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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Natalie Vikhrov

Canberra's first Treetops Adventure park opens

A former pine plantation at Majura has been transformed into an aerial playground, with the official opening of Canberra's first Treetops Adventure park this month.

The scenic site now features several giant courses with more than 100 obstacles. They include wooden bridges, net obstacles and speedy ziplines suspended between leafy trees.

The Canberra location forms the 16th Treetops Adventure park in Australia and is expected to draw in 30,000 visitors annually.

Speaking at its official opening on Friday, Experience Co chief executive John O'Sullivan said the attraction was about getting locals to experience nature but also incentivising tourists to extend their stay.

"If we can add a Treetops Adventure component to someone's itinerary from the UK, from China, from Sydney ... that means they stay in Canberra for an extra night, they have an extra night's accommodation, an extra meal at a restaurant," he said.

"We will be spreading the word about Treetops Canberra internationally as well as domestically in partnership with Visit Canberra."

Mr O'Sullivan said the park marked the company's first investment within the capital but not the last.

"We think that over the last 10 years Canberra as a destination has really transformed," he said.

"It has become a destination that is synonymous with everything that Australia has to offer as a tourism destination.

Carwoola resident Jayde Jones enjoys the opening of the new Treetops Adventure Park in Majura. Picture by Keegan Carroll

"We'd very much like to bring other experiences, such as tandem skydiving into the ACT."

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the park would "broaden our tourism offering". The $1.3 million attraction earlier received a $100,000 grant from the ACT government through the Tourism Product Development Fund.

"That's exactly the sort of new tourism product that we had in mind when, as part of our post-COVID tourism recovery, the ACT government put in place the tourism product development fund," Mr Barr said.

"Having great new attractions like this one provides impetus for more hotel investment which, in turn, I think supports our broader tourism economy."

The park has been open to the public for less than a week but has already attracted international visitors. Among them was Eric Chow, visiting from Canada.

Mr Chow was visiting family in Queanbeyan but added the park to his itinerary as part of the family trip.

"It looks like a lot of fun," he said.

"In Vancouver, we spend a lot of time outdoors, I got a couple of kids in rock climbing teams, so when we had the opportunity to do this something like this, it was an easy 'yes'.

"It's great for families because you can get the kids out and have a good time and introduce them to new things, where they can test their endurance and their physical capabilities and at the same time have fun doing it."

Carwoola resident Jayde Jones was visiting the park with a friend on Friday but said she also wanted to bring her children try the obstacle course.

"I'm excited to give it a go, to hopefully bring my boys here in the school holidays," she said.

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