Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Wednesday 15th May
I woke up after a bad nights sleep. I'm not sure if it was because of the thought of doing a bungee the following day, the disappointment from the previous day or the mountain of food I ate that day but I tossed and dreamt all night and woke up continuously. My alarm went off far to early, my aim for an early night writing my dairy failed and I was sleepy when I woke. I got up, showered and dressed. I tried packing my bag as quietly as possibly and turned on a side night, but I think I was quite noisy, as a few were up or stirred as I packed. I was going for a walk with Jenny in the morning, as I wanted to do something as we weren't leaving until 11am and after eating so much crap I thought a walk was the least I could do. Plus the distraction from the afternoon activity would be welcome. I met Jen at 8am and we headed off. It was a nice fresh, crisp morning. We walked out of the town toward Mount Iron. We asked a jogger where the track started and we were not far off. We climbed over the sty and we were off on the track. It was 1 hour 30min to do the loop (according to the signs), so we would easily be back at the hostel by 10am. The walk was good, up to the summit it was a steep good climb. We stopped often to take photos of the beautiful surrounding and the town, which looked much larger as we climbed and saw the whole picture. The track was busy, mainly with dog walkers. It was a perfect morning weather wise and it was a lovely walk and the steepness made me feel like it was doing good. On the accent we chatted one and off, between climbing and taking photos. After 45mins we had reached the summit. We read the information signs and took some photos before continuing the loop down. We chatted much more on the way down. Jen was so easy to chat to and get on with. We made our way back down the track as the morning continue to break. It wasn't long before we were back at the start walking towards town. It had been a lovely walk in the morning.
On the way back to the hostel I called in to the supermarket and got some tape and string for my camera for the bungy, as I was going to tie the camera around my wrist. I also somehow manage to buy some chocolate. Everyone had been eating large bars of chocolate and said it was good, so I decided it needed to be tried.
We got back to the hostel around 10am. Sarah had kindly put my bags into the storage as we were not leaving until 11am. I checked the room one last time and then we relaxed in the reception until 11am and departure.
We got into the bus and waited for a few newbies to join. The people to join happened to be Erin, Lisa and the 2 Dutch girls from our original bus. It was so nice to see them.
We headed out of Wanaka and headed to Queenstown. We made a stop off at Jones Fruit Stall about 30mins drive. It was a good little shop with plenty of fruit and veg, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate and nugget. There was also a tasting section. I got myself some kiwis (I wanted to try the golden ones), a funny looking pear, some salted peanuts, and some chocolate and sweets. Martin brought a massive bag of apples, it would take him a long time to eat. Back on the bus, there was an air of nervous excitement as our next stop was AJ Hackett. As we drove we entered the canyon, the rocks had turned to a sandy colour and there were high cliffs and drops as we weaved along the river. We passed where the old gold mines were and where you could still go gold panning.
Soon we arrived at AJ Hackett. I was nervous, but exciting and confident about the jump. As we drove in we all jumped off, even those not jumping and watched some promo videos, one about the history of the bungy and one about the different jumps and swings. Now I was nervous and scared. I had to do my jump today, but I was so happy that others were wanting to jump today, as I didn't want to be a loner and jump on my own. I paid my money and checked in (this included weighing and that really scared me). We then had a 40min wait until the bus took us to the Nevis jump (as it was about 30mins back in the canyon). I changed my top, as I was still in my walking top and text my dad letting him know what was going on. Only my dad and Oli knew I was jumping. At the centre we watched people jump off the bridge there, it didn't look to bad as people seemed to be jumping without to much worry, but then again that was 40m, ours was 134m.
We waited outside for the bus to arrive, everyone not knowing what to expect but joking around as a distraction. The Stray bus had left, as the others were continuing to Queenstown.
We jumped onto the bus and headed to the Nevis. We went off the road up a small windy dirt track. I still didn't really know how to feel, I was feeling confident but I knew I wasn't. We arrived at the centre and we could start to see the height that we would be jumping. My confidence was fading quickly. When we got there we put our stuff in lockers and got harnessed up. We had to weigh again and have it written on our hands.
