midnight pumpkin - it's all just a dream

It's a good day to die!

The Ledge - imagine running and jumping off this this
The Nervous Nevis Highwire - see that little orange dot at the end of the rope, that is a 143m (442ft) drop, imagine looking down before jumping
The Kawarau Bridge "The Original"

It's a good day to die! Today, I didn't do one, not two, but three of AJ Hackett's bungee jumps. The Thrillogy baby! All in one day. A bit of history, AJ Hackett is the nutcase that commercialized bungee jumping. In 1986, he leaped off of the Eiffel Tower in a publicity stunt to advertise the first ever bungee jump in the world, the Kawarau Bridge also known as "The Original" in Queenstown.

To pay tribute to history, I had to start the morning off with a refreshing dunk into Shotover River from "The Original". At 43m (142ft) high, the Kawarau Bridge is what most bungee jumps in the world are designed after. A nice little adrenaline rush, it was good to get wet and pull a skater pose during my jump.

After drying off, without any time to relax, I was off on a bus to the big one. The Nervous Nevis Highwire, the tallest commercial bungee jump in the southern hemisphere and the second tallest in the world. The Nevis Highwire is a 134m (442ft) long bungee jump from a gondola dangling over Nevis Canyon. One of the last to jump, acoustically this is how all the jumpers before me sounded, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhh” (jumper stops screaming to take a breath) “Ahhhhhhhhhhhh” (then finally the end of the rope and a bounce). Advised not to look down by the staff before jumping, I did anyway because I don't listen. Then it was 3-2-1 jump. I plummeted towards the earth below for a couple of seconds before I have the chance to think, “Oh shit!” After which I continued to plummet towards me seemingly imminent doom for another five or six seconds, before a wicked bounce and another big fall. An unbelievable adrenaline rush, the jump was an amazing blast. I can’t believe I paid to do this, and by that I mean so little. It was so much fun, I was shaking for several hours afterwards during lunch.

But with no time to rest, immediately after lunch I was on another gondola ride up a steep hill to my last jump, the Ledge. Now you wouldn’t think a mere 47m (155ft) bungee jump would be any fun after the big one, but the design of the Ledge made it a beauty. Built on a steep hillside above the city of Queenstown, the design created the illusion of a 400m fall. Plus, there was the benefit of being able to run and jump, making the ledge both awesome and scary as hell. What a fun day. Amazing!

posted by Jim Chea @ 10:35 PM