A short detour off the Great Ocean Road took me to the Otway Fly Tree Top Walk, a 600 meter steel walkway high (9-47 meters) above the forest floor. I’d first learned about the concept when I read Bill Bryon’s glowing account of his visit to the tree top walk in WA. As there are just 3 steel canopy walks in the world (all in Australia; the third is in Tasmania) I knew a detour would be worth it.

And it really is something to see. At ground level, the trees (the Otway Ranges, part of a cool temperate rainforest with an average of 2m of rainfall annually) are massive and seemingly all the same:

Twenty-five meters later, you’re much more aware of the different trees that make up the canopy…

…even as you’re dodging some of them to get along the path!

(The brochure notes “The Fly is designed to have little impact on the fragile rainforest.” That’s nice, but what about the recent logging in the area?)

I found the walkway very secure and firm, with perhaps a slight give. Or, as the flyer puts it: DON'T GET A SHOCK, THE WALKWAY IS MEANT TO ROCK. Yet it seemed so stable, it’s a surprise when you get back to the ground, look up, and realize how high you were:

See also the pictures on The Fly’s website.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2003 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Travel.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.