Today I did the unthinkable. I embraced the fear.
It was the single most frightening thing I have ever done in my life. It was far scarier than the flying cockroach I saw in Fiji or even jumping into the water for black water rafting.
I stood on a ledge and flung myself off a bridge with only an elastic band to save me. That’s right I went bungy jumping in Queenstown.
I’m still alive.
Okay so maybe I wasn’t worried about dying. In Queenstown I went to the original bungy site and in the span of two decades AJ Hackett has had over 500,000 people at that site alone and 100% safety record in all locations worldwide.
Kawerau is the original bungy jumping site. The first place in the world for bungy jumping. I wanted to bungy jump here.
When I booked bungy jumping in Queenstown this morning I wanted to throw up. But I was fine during the video introduction that is supposed to motivate you to jump.
That was until I saw the comparison of skydiving which indicated because skydiving is so high when you leap you don’t get the rush of plummeting to the ground. At the point you’re near the ground you’re actually sailing in your parachute.
But with bungy you get the full rush because you are so close.
I know adrenaline junkies would see this as a positive but this is what terrifies me
However I am stubborn and determined to do it so I signed up and headed out to the bridge and I’m starting to think -
wow this is high.
They strap me into my leg harness and I am thinking it looks really really high. I tell the guys I am petrified and they try to work me up to do it. I am still doubting myself as I edge out onto the ledge.
So this is the moment.
Dan, my guide says 3-2-1 and I… well I bend my knees but I can’t jump. In fact I don’t think I can jump because they are shaking so badly. The crowd watching me gasps.
Then Dan tells me I really must jump and staying up there makes it far too difficult . So once again he says 3 2 1 and I sort of but really just a bigger knee bend and the I can hear the crowd gasping louder and I really think that there’s no way I can do it.
But I have to do it.
There is no out. So I turn to him and tell him I’m doing it
3
2
1
and I go. I am screaming the entire time.
The people on my New Zealand buses tour in the parking lot can hear me. I scream on the way down and and on the way up and on the way down and up again. Eventually I can no longer scream but I am done.
What do I think of bungy jumping in Queenstown? I am so happy I did it. The free fall was completely awful and wonderful. It is like when you are in bed, nearly asleep and suddenly you feel like you are falling and try to stop it. But in bungy jumping you can’t stop yourself, it is probably only a few seconds but feels like a lifetime.
I bought the DVD to remember it all because I will never do it again.
Lead photo (c) mnapoleon - Creative Commons
