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Published: August 31st 2007
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Hello All
Welcome to my adrenaline page! I know it has been forever since I have written a blog and I should really be filling you in on my life for the past 6 months....and I will I promise...just thought I should close this chapter first! To be honest I thought I had already published this entry...ooops!
So I decided that January was my month of adrenaline....or at least it was the start of my adrenalinejunkiness! I am actually wishing that I could have gone skydiving as well but the money situation didn't’t quite allow for it. Oh well another time! This was a good way to start out the New Year!
First of all I decided that it would be a good idea to go bungee jumping. The thing is that there really is no point in doing it at all unless you are going to do the biggest! So myself and a couple of the other volunteers from Kwantu set out to Tsitsikamma to bungee 216M. It was great! The vibe before hand was awesome because they had a DJ so we pretty much just danced around and got ourselves all psyched up.
Standing on the edge was massively
scary though! It goes against everything in your entire body to step off a ledge into nothing with only a freaking elastic tied to your feet! That being said once I actually managed to step off it was pretty amazing. I do believe though that the first thought that went through my head as I was falling was *@#$% what the hell have I done! The rest was cool though! It was so silent and so beautiful! I just remember looking out on this amazing view with only the sound of the wind rushing past my ears……Very cool!
ADRENALINE RUSH # 2
Okay adrenaline rush number two. I decided reluctantly …….very reluctantly to go white water rafting on the Zambezi river in Zambia. This happens to be one of the top five rivers in the world to raft and I decided that for my first time it would be PERFECT! It is a category five river and the scale only goes up to a six which by the way does not actually exist…… once again go big or go home!
So off I went with all the girls from our overland tour. There were six of us girls and then
a guy Regan who had joined the tour the day before. The day started with the safety talk and a nice indemnity form that was about as scary as they all are! I inquired as to whether I would need a change of clothes and somehow in true Shona fashion ended up making some off handed comment about rafting naked. Yah that one followed me for the rest of my time in Livingstone. Especially seeing as the guides hung out at the hostel we were staying at.
Okay back to the rafting part. I would also like to add that I am a touch afraid of water. Okay so the first rapid we did was called midnight diner which happened to be a category %five rapid. Yah……….. We flipped, apparently it looked like the add because we were all thrown from the boat in different directions. Unfortunately they missed getting photos of this flip because we were a bit farther down the rapid by then.
So this was all good except for the fact that they neglected to tell us that the next rapid was a category six called commercial suicide. I am sure you can guess from the name
that this one is one they can’t take people through! So there we all were just chillin…. Floating down the river like we were told to do. I was picked up by one of the guys in the kayak and told to wrap my legs around the boat. Well at some point I let go and was promptly screamed at to wrap them around again. Two of the Ausie girls that were with us were also floating calmly down the river until they were shouted at to swim quickly to the side by a guy who looked so panicked that they thought is eyes might pop out of his head! Then they saw the rapid they were about to go through and swam as hard as they could because it was like an enormous washing machine!
Okay so we were all fine and we watched as some of the guys went through the side of the rapid with our mouths wide open! Than we were off again all saying that we really didn't’t want to flip again! Yah………….. That didn't’t work because we did flip again. The second flip was the one that made me never want to do this
again!
There was a series of four rapids all in a row and we happened to flip in the first one. I popped up and couldn't’t breathe and all I could see was the next wave coming for me and no boat. On my way up I could feel another life jacket but I didn't’t want to pull someone else down so I let go. At some point I felt someone grab me from behind and then I heard….. (I think it was for the second time but I am not sure because I was really out of it) SHONA GRAB ON TO THE $%#@^& BOAT!!! I remember looking at her and still not really grasping what she was saying but she ended up hauling me to towards the boat and practically placed my hands on it.....Thanks Stacey!!!!! So there we all are...holding on for dear life....the guide was having a hard time getting the boat flipped over and was thrown off a couple of times before he did finally get it done. We all managed to get back into the boat but by this time it was pretty much over. Either way it was nice to be back in
the boat!!! We had all lost our paddles so we just floated for a bit until the kayakers could round some of them up. I have to say that EVERYTHING hurt...My head felt like it might explode from the pressure of all the water shoved up it and the rest of me was just one big dull ache!
We did manage to make it through the rest of the rapids without flipping again which was good because by this point we were pretty over it! The best was stepping onto dry land at the end and the laughs we got out of it over the next few days! Something about making it through something when you thought you might die really makes you appreciate the funny side of the whole experience! I will forever have this experience with these girls and I am so glad I could share it with such a great group of people! I am sorry I don't have any footage of this as of yet but the video is in a funny format so I am still trying to get it decoded....will come soon I hope though!
ADRENALINE RUSH # 3
Ah the gorge swing....this
one is kind of like a bungee but the rope isn't stretchy and you swing instead of bouncing around! So this was a 56 meter free fall and then a swing across a gorge at a fantastically speedy pace! If you watch the video you will See! his was one of my favorite things that I have done. It's less scary than the bungee (MUCH less scary than rafting!!) but it has some of the same qualities. I also may have enjoyed this one bit more as well because I had done the bungee already so was maybe a bit more prepared. The first jump was great but the second was my favorite by far. I was able to do a tandem jump with Lukxmi which just made the experience so much richer because we could do it together...plus we fell way faster!!!!
So they strap you in stand you on a ledge and all you have to do is step off....no jumping required. Would do it again in a heartbeat....Although the next time I wouldn't't mind doing the one in Zimbabwe. That one is a 73 meter free fall and your allowed to do it from a handstand position
so you are falling face first!
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Cary
non-member comment
Wow!!
I like reading about it, and seeing your pictures, so now I don't have to do it, haha. I can just live vicariously through you. So amazing Shona, you are really living it up, as if going to Africa alone weren't enough. Keep it up, you look fantastic, you are glowing in every picture. Lots of love, Cary