At the
beginning of the year, my family and I travelled to New Zealand and it was an
unforgettable experience. We drove from north to south, ending our trip in
Queenstown. There I decided I had to go bungying and decided that there was no
point in going all the way to New Zealand, if I didn't jump from the highest bungy.
My family thought I was crazy; you’re a first timer, you can’t jump from one of
the highest bungees in the world? But I'm stubborn, so I bought my ride, woke
up early in the morning and went alone by bus to the canyon. I confess, while
people on the bus were jumping from excitement, I was pretty sleepy. It
probably had to do with the motion sickness drug I took right before getting on
the bus. Doesn't really matter, since by the time we got there, I was pretty excited
myself. We got ready very quickly - they check your weight, put on you harness,
check your weight again, and then put you on a cart that takes you to the
jumping base. As you can see on the picture, the base is held by cables at the
very top of the canyon, and every time the wind passes, it moves with it. Oh,
and the bottom is actually made of glass, so you can see the river
aaaaaaaallllll the way down and people going up and down, up and down.
We were
in a group of about ten people, and I was one of the first to get into the
base, but the last to jump. You see, because of the different ropes, they have
this system where heavier people go first. Since I was the lightest of the
group, I was the last to jump, and had to watch as people jumped, screamed,
then were pulled back up again, while this crazy music blasted off the
speakers. The adrenalin was so high; I thought I’d faint before even jumping.
The workers were all trying to distract us, making funny jokes, and I asked
whether they would simply push me if I freaked out. They said no, since, they
could be sued for forcing you to do something against your will (what? It’s a
very plausible question. It's not something cheap, and there's no refund!).
What made it worse was that the day before, some woman at the hotel told me how
she had gone all the way there, stood at the edge, and couldn't jump. I was
afraid that would happen to me.
And so it
was finally mu turn. I was shaking so much I thought I’d trip, but it was
probably the base moving with the wind. Like the traditional bungees, we were
all tied at the feet, which made it very hard to shuffle to the edge of the
small platform (I felt like one of those pirates walking the plank). They told
me to not look down, but it's an instinct, you just have to look. And it's very
high. So I tried looking at the horizon, telling myself it was just like diving
into the pool. Just like diving into the pool. And the guy started to count, 1,
2, and on 3, I jumped. And it was crazy.
The first
seconds you're actually free falling, and you can't really control your body;
you're just falling and your arms go one way, and your legs the other, and the
air makes the skin on your face move back like some crazy Botox procedure. And
I thought I’d hear the air, but the only thing I could hear was the sound of my
breaths coming in and out, and the sound of my heartbeat in my head. And you
keep falling, and falling, and the river is down there, and you think, that's
it, I'm going to die, and then the rope starts slowing you down, and then
you're flying again, but this time, it’s up. And it's this amazing feeling of
power - like you can do anything. I was shaking from excitement, and adrenalin,
and talking like a hyperactive child.
I could
say it was just that, but I'm never that lucky. Since we were jumping into a canyon,
we couldn't simply get off at the bottom; they had to pull us up again. At the beginning,
when we were getting ready, they showed us this yellow strap at our feet, and
explained really fast, how the third time we bounced up, we had to pull the
strap, and how we shouldn't pull it down, but towards the side. Pretty easy
huh?
So there
I was, down, and up, down and up, down and up.. and I force my body in this
very hard crunch trying to reach my feet (not something easy to do when you're
hanging upside down), and when I finally reach it, I keep trying to pull it to
the side, but it just doesn't do what it was meant to do - pass the rope
through the waist harness so when we were pulled up, we would be sitting up,
and not held by our feet, upside down. But karma is my friend.
So I
after a few tries, I just gave up, and stayed there, looking at the river,
while gravity made all the blood in my body go to my head. And like a piece of
meat at the butcher's or a fish taken from the water, I was pulled the 138m
back to the base. When I got there, vulnerable as I was, the workers even
pretended they would let me go again. I was hanging there, upside down, and
they kept swinging me out of the base.
Well…But
at least I didn't lose my shoe like the other lady in our group did. Going
home barefooted… Yep… Not funny at all…
