we all met, about 20 of us, at the station in queenstown. if you've ever been to queenstown, you know that practically every adventure begins at the station.
suited up and ready to go we boarded the bus to the kawarua bridge jumping station. as the first commercial bungy jump ever, this place goes down in the history books!!
we go and watch a movie about how hackett and his good friend henry van asch started the whole bungy phenomenon back in the 80's. they are all wearing bright neon colored body suits and their mulletts are flying in the wind. classic.
finally we go and get to jump. we all line up and wait. and wait. and wait some more. it's a great view from the bridge and as it's the easiest bungy to get to, most people who don't want to jump but just expericce the jump go there too. mind you, this is about 10 am? one by one we all get locked in and harnessed up.
i decided to do my jump backwards. cause i rock.. actually i had done it once before and wanted to step it up a notch. which i did. so i'm standing there heels hanging off the platform and the guy is hangin on to my harness from the front. i'm holding on to him. tightly. and i am nervous. he tells me that he can't come with me and i'm like, you're right!! i stop freaking out and this calm comes over me. the switch in my brain was calm acceptance. i took a breath, counted to three and jumped. it was beautiful. then i hit the water and as i am choking back the air and water i am pulled back up. wet hair swinging everywhere, shirt sopping wet. i felt like i had just been pulled backwards through waves in the ocean. but it was great and exhillirating!!
next stop, the nevis. this monster of a jump is the (i believe) second longest jump in the southern hemisphere. at least that is what i tell all of my guests. sucks. anyways i do believe it is true. the nevis is 134 meters and 8.5 seconds of fall time. the jumping metal box is suspended between MOUNTAINS by CABLE wires. you have to get there via a separate small gondola. it is awesome. inside the jumping box it's like a german kraftwerk party. the speakers are blaring, you feel elated and exhausted. you can feel the adrenalin in the air and it is palatable and raw. one minute you are grovving in the frenetic enegry and the next you are tired and almost meditative retreating inwards. i actually felt nauseas. i hoped i wouldn't yak on my way down. finally they call my number. sitting in a metal stirrup chair not unlike a birthing chair (!??) but with your feet together, they bound you in. harness around your body and harness around your feet. you are not going anywhere. smile for the camera. and off to waddle to the ledge.
i'm standing on the ledge and i can feel the weight of the heavy elastic woven cords pulling pulling pulling on me. the jumpmaster is holding me from the back as he twists and untwists the cords so i can have a straight fall. as he is twisting and etcering, he let's go of me. i feel this sensation of complete and total vertigo. even though i know i am strapped in and have the bungy attached to me, i just want to jump. i also want to yell, grab on to me!! but i don't and i just wait. finally things are ready for my jump.
i'm gonna do it like a penguin.
i grab my harness at my legs and get ready to rumble!
there's a beautiful moment at which you go from panic to a peaceful calm. that calm happens when you decide to jump. it's like a switch in the brain and i actually find that to be the coolest part of the experience. with my hands at my legs, i jump. soaring through the air i feel like keanu reeves bulletting after patrick swayze in the coolest skydiving chase scene ever from point break and i'm flying! eight seconds of freefall, the wind rushing past my ears with the ground rushing towards me as i feel the gentle slowing down of the bungy cord take effect. bounce once, bounce twice and on the rebound, i tug at a cord at my legs to maneuvered to a sitting position to enjoy the ride.
as the static cord is being lowered down to me to attach to the harness, i sometimes feel that this is the scariest part. though each cord is used to 1/20th if it's capabilities, it is at this point that you sometimes think that holy sh*# "i'm hanging here by only a bunch of elastic!"
anyways, i get pulled back up to the cheers of my friends and loud dance music that you almost forget about. after a few more people jump, we head back on the black moving box back to the mainland and off back to queenstown.
next we are off to the jump the ledge.
the ledge is a special jump as bungy cord is attached to your waist leaving your legs free. what this really means is that you can run off!!
to be honest, i never cared to do the ledge. it wasn't the original bungy like the k-bridge nor was did it have such prestige as the nevis. i was somewhat ambivilent about doing the ledge. but boy, was i really really wrong. turns out, the ledge is cooler that it seemed!
people actually brought costumes to jump off the ledge, this one girl brought a leopard outfit to look like pebbles from the flintstones!
ok, this blog post is getting toooooo long. basically i thought that of all the bungies, the ledge is by far the most fun. i ran off the platform and as i jumped reached back and grabbed my ankles doing what is fondly known as the flying squirrel and flew flew flew and screamed this high pitched "eeeee!"
the others are great and scary, even scawy!! but the ledge was fun!!!
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