A Rush of Blood to the Head

  Queenstown, New Zealand
Tuesday, December 14, 2004

'How high did you say it was?'

So it was up bright and early, perky and refreshed for the huge day. So why is it plans never go to schedule? We had agreed to take it easy last night so that we would be fresh and sharp for the challenge. I wanted to be able to experience it fully and enjoy it and to tell the truth, I was a little nervous. Igno was totally shitting himself but still wanted to be focused. Daz said he wanted to be '100%'. For the record, Daz finally stumbled in at around 4am. Igno and myself? - around 1.30am. I guess it was just another one of those unplanned classics. Maybe we were nervous about the jump, excited at our new environment (Queenstown is amazing, more of that later) and I was no longer on antibiotics, so was keen to be more sociable as I had spent the last week and a half as a kind of spectator. It was just a great night in general and Igno and I got roped in to doing a Karaoke in the Altitude Bar around midnight. There are pictures of Igno on some of the other entries, but if you ever come across this guy on your travels, you need to witness the 'Baz'. He does the best Barry White on this earth, fully animated too. The crowd were driven wild!

So, it was a great one but a late one. I was completely out of it at 7am this morning having slept through the alarm and Chicken had to shake and wake me up. It was a case of getting quickly dressed, quick toilet, quickly down to the bar, quick breakfast, quick toilet, quick run up the road to the AJ Hackett Bungy Office to weigh-in, quick toilet, quickly on the bus for the forty-five minute drive to the private bungy site, final quick toilet ready for the quick briefing.

We got harnessed up and made our way over to the tiny frail cable car that chugs its way over to the small glass-bottomed pod that is suspended over the Shotover River by huge mile-long cables fixed between two even bigger mountains. We all shut up when we saw it. Even 'mad for it' Daz looked deadly serious and listened carefully when the guy spoke up. The kind crew lady who fixed my harness together asked me if I realised what a stupid thing it is to do. I said I did cos' up until then, again, I was quite numb and hadn't give it much consideration.

I won't bother going in to the details of the jump cos' it pretty much involved the same technicalities as the Auckland harbour bridge bungy. The Nevis is just over three times as high, and is suspended over the Shotover River with huge rocks and a nice gushing wind winding its way through the valley, rocking the jumping pod just enough to concern its already 'edgy' occupants. It's the highest bungy jump in New Zealand and only the second highest in the world (second to Africa that is at around 218 metres I think). So, it was quite a serious jump. What was scary though was how you got to the jumping platform - via this pathetic little squeaky creaky cable car.

Okay, so it was a hell of a lot more scary when we were in the pod than when we were looking at it from the side of the cliff. Igno's face was a picture and I know he was bricking it a hell of a lot more than he was letting on. I'm pleased to say though that we all did it without too many problems, apart from Daz who had a slight mental block just before jumping and sort of fell off or more 'plopped' off rather than flinging himself out from the ledge of death elegantly, in true 'swallow dive' stylee. Sorry Daz but hey, at least you did it mate. Nice one! How much d'you pay for the video again? ;-)



For me, this was a little different to the harbour bridge jump and the Skydive. I've no idea why but this time I didn't have any memory loss. For some strange reason I can remember every single split-second of the experience from start to finish. Clearly. I remember the nerves, the fear, the shuffle to the ledge, the shaky knees, the dry mouth, the wind in my face and ears, the sounds of metal and rope, the voices, banter, cheers and laughter around me, the countdown, the view as I looked over, the sheer panic inside, the last of the countdown, the wave to the camera, the deep breath, the bended knees, the dive outwards, that moment when time stands still, the sudden ground rush, my stomach being punched through the back of my throat and in to my mouth, the freefall, the silence, the wind wisping in and around my ears, stomach still being punched through bit by bit, the continued freefall, thinking to myself 'it's gonna catch, it's gonna catch', more freefall, more wind, more ground rush, 'it's gonna catch now, it's catching now', more freefall, more rush, more buzz, more adrenaline, feeling like I was flying like Superman, then the 'catch', more freefall, the gradual slow-down, the halt and strain at the bottom, the 'yo-yo-ing' around deep in the valley above the pristine, tranquil Shotover River, the rush of blood to the head, eyeballs feeling like watermelons, releasing the foot rope catch and sitting in the harness with my little legs swinging with excitement, screaming like a nutter after the endorphins kicked in, the slow and gradual hoist back up to the glass-bottomed pod, the faces, the cheers and the claps from those that welcomed me back to planet earth, the frightful step back on to the ledge, the photographs, hugs and handshakes and the unclipping of the bungy, safety ropes and harness.

Would I do it again? In a second!

My fingers are killing now. I've just typed all that in one go (including this bit) and appreciate that it's a pretty long sentence but that's exactly what happened so I'm not going to check or change it. I shall leave it as it is as it pretty much sums up the experience. A wonderful experience that will stay with me forever. I've uploaded a couple of pics of Igno's face before and after his jump. I think his 'after' face is so typical of someone 'post-adrenaline'. He was on fire!

And if that wasn't enough, this afternoon we made our way over to our pick up point before being driven to another private site for our attempt at the Canyon Swing. Another incredible experience. You're best clicking 'here' to go to the website for more info and the jump options but basically it is the worlds highest swing and offers many jump options off it's frightful little ledge protruding over the edge of the canyon.

Like the others, I was fooled in to thinking that you simply 'swing'. How wrong we were. You still get the ground rushing free fall that you do on the bungys but with a full scale swing backwards and forwards through the canyon to finish you off. You could hear peoples screams echoing through the whole of the valley for what seemed like an eternity afterwards. Again, the pics will give you a better idea. Igno's face was more than a picture and some of his expressions secured many laughs to be had over a few beers.

We all opted for different jump options which kept things nicely varied. I ended up doing the 'Indian Rope Trick' and the 'Elvis Cutaway' and I've gotta say in some respects it's actually worse than the Nevis in its own little way as the guys up on the ledge there really mess with your head and play silly games with your natural instinct. It's one hell of an experience, one that I only wish I could explain better or even had more time to. All I can say is if you ever get the chance to do it - just do it.



This evening we started our post-adrenaline celebrations a little different. We had a smooth vodka cocktail at -5 degrees, at '-5 degrees'. If that doesn't make sense, I'll explain. We went for a vodka cocktail in a bar aptly named 'Minus 5'. You pay $20 for a half-hour bar session. This includes provision of a super-thick eskimo style jacket and gloves with a free house cocktail to hold as you chatter away the next thirty minutes in the bar at -5 degrees centigrade. The bar itself, shelves, tables, chairs, and ornaments is made totally out of hand sculpted ice. What a concept! This was a perfect way for us to start the celebrations of our looney achievements. We spent the rest of the night checking out some of the other nightlife in Queenstown. We ended up in the World bar and I think we managed to completely fill a memory card in there taking pictures of everyones antics. Post adrenaline excitement. We were totally wired!