Thursday, April 28th:
After getting back late last night from being out in Queenstown, I decided to sleep in until 10:15 a.m. Since George and I were bungy jumping later that day, we got up earlier than everyone else because they did not have activities to do until way later in the afternoon. Katie decided to come with George and I in the morning to breakfast and the luge!
After breakfast, the 3 of us left to go to the gondola at the bottom of the mountain of Queenstown. With our tour, we got a ticket included that let us ride a gondola up the mountain overlooking Queenstown, and then go on the luge down part of the mountain. It was perfect weather that day, so we really lucked out with the view! Once we rode up in the gondola, we got out and took pictures. It was absolutely beautiful! We got to see Lake Wakatipu and the entire town of Queenstown.
Once we took our pictures, the 3 of us got on a chairlift to head to the very top of where we were going to start our luge. For all of you that do not know what luging is, is it is a one person sled with wheels on the bottom and a steering bar in front of you. You control how fast and the direction of the sled by the bar. The track we went down overlooked the scenery, but we were too busy racing down to look out. I was expecting luging to be not very exciting and made more for little kids, but it was actually a ton of fun and went faster than I thought! At one point I tipped over because I was going faster than the turn could handle.
When we were done luging, the 3 of us went back down on the gondola and went and got a small lunch. Katie left us after lunch, and George and I headed to the building for bungy jumping! When we checked in, they weighed us to know exactly how much we weighed so the people at the bungy site knew what cord to use for us. Then we were off to bungy jump!
It was a 40 minute car ride to the site, where everyone in the car was dead silent. It was quite funny because on the way there we all looked like we were headed to a funeral, and on the way back we were all laughing and joking around. Right before we got to the bungy place, we had to go up a VERY steep hill with no railings on the side of the cliff. As we were not scared enough by the 134 meter bungy jump we were about to do, the drive up the cliff added to our nerves. They reassured us that the cars were 4-wheel drive, and they we would all be safe driving up.
Once getting to the bungy site, right away we were able to see the jump we were about to do. I honestly was not scared to bungy jump until we got to the site and I looked out at the drop. My nerves started to kick up, but I not once ever had the thought of not wanting to do it. Once we got there, we put our harnesses on, even though we were only tied to our feet. The harnesses were for after we bungy jumped, so they could pull us right-side up. The people at the site weighed us again with our harness on, and wrote it on our hand again. By the end of the day, my hands had all of these numbers and code words on them!
I went with a group of 10 people to the bungy site, even though I only knew George. Once all of us were done getting situated and put our things away, we walked out to the ledge of the cliff, where we could see people jumping. It was insane looking out and seeing these people jump out of a square box into a valley. One of the workers gave us a pep talk, and then we were on our way! To get to the place were we jumped from, you had to take a gondola out to the center. Once you got off of the gondola, you were in a square box that was held up by wire strings connected to the cliffs. Luckily it was not windy that day, because on windy days I heard the entire box swings back and forth!
Pre-Bungy Jump Picture:
Where we Jumped From!
There were 10 of us that went in the time frame I was in, in which there were 9 guys, and then me. With that being said, I HAD to go last because each of the guys were on the same rope since they were all about the same weight. Since I am a girl and weigh less than them, I had to go last so they could change the rope. If the rope was not changed, I would not go as far as I was supposed to go. When we all got to the square box, they put the ankle harness on our ankles. The guy putting them on pulled SO TIGHT that for a second I thought my ankles were going to fall off. I would rather them lose circulation though than the harness come off after I jumped! One by one, all of the 9 guys jumped, and then it was my turn! A few of the guys hesitated before jumping, so I knew that I had to just jump when it was my turn since I wanted to not look "like a girl" to them.
Getting my Ankle Straps on:
When I was finally up, I was pumped to go. Seeing all of the 9 guys come up from their jump with excitement and smiles on their faces, I knew it would be awesome. Before jumping, I sat in a chair that looks like an execution chair.
One of the workers straps you in to the bungy jump, and gives you all of the directions that you need. Pretty much, the only thing you really need to know is to make sure you jump head first, because either way you will end up that way since the bungy cord is only connected to your feet.
He also told me that there was a red cord connected to my left ankle, and after I was done with the jump and was being pulled up, to pull it so I would flip the other direction. Once the directions were over, everything went so fast. Everyone keeps asking me why I did not pause or get scared once I was strapped in, and my response is always, "You have no time to think about it." This is because after the directions, the bungy worker grabbed the back of my harness, walked me out to the plank, counted down, and let go of me. I had to waddle out to the plank, which stuck out from the square box about 2 feet. This was the scariest part because if you slipped, you would be going down sideways. Here is what it looked like:
Before I tell you about the feeling of bungy jumping, I want to tell you about the Nevis Bungy Jump in Queenstown. The jump is about 154 meters above an extremely shallow river, in-between a canyon. The jump is 134 meters, because if you hit the water you could get seriously injured because it is so shallow. If you need help with the conversion, 134 meters is about 440 feet, meaning from the time I jumped to the time the cord snapped, it was 8.5 seconds of free fall. The Nevis Bungy Jump is the 3rd highest in the world, behind the bungy jumps in Hong Kong and South Africa. The one in Hong Kong is 233 meters, or 764 feet! The inventor of bungy jumping, A.J. Hackett, invented the Nevis Bungy Jump in New Zealand. If you want to learn more about him and his story which is quite spectacular, you should look him up because it is really interesting.
Once I was on the square box, the guy counted down saying 3, 2, 1, bungy. On bungy, you are supposed to jump. I think I jumped on 2 though because I could not take the anticipation. The guys do not push you even if you ask them to, because they call it a bungy jump, not a bungy push! I held out my arms, jumped, and everything happened so fast. The 8.5 seconds of free fall did not seem very long, and all I could concentrate on was the water below me. The snap of the bungy cord did not hurt at all, even though it looks like it would. It honestly though, was the best feeling in the world. Jumping 440 feet into a valley with only a small cord attached to my ankles made me feel so free. I cannot compare the feeling to anything else because it was nothing like I had ever experienced before. Once I was done, the view was spectacular being pulled up from the box I jumped out of. After I was done, I kept saying, "I WANT TO DO IT AGAIN!" Since I was not able to, I added something else to my bucket list... bungy jumping at the world's highest bungy jump in Hong Kong!
The Jump:
After I was done, we went back in the gondola to the building where we started. They gave us a shirt that had the Nevis Bungy Jump on it with 134 meters printed on the bottom. We also got a certificate saying that we completed the jump successfully! Here are some pictures I ordered from the jump!
I also got a video of me bungy jumping, but I do not know how to upload it on here. If you want to see it, look on my facebook or when I get home I can show you!
Once getting back from the bungy jump, George and I met up with the other 5, and we went to Ferg Burger again and went shopping. Since it was Andrew's actual 21st birthday that night, we all went out for it again to a few bars. George and I went out to also celebrate completing the 134 meter Nevis Bungy Jump! The day was absolutely perfect!
People keep asking me too which one was better, skydiving or the bungy jump. Honestly, they are two completely different things and cannot be compared. The feeling while doing both of them were completely different. I am so glad that I got the opportunity to do both, because it was amazing. I am an adrenaline junky, and would love to sky dive and bungy jump again and again.
I found these two quotes that are significant to the past two days...
As Joe Lewis once said, "You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough."
As William Ross Wallace once said, "Every man dies- Not every man really lives."
If I could rewind, I would do it over and over for this trip. Live your life to the fullest, and have no regrets. If you really want to do something in life do it, because the chance may never come again.
Heaps of Love from the Sky Diver and Bungy Jumper,
Heidi
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