This was published 9 years ago
Crazy Rider, Ourimbah State Forest: Australia home to world's longest roller coaster zip line
By Annie Dang
Wild ride: Three times the length of any tree-base zip line in the world: The Crazy Rider.
It may be a first for Australia, but this crazy roller-coaster zip line through the Ourimbah State Forest is also the world's longest.
At one-kilometre long and 18 metres high, the Crazy Rider, located on the New South Wales Central Coast, is three times the length of any tree-base zip line in the world and takes up to five minutes to complete.
Through the trees: At one-kilometre long and 18-metres high, this is the world's longest roller-coaster zip line.
Riders twist, turn, zigzag and dive through 40 obstacles, slide through three 360-degree loops and one 540 metre circle around a tree, all the while being suspended about six storeys high in a swing harness.
It surpasses Forever Florida's roller-coaster zip line – previously the world's longest non-straight zip line – which is about 300 metres long.
For the less adventurous, the Pioneer – smaller and less heart-pumping than its big sister the Xtreme – is a 350-metre long, non-straight zip line with 10curves, including one 360-degree turn and an impressive drop.
Thrilling: Riders zigzag through 40 obstacles while being suspended about six storeys high.
Both are said to offer riders the thrill of a roller-coaster with the flying sensations of a zip line via a variation of travelling speed, TreeTop Adventure Park owner Sandrine Gaymard told Traveller.com.au.
"It is not really about the speed but more about gravity, especially in the turns. The acceleration and deceleration is what makes the ride thrilling," Ms Gaymard said.
The ride is the first of its kind in the world that uses new high-wire technology created by Ms Gaymard and Fred Galimard from TreeTops, a division of Ecoline.
With flying foxes and zip lines among the favourite kind of adventure rides for Australians, the pair aimed to design something that was longer and scarier to ride.
"Zip lines usually travel in a straight line but we thought it would be incredible to build some to go around the trees, up and down, and even with 360-degree loops to really ramp up the fun factor," Ms Gaymard said in a statement.
The result was a "twisty, curly, thrilling ride in the tree tops", something which Ms Gaymard said is "unique and groundbreaking to Australian eco-tourism".
While Australia may be home to world's longest roller-coaster zip line, having taken the title from the Americans, it's the Italians that can claim to be the holders of the world's longest zip line title.
The Volo dell'Angelo (Flight of the Angel) zip line, located at Rocca Massima in Italy, is reportedly the world's longest and highest continuous zip line at 2213 metres long, reaching speeds of 120 kilometres per hour.
It is followed by the Eye of the Jaguar at 2130 metres, with a riding speed of 110 kilometres per hour. This beast of a ride can be found north of Cusco, Peru, in the Sacred Valley.
Australia's Crazy Riders roller-coaster zip line is located at the TreeTop Adventure Park in Ourimbah State Forest, on the New South Wales Central Coast.
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