Day 72 - Chino does a bungy!

Staggie and I both experienced a different nights sleep last night, Being on top bunk, Staggie couldn't get to sleep for ages due to the temperature. I on the other hand had a wicked sleep, one of those sleeps where you wake up a few times in the night and morning thinking its almost time to wake up, you then realise you have plenty more time of sleep left! Quality sleep.

I had my alarm set for 10:30, today was the day of my Bungy Jump. With a good nights rest, I showered, trying not to think about what I will soon be doing too much! It got to 11:20, everyone else in the room were still asleep including Staggie, I was psyching myself up with some Ricky Gervais comedy, not sure how it psyches someone up but it kept my mind off it all. 

I left and checked in further up the road at the 'Station Building'. Once I had checked in, I stood on some scales, pretty important part to Bungy Jumping really. Don't want to be colliding into the ground now. I had a chance with the free internet included to upload a quick status notification to friends and family before catching the bus at 12:00. There were quite a few people, the bus dropped half off at the 'Kawarau Bridge', before carrying on with the rest to the 'Nevis Bungy Jump'. The 'Kawarau Bridge' was where Bungy Jumping was invented by AJ Hackett, at 43 metres high, I realised how big the jump I was about to do was going to be. I think the butterflies couldn't be stopped around this point. I've bigged myself up too much to family and friends now though, I have to do it and my mind set was completely on that. Lets see the height of it first hey. 

It took about 40 minutes to get to the Nevis Bungy Jump area from Queenstown, towards the end the sudden uphill incline was pretty obvious, we were going up pretty high. I met a few guys, all about to do the same jump, one had done it before, the others were bricking it just as much as I was. Once we got off the bus, I shared a locker with the guys, saving me a dollar, cheap-skate lads. I made a quick toilet break (thought it was best to do before hand) before getting harnessed up. Once this was done, I was told to head out round the side, little did I know that that was it and I was now about to be chosen as part of the first group to catch the sky-rail to the centre jump spot, half way between the canyon. 

Its 5 people maximum on the sky-rail, not including the jump guides. We were told the order of who was jumping was determined by heaviest first, I quickly looked around at the others jumping to find myself with 3 girls and one lad, all smaller than I was by quite a bit. Oh S**t, was what came to mind. "I guess that makes me first". 

The staff had already got a card with my weight and name on it, the information all passed over by earlier. So first things first, we got onto the central base, just hanging in the middle of the canyon with a ledge at the front. One guy strapped my calfs up, I then got called up to the front. My heart was obviously pumping, already we had all looked down, it was impossible not to when you have to catch a slow sky-rail to get you there! Then there's glass floor panels also which never helps!! I had the bungy cord strapped to what had already been strapped around my calfs, all happened so quickly and wasn't checked over a second time. I had my photo taken very quickly too, looked up, snap, done, time for jump. I was helped up by the guide and slowly taken to the ledge, at this point my legs were strapped together so I had to waddle there. 

Making sure my toes were over the ledge, I looked down. Oops. 134 metres up high and about to jump, "on the count of 3....3....2.....1....Jump!" My mind was empty, my legs did all the work and dived off the ledge, its that point your mind says "what the hell have you done!". I couldn't help but yell out a girlie scream on the way down, it was an incredible feeling. Much alike the feeling of free falling at 16,500 feet, just quite a lot closer to the ground. In that way it was more thrilling, falling for 8 seconds before bouncing straight back up. By the second bounce, I had to reach up to my legs and pull a cord with a red stripe around it. Pulling this let my legs go, don't worry, my body was harnessed up too, I just wasn't upside down any longer. I slowly got pulled back up towards the base, "how was that dude?", "Great, just get me off" was all I could reply, with nothing but a bungy cord holding my weight (hard to imagine I know). 

It was over, over too soon! It was amazing, so glad I did it, would I do it again? Definitely, the adrenaline took a while to calm down. I watched others do their jump for about an hour, filming as much footage as I could. It was about a couple of hours until I caught the bus back to Queenstown, I made sure I had photos and video as proof of doing the Nevis Bungy. The guys I had met; Dan, Joe and Tom were all keen for a 'Fergburger', Staggie and I joined them.

This afternoon Chaggie went for a drive to 'Arrowtown', we checked out the historic town before heading back to Base. We had a curry later on this evening, a classic Korma. Chino made sure all the photos and video were on his laptop. Another night of chilling out ready for a busy day and early start tomorrow. Our eagerness for going out in the evening continues. 

Chaggie x