This was one of the most intense and exciting days of my life. You can do the three main bungy jumps in Queenstown together in one package (called the Thrillogy). All three separately would cost $480 but the three together costs $300. I'd been looking forward to (and also dreading) this for a long time.
The first bungy is off the Kawarua Bridge over the river. My Lord Of The Rings photos of Anduin and The Pillar of Kings were taken from here two days before hand. The jump is 43m high and you can be dunked in the river if you want. This is the world's first public bungy jump.
Beforehand I wasn't too nervous; not until they put all the gear on me - then the fear kicks in. You're standing up there looking down thinking, "Hang on a minute, you want me jump off here!? Are you crazy? This is a perfectly good bridge!". Because you're tied up at the bottom of your legs you have to tip toe right out to the edge, with your toes hanging out. You wave to the cameras, they count 3,2,1... and then you jump.
On the way down I just yelled "SHIIIIIIT!!!". The first second was pretty scary because you just think "Oh fuck what have I just done", but after that it's awesome. You only freefall for a couple of seconds. I asked them to adjust it so my head got dunked in the water, but I jumped out too far (instead of straight down) so I missed the water by a foot. As I bounced back up I was spinning around so much. I could just see river, cliff, sky, river, cliff, sky.
It's all over so quickly and you get an amazing adrenaline rush. After the second or third bounce I was lowered into the boat and unstrapped.
Next up was Nevis. This is the highest bungy in Australasia - 134 metres!! You jump out of cable car down a canyon and freefall for 8 seconds! Now have a think about how long that is for a moment, count those seconds in your head. You jump and its 1...2...you're falling...3...4...still falling...5...6...7...still falling...8, then you start coming back up.
Needless to say were all terrified before jumping. I'm sure I've ever been so nervous or scared in my life. Quite a few people went before me and part of the cable car has a glass floor so you can see them fall down the canyon. The river on the canyon floor looks a LONG way down, but not until you see someone jump and turn into a tiny spec on the end of the bungy rope do you really start to soil yourself.
As everyone came back up they all said it was amazing, but that didn't help calm my nerves. I just wanted to do it, and get my go out the way - but when they called my name I was like "Oh shit, I've actually gotta do this!". They sat me in a chair and strapped me up and then once again I tip toed out to the edge.
They counted 3,2,1 and I jumped. The first second was terrifying and I yelled "OH FUUUUCK!", as you brain realises you've just jumped out the cable car into this canyon. This feeling of terror immediately changes to euphoria. After the first second, the next seven seconds were AMAZING! I tucked my left arm in and put my right arm forward, doing a Superman pose, as I soared through the air with the wind gushing past my face.
You end up only a few metres above the river, which looks like a small stream from the top. You're attached by the legs and waste on this one, and after the second bounce up you pull a strap that makes you sit up right instead of dangling upside down. As they attach a rope to the bungy to drag you back up there's a jolt and you think you're going to fall. Even though I knew I was perfectly safe I still grabbed onto the rope for dear life. Right at the top before they brought me in there was another jolt which scares the shit out of you.
Afterwards we were all really glad to be back on ground and were on a high from the major adrenaline rush. It was such an amazing feeling doing the bungy, especially once you get past the build up and the first second when you jump.
The last bungy of the day was The Ledge. The Ledge is at the top of the cable car, 400m above Queenstown, and is simply a ledge sticking out from the mountain over the valley. The jump is only 47 metres though.
I went up there with Mike who was on the Kiwi bus and was doing all 3 that day as well. It was night time so were going to be jumping over the city lights. We thought it was going to be a piece of cake because its like a third of the height of Nevis and also you're attached by the waste, not the legs, so you can run and jump.
There was no waiting around. We got up there, got strapped up and were ready to go. You can do flips and stuff if you want, but I just wanted to do a big Mission: Impossible style run and huge jump as if you're still running through the air.
They counted 3,2,1, I ran and jumped out. It was only then I realised the major difference with this one. When you're attached by the legs, even though you're free falling you subconsciously know that you're tied to something. Also, your stomach doesn't go shooting up. When attached by the waste you don't feel like you're tied to anything. So I did my big run and jump and had that split second realisation in the air and just went "Oh, fuck!" and began to fall over Queenstown towards the trees on the steep mountainside.
My stomach practically went out my mouth and it reminded me of bad dream or something, because it literally felt like I had just run and jumped off a cliff to my death. It was great fun nonetheless. After the first bounce up the bungy actually swung me right out from the mountain as if I was about to be flung out over Queenstown, which was really cool.
Afterwards I got the videos of my jumps burnt on to DVD and my photos printed to show off to everyone. Back down in Queenstown I enjoyed a well deserved beer and Fergberger. It was such an amazing day, it was unreal. I was still buzzing off the adrenaline from the three jumps well into the evening. When I watched the DVD the next morning I wasn't quite sure how I actually did it all. Nerves of steel I guess *cough*.