From here we walked out the centre. I was third out after Falk and a random. We were then ushered into a little cable car which would take us to the platform. I wanted to wait for the others, but after Lisa had joined us we started to head over. This is when the nervous kicked in, going over the canyon and seeing just how high we were. I started to feel sick and that I could do this. It was a slow progress getting to the platform. Everyone else seemed calm. I couldn't look down. As we got there we were unclipped and we entered the platform just dangling over the canyon. We sat down and they attached strips to our legs. Then before I knew it the first jumper was up, it was the random man. We went through a gate and started to get strapped up. I sat there wondering what I was doing. I checked with the man the process about releasing our legs, after the second time of bouncing we had to release our legs which would release them, so we could be pulled up with our feet pointing down, but I had a feeling I would struggle with this. It seemed like no time the first man was done and Falk was being strapped up. I wasn't watching them jump or through the glass bottom as this wouldn't help me. After Falk jumped I was up. I was glad I went then, the others were only just coming across on the cable car and in hindsight if I didn't go then I would have had a long wait and this would have made me more nervous. My name was called and I went through the gate and onto the chair, the man strapped my leg together, it didn't feel as tight around the ankles as I had imagined. Falk had just been pulled up. I had to smile for the camera. I was then told to walk to the edge and that's when it hit me....WHY??? I had a glance down as I waddled to the edge, I had a feeling I couldn't go through with it as I put my toes over the edge and they dropped the line down. I then looked up in front of me not wanting to look down. Another smile for a camera. And then I don't know what happened but I jumped. When I was falling the only thing I can remember was thinking that I didn't like the feeling. I also grabbed my harness when falling. I then felt the bungy jump up and I knew I was at the bottom and making my way back up. There was the strange sensation of not knowing if I was falling or going back up, almost like your stationary yet moving at the same time. When I hit the bottom the jerk, although it wasn't a hard jerk it snapped me out of my panic and it was a strange feeling. I was thinking about when to release my legs. When coming up for the second time I tried releasing my legs but I couldn't release them. I then tried again on my third way down but again I failed. Then I gave up trying to release my legs and I was started to be raised back up the the ledge feet first. This was the first time I realised the I had done it, I had actually jumped. It was scary coming up feet first, but I suddenly realised my surroundings. I starting spinning near the top which I didn't like and once I was finally at the top I thought the man would grab me, but no he down me round before I could grab him and be realised. Once free from the bungy it was a ate she feeling, blood was pumping, adrenaline racing and my body wouldn't stop shaking, but I had this feeling of accomplishment. As soon as I was jump the next person jumped. When I was back up people were excited and happy for you cause they have jumped. I put my necklace back on, grabbed my camera and watched others become prepared and jumping. Most people seemed fearless when jumping. Sarah struggled with her jump, she freaked out majorly and I was worried when she started crying that she wouldn't be able to jump, but with encouragement she managed it with a hell of a scream on the way down. It made me think, I DIY think I screamed when I jumped, I don't think I made any noise.
Slowly our group were jumping and with a couple of people left I had to get the cable car back over to the centre. The trip seemed a lot shorted than the way there with l my nerves vanished. I was still shaken. We watched the last few jump from the close edge of the centre. I was glad to see at least one other person failed to release their legs too.
Once back we were de-harnessed and we were able to view our photos and videos. It took me a while to decide what to get, but I got my photos and video digitally, therefor I couldn't lose them and my parents should see them too, the. I decided to get the photos printed too as I liked the packet. All in all $100 was a lot to spend on photos but it was only $20 over my original budget for the jump, as the Stray bus saved $40.
Once I had ordered them and collected my bag, we were then given our certificates and tshirts for doing the jump. There was only a short wait until my prints and digital card was ready. There were a few Apple Mac computers in the centre, so I jumped on one and checked my emails and Facebook. We were here for about another 20mins before the bus was leaving to take us back into Queenstown.
The bus had a great atmosphere on the bus. It took about 40mins to get back to the city centre and we were dropped off about 5pm at their centre. Lisa went in as she wanted a jumper. It was only a 5min walk to the hostel where our bags were put and I decided to stay at Base as I was only there one night and it would be easy to get the bus from there. I checked in and took my bags to my room. At that point I only had Lenka in my room. Jen then decided she would stay the evening there too. Sarah came and jumped her bags in our room whilst she waited for her friends to pick her up.
We decided around 5.30pm to go get our Ferg Burger. Emilie (Del's granddaughter) had recommend it to be and I had been going on and on about it for the a good few days, so I was very excited. It was just opposite our hostel and Erin, Lisa and the Dutch girls were already in there. There was so many burgers to choose from, but all three of us decided to go for the 'Big Al' (the guy in the hostel recommended going for the biggest). And I ordered some chips too. It only took a out 10mins for them to be cooked. We took them back to the hostel as there wasn't a huge eating area in the restaurant, and I'm glad we did, as they proved to be very messy. The burgers were huge (ours was a double burger, 2 eggs with everything inside). We sat down in the hostel and as soon as we did Sarah's phone rang as her friends were there so she didn't t get to eat with us. Well what a mission to eat it, it was very messy and practically too large to eat. Jen cheated and got knife, fork and plate and didn't manage it all. I preserved with my hands and was determined to eat it all. It was one of the best burgers I'd tasted, although I'm not sure if I thought that because I had been waiting for it for so long. The last couple of mouthfuls were so painful but I finished. It was painful to stand after, so I collapsed onto my bed for a good few hours. The plan wasn't to met at the bar until 9pm and it was only just before 7pm. The hostel gave us free wifi for a day, so I read some emails and sent a few messages. I laid down for a while, nearly feel a sleep and chatted to the others before forcing myself to get ready (change into jeans) before heading out.
Just after 9pm, Jen and I headed to the bar for base. A few were already there from our bus and Pinky marked our hand with a link cross so we could get cheap drinks. All those who hadn't done their jump today asked all about it, the others were doing it on Friday. Slowly but surely more and more people arrived, and various Stray buses were there. Trish was there and it appeared we would be on the same bus leaving tomorrow. I had a couple of drinks as the evening progressed and the bar got busier and busier. Some people were knocking back the drinks quickly and there was a great atmosphere. The bar man then provided us with some shots (very sweet and I doubt not that alcoholic). Slowly a few people moved onto few bars and eventually around 12 midnight so did we. We moved onto Buffaloes, most people were quite drunk now and were in full flow dancing (including on the bar). Around 1.30pm I headed home, I wasn't feeling drinking anymore and I felt sleepy, plus I had arranged to Skype the parents at 5am. So I headed for my bed. I had some messages and emails when I got back. As soon as I was changed and my head was on the pillow, I was gone.
- comments