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SUPER TJ!!!!!!!
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Last night after we wrote, we looked up some two person card games on the internet. We realized that we could play Crib and Rummy among others, but we didn't write down the scoring table for crib, so we played Rummy for a few hours. Jess was winning by a lot but had a few bad hands (got stuck with a joker a few times) so TJ's beginners luck took over and he ultimately won. It was fun to do something other than read at night. Our books are disappearing too fast. Then we went to bed, got up this morning and left for Murchison. Well actually it's west of Murchison to Buller's Gorge, which has a suspension bridge (the longest in NZ, 110m) and a zip line to come back on if you want to do it. You can go either with two people sitting, one person sitting or superman-style. TJ decided a few days ago that he was going to do the superman-style, but as the time approched, he was getting a little nervous about it. Bev wanted Jess to go, but she didn't really want to, but after seeing a few people go (including quite a few young kids) she thought she could, but by then there was a long line and lots of those sand flies and wasps eating us to a pulp. So she backed out, but TJ went for it after we both walked across the narrow suspension bridge and back. It's a pretty big drop to the river below (TJ is estimating around 70ft-100ft), it was a cool view, but it's pretty rocky, so TJ started to worry about impailing himself face-first in the river rocks below if he fell. But he found his courage and waiting up in line. Jess went back to get a good view/pics of his jump. You have to wait quite awhile in line watching others do their turns. When the lady checked TJ's ticket she said "ohh Superman style" then everyone looked at TJ with wide eyes. We thought the superman was a little more common, but nobody else in front of TJ even tried it. So after sitting in line for 20 min or so thinking about it and not getting to see anyone else try it TJ was a bit nervous (probably more than a bit). So you get up there and they get a special harness for going superman style. The whole time the lady was adjusting straps to make it bigger and she kept commenting on certain things he had to do because he is bigger, so he wasn't sure how to interpret that. Is being bigger bad? To much work for this thing? Uhhhh . . . anyway after this very complex harness is all strapped up and she does a "hanging test" to make sure it's holding you up, she informs you that you have to sprint to the edge of the tower and swan dive off of it. So, wide eyed with a few butterflies in his stomach, she counts to three and you sprint and dive off. As soon as the harness catches you there is a huge relief then you fly over the rocks and water below with your arms out and come flying into the crash area. It was pretty crazy. While TJ was getting harnessed in, Jess was waiting ready to take footage. The guy and his daughter who had went just before TJ came over and stood with Jess, the guy asked if I was TJ's girlfriend. Jess said she was, then he said that TJ was nervous up in the tower, and he said TJ was crazy for going (TJ later said that this was coming from a guy who had just been telling TJ about the time he went bungie jumping), but that TJ said if he didn't go that his girlfriend would call him a chicken. Jess laughed, and nodded, but then told the German guy and his daughter that he wouldn't really be a chicken because she was the one down on the ground. They all waited for TJ to go, everyone stopped to watch this "crazy guy going superman-style". We got it on video, but it's from far away until he gets closer. It was cool to watch. The German guy had to go before TJ got unharnessed, but he wanted Jess to wish TJ congratulations for him and tell him he's not a chicken. It was funny. That was our big adventure for the day. After that, we hurried into the car (since those flies were so bad) and headed off for Westport since there isn't much else to do in the Murchison area. When we arrived in Westport, it was weird, it was deserted, none of the shops were open, there were no cars on the road, no people in the streets, we thought we were in a ghost town. It's a Tuesday here, so we couldn't figure out why the place would be deserted around 2 in the afternoon?? We later found out that it is some sort of holiday here today and that's why, but it gave us an erie feeling when we arrived. We went to the beach in Westport, but it was a little dirty, with logs and sticks everywhere, so we went to Carter Beach instead (only 3kms away). It was nice, it was a bit cool by the time we arrived, it became a little overcast, but we braved the cold water anyway and went swimming in the big waves. It warmed up and we layed on the beach for a few minutes to dry off. Then we went back into town to find an internet cafe in the ghost town. We found one, obviously, at the only open store by the looks of things, the information centre. Now we're going to head back to our campsite which has a mini golf course, so we'll play a round of that (TJ has wanted to play since we got here for some weird reason). Oh and thanks to Patti (and later Bev after talking to Brad Anderson) for explaining our weird bug bites. I guess they are sand flies. We don't like them. But Patti also suggested a cure, so we'll be picking some of that up as well! We also finally found Patti's posting from awhile ago about the lack of slurpie machines here. They don't have them anywhere I guess. They don't exist. But TJ is very happy because she informed us that they have 7/11's in Melbourne and probably throughout Australia, so TJ is happy again, but will be more happy once we're in Melbourne I'm sure. That's it for today. Talk to you all soon
Latest Comments (1)
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Super...Man (reply)
Feb 6, 2007 00:12 EST by ljhartel
That sounds great TJ. You will never forget that jump. I hope the video captures your expressions. Very late and I just got home so I cannot think of anything witty to say. Have more fun. We are loving the trip through your eyes.
Dad
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