to a cable while on any obstacle or zipline. On the platforms in between there are places to hook and unhook as you work your way around the platform to the next obstacle. The two carabiners are at each end of a connecting line and work as a pair where only one can be opened at a time. You have to hook one to the next cable before you can unhook the other one meaning that you are attached to a safety cable at all times while moving through a course.
Sheri climbs a net on course 4
At the end of each course there is a little device to lock one end without actually attaching it to anything so that you can unlock the other one and leave the course. All 4 courses start and end at various places along the trail leading down into the forest from the top area where they store the equipment and give the instructions with course 1 being the first one you come to on that trail and course 4 the last.
two obstacles on course 2
On course 2 where we went first the obstacles are hard enough to pose a challenge to most people, yet not so difficult that they can’t finish. The owners did say if anyone got stuck somewhere to call for them, but we did not hear anyone do that. Since all obstacles have a cable that people are attached to as they cross if they couldn’t get through it any other way they could always use that cable to help them get across.
cargo net on course 3
After the 3 of us finished course 2 John didn’t want to do any more so Sheri and I moved on to course 3. The most challenging obstacle in that one was a set of 3 cargo nets with space in between and at the end of each it wasn’t just a straight gap to the next one, but also an offset requiring turning around to face the other direction. At least that was the one I thought was the hardest. Probably because my foot slipped through one of the holes in the net and it was kind of hard to get it back out on a swinging net.
the skateboard sort of thing
The most fun and unique obstacle on course 3 was a little rolling platform on two cables that you pulled a rope to bring back to the platform you were on from the one where it ends and then rode it over like a skateboard to the next tree.
obstacle where you crawl from one tunnel into another on course 3
Course 3 was difficult enough that when we finished it I went back and did course 1 rather than moving on to course 4. Sheri being a competitive ninja breezed through all of the obstacles on course 3 and went on to do course 4. That one included a bonus group of even harder obstacles at the end that people could choose to do or not. She breezed through that course as well, followed by 2 young guys who were the only other ones to try course 4. They made it through with great difficulty and a lot of screaming like little girls. She tried to give them advice when she saw them struggling, but they didn’t always listen even though they had seen her pass through all of the obstacles without any trouble.
angled poles on course 1
Course 1 had one obstacle I thought Sheri would really like that involved the cable passing through two rows of angled poles so you had to go back and forth on the two cables at the bottom changing cables at each pole to get around it. Since everyone else had done that course first it was wide open with nobody on it by the time I went there.
Sheri in course 4
Since John had only done one course he asked if Sheri could go do course 1 for one of his so she would get to do all of them. I asked if I could do that one again with her so we both did course 1 together. Since John had 2 courses he hadn’t used they let us do that since it still averaged out to 3 goes on a course for each of us.
net tunnel on course 1
I had a very small water bottle in a pocket that was snapped shut on the leg of my pants, which disappeared during my first round on course 1. My main suspect was a rope net tunnel for having snagged the pocket and let that out so when we got to that obstacle I looked for it on the ground and sure enough it was there. After we finished I asked the guy who ran the course if there was a walkable path out to underneath that obstacle so he asked if I had lost something and then he went out and found it for me.
slats in course 1
There is a minimum height requirement due to spacing on some obstacles as well as a minimum age of 6. There is also a maximum weight of 110 kg which is about 240 pounds. They weighed one big guy in our group before letting him on the course. He must have made it under the 240 pounds since they let him participate. Each course has a maximum height as well, which is shortest on course 1 and gets taller with each course as the numbers rise.
swinging baskets in course 1
This is a very unique excursion and quite fun for anyone who is physically active and in relatively good shape. It’s not for small children since besides not being allowed if they are under 6, they would not be able to reach the safety cable from a lot of the obstacles nor could they step from one bit to another on the ones that are spaced farther apart. It would not be a good choice for anyone who is afraid of heights or who has any mobility challenges or who is not physically active. Closed toed shoes are required, glasses need a strap, and the harness is easier to manage with pants that are longer then where the harness hangs to. Sheri had some issues with her shorts being shorter than where the harness sat on some obstacles. Long pants, capris, or long shorts are a better option than short shorts.
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