After yesterday booking a bungy jump, I was surprisingly relaxed this morning as I dismissed my first two alarms and woke up as late as possible. I had booked an early slot to jump, the theory being just wake and jump. After a dreadful shower due to the fact it was blocked up with hair I ended up having noodles for breakfast which was another one of my microwave meals which left not one bit of washing up. It was then off out ready to check in for my bungy after spending the remainder of my morning using the WiFi I paid for.
Despite being told to check in at 8.50, arriving early, I was told my shuttle bus did not leave until 9.20. This meant I had some time to kill although I think they were just using this time so we could think about what we were doing! Apart from the shop selling all sorts of merchandise, there was a display which showed the different bungees used depending on weight. The heavier you are, the more elastic cords you get. There were also these bean bags to relax on which I did for a while, watching videos of the various things they offer. I am doing the Nevis bungy.
Perhaps the most tense part of the day was the actual drive to the bungy. Driving out of Queenstown the way I came in once again, we went passed the Kawarau Bridge site which is the birthplace of bungy, the first commercial bungy site in the world. At 43m high, it is just a fraction of the 134m I was doing today. Continuing along the road we soon turned off along this gravel track which was a private road. This soon started to rise and we eventually reached this canyon where we got a glimpse of the swing next door, and our first idea of the sheer height of the canyon we were about to jump into!
With just 3 of us jumping this morning there was a quick safety briefing before we were all harnessed up ready to be transported over to the jump pod. Getting the launch pad was no easy journey as we had to board this wobbly little cart thing on a wire to get transported into the middle of the canyon to this launch pad. You could literally see below. When reaching the small booth supported with wires in the middle, we were told the jumping order where I was last up. The pod had a glass bottom floor in places so you could see down just make things more tense.
It wasn't long before the other two had jumped, even missing the first guys whole jump whilst talking to one of the instructors who was a West Brom fan. The reason being was the fact I had attached my Southampton scarf to the back of my harness for effect. They told me to hold it originally! I then had to sit in this chair where I got my ankles attached together with a karabiner and then this weight attached beneath my legs to the bungy cord. They then dropped the cord which signalled it was time to jump.
It was very daunting standing on the edge because it was a long way up, although I went on their countdown, even if I did fall off instead of jump off like they recommended. When you're on the edge there with nothing other than a rope dangling below you turn to jelly! The actual bungy was an amazing thrill and with 8.5 seconds of freefall the feeling was amazing, even if I was rapidly hurtling towards the ground. Before going down I was instructed to pull a cord on my third bounce to detach my feet which would put me in an upright position. I accidentally pulled it on my first bounce which kind of shocked me a bit but considering only 50% of people ever successfully detach themselves I felt good!
After the bungy stopped and I was hanging upright in the canyon, which would have been upside down without pulling the cord, I was pulled back up to the jump pod. The feeling was amazing when finally getting back and I was so glad I did it. I know I would have regretted not doing it, mainly because Queenstown is the home of bungy but also because I had kept thinking about before. The Nevis is the 3rd highest commercial bungy in the world behind South Africa which is dodgy, so I did pretty well!
After getting transported back to proper land by the cable car thing I got to look at the photos and video, the video surprisingly being better. After purchasing these things we hung around at the centre waiting for our lift back to Queenstown. It was nice to watch people on the bungy from the viewing platform after doing it, as well as people on the swing. It wasn't until gone 12 when I got back to Queenstown where when returning I just relaxed in the hostel for a while looking at my photos and thinking about another thing ticked off my imaginary to do list.
Come afternoon I went out into town to look round the gift shops amongst other places for postcards and things. I also took a long overdue visit to the worldwide sweet shop, described as a top 10 thing to do in Queenstown by my base guide. With every sweet you could imagine, it was interesting seeing the British section with things like Wispa and Yorkie bars included, which to be fair I haven't seen until now! When returning to the hostel I happened to fall asleep for some reason, probably because of my late night and early morning catching up with me.
When waking up again it was dark outside, although I liked the reaction to my bungy jump as people were also waking up back home! I soon headed out for dinner at this point which this evening was a venison and Portobello mushroom pie with chips from the fergbaker next door to the fergburger. It was really nice and when returning to the hostel to spend the evening on skype and everything. When finally running out of WiFi I went out for a bit, although the rain eventually put me off and I headed back to the hostel for bed, although I couldn't sleep probably because I fell asleep in the day!
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