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Published: December 31st 2006
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All harnessed in!
The before picture Ok the first thing everyone needs to do is click on the video icon and watch the clip. The quality isn't great and I'm sorry that the picture isn't vertical, but it's a necessary intro to this blog entry.
Ok Mom and Dad, now that you are flipping out I want you to keep in mind that I am obviously alive and well as I write this. There's a reason you're finding out about this while I'm still on the other side of the world.
Yesterday I decided New Zealand has been a little too tame and that I needed to pick things up a bit. We had a long boring day on the bus and everyone (including myself) was really mellow and sleepy. Our last stop before arriving in Queenstown was at the home of bungy jumping. The AJ Hackett bungy site is the world's first bungy jumping site 43m over the Kawarau River. I wasn't planning on bungy jumping at all, ever, but I guess it's best to do these things spontaneously. Once I was on site, saw people doing it, and had the safety part explained to me I could feel the adrenaline
running through me and knew there was no turning back, I was going to do it.
I have been hanging around an Irish girl named Kate for the past few days. She's only on a short NZ holiday and was always planning to jump. We decided we both wanted to do it here so we signed up and started pumping each other up. Well actually she was pretty scared because it was something she had been building up for weeks. I think it was a lot easier for me because I was just so excited to be there and randomly doing it that I could put my adrenaline into excitement rather than nervousness. We got harnessed up and then had to wait on the bridge in a long line of people doing it as well. I was so excited, dancing around and watching more and more people take the jump. Finally it was our turn and I was going first. As they tied my feet together and I made sure to tell them to do an extra good job. Even though no one has even been injured at this site and they've received awards for their safety practices, I
still thought these guys do the same thing over and over again all day. When things get monotonous mistakes can be made so I wanted to remind him to think about what he was doing. Then I had to decide if I wanted to touch the water so they could adjust the cord. It was a really cold windy day but I thought, why not. If I'm jumping off a bridge I should at least get a little wet.
Once I was all tied up and harnessed in I realized what I was about to do and had this sick feeling come over me. But no time for that, I was helped to my feet and I had to hobble/hop out onto the platform. I waved at the crowd watching, held my arms in the air and suddenly someone said 3, 2, 1 and I just went for it! It was so much fun! The first part before the cord goes tight, is the best part. My stomach was going bizzerk! Then as I was bouncing my brain came to and I could hear people cheering and see the blue water getting close and far, close and far. It's
all over pretty quickly. Soon the boat was bellow me and they were letting the cord down. I dropped into the boat and laid there stunned for a minute as they untied everything. I came to pretty quickly though and then had a huge surge of energy that made me embarassingly bouncy and full of chatter lasting well into the night. I watched Kate jump and then we ran back to the top together to look at the video's someone had taken with my camera.
Last night we met up with one of her friends and went out to celebrate. Queenstown is a happening place! It’s New Years Eve and I'm apparently in the biggest New Year's party town in New Zealand. All accommodation has been booked for months; it was just pure luck that I got mine through a cancellation. Queenstown feels exactly like Banff. The whole thing is surrounded by snow capped mountains and every store, bar and hotel has a lodge type feel to it. I love it! The town is also full of young people which makes it really fun. Tonight most people will just be going to various bars and then apparently everyone gathers
WE DID IT!!!
The after picture out on the waterfront for midnight fireworks and to continue the party there. Just now out on the street I randomly bumped into the 3 Israeli guys from my Fraser Island trip in Australia. Kate and I will meet up with them later for what is turning out to be a pretty good New Years!
Happy New Years everyone! Talk to you next year 😊
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Kevin
non-member comment
Happy New Year!
Heather... you've definitely got more guts than I do! I'm amazed you did the bungy jumping... but good for you. The video was awsome. I'm glad to hear you are having a good holiday over there. BBQ at christmas? I guess a few people could have been doing that over here too. Have a great New Year, and many more adventures. All the best. Kevin