Took the boys to TreeClimb Adelaide over the holidays, it’s up in the Park Lands, we’d driven past it loads of times and finally got around to booking it. There’s three locations now actually, we only found out after booking, one out at Kuitpo Forest and a newer one at Salisbury that opened sometime last year. Went with the city one since it’s close, five minutes from where we parked, didn’t want to be driving all over the place with two kids already grumpy from the drive there.
Where Is TreeClimb Adelaide
City one’s at Kurangga Park, corner of Greenhill and Unley Road, easy enough to find and there’s parking nearby on Unley Road if you’re not catching the tram in. Kuitpo Forest is about 50 minutes south of the city, near McLaren Vale, and from what we’ve read it’s a proper forest setup rather than parkland, more courses too. Salisbury’s up north at Harry Bowey Reserve, that one’s the newest of the three. We picked the city one purely because it was closest and we weren’t up for a long drive that day, but if we go again we might try Kuitpo, seems like a bigger day out.
How Much Does It Cost
Ended up just over $100 for the two of us on the Grand Course, gloves included, you have to buy them or bring your own, ours were $5 each. Kids Course is cheaper, starts around $40, there’s a student price too if that applies to you. Adults on the Grand Course are around $54 last we checked. Prices move around with deals though so don’t hold me to the exact numbers, worth checking when you actually go to book.
Height’s the Thing, Not Age
This is what catches people out. Kids Course needs 100cm, Grand Course needs 135cm, and it genuinely does not matter how old they are, it’s a tape measure thing not a birthday thing. Our older one wanted a crack at one of the harder sections and just missed the cut-off, wasn’t impressed, so if you’ve got a kid on the shorter side it’s worth measuring at home before you get everyone’s hopes up.
How It Actually Runs
They harness you up first, run through the safety stuff, then there’s a small practice bit on the ground before you go up. After that you’re on your own really, no one’s walking you through each obstacle, staff mostly hang back unless it’s one of the trickier connection points. Once you’re up there you can’t really turn around either, you just keep going till you’re done. The city course has five sections and we went in thinking the middle one would be the hardest but it’s actually the last one, so pace yourself.
Whole thing’s about two hours including the safety briefing bit at the start.
The Little One Was Not Keen at First
He only just made the height cut-off and did not want to go at the start, kept hanging back on the first section and needed a lot of talking into it. One of the staff came over at some point and asked him straight out if he wanted to keep going or head back down, let him decide himself which I thought was a nice touch. We’d promised him an iced chocolate if he kept going and that seemed to do the trick more than anything we said. By the third bit he was just doing it himself, no hands held, which felt like a lot for a four year old. Got a bit nervous again right at the very last slide down but came off it grinning, said he wasn’t scared at all, so make of that what you will.
Worth knowing if you’ve got kids of different ages, it really is just about height, the older one was nowhere near tall enough for some of it but a taller ten or eleven year old would be completely fine on the Grand Course.
What to Bring
Old clothes, don’t wear anything you care about. Long pants if you’ve got them, the zip line bits are more comfortable that way. Tie long hair back. Bring gloves from home if you’ve got a spare pair lying around, saves a few dollars. There’s a little café on site if one of you wants to sit out with a coffee while the other one climbs with the kids.
A Few Other Things
Runs in the rain, only thing that shuts it down is lightning, so don’t cancel plans over a bit of drizzle in the forecast. Book online ahead of time, especially weekends or school holidays, it does fill up. And get there fifteen or twenty minutes early, the harnessing and briefing takes a bit longer than you’d think and it’s a much better start if you’re not rushing in at the last second.
Looking for more things to do around South Australia these holidays, we’ve also put together the SA School Holidays 2026 dates so you can plan around when it’s busiest, or have a look through more things to do with kids nearby.