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Published: August 8th 2007
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Hung over once again after just one turned into a big mess of an evening, I managed to crawl out of bed for Hang gliding. It was however the sheer cold dread I was feeling for my bungee that I was due to do later that day that made me forget my hangover pain.
At the Hang Gliding office all four of us caught a van that drove us up to some very huge cliffs where Liz and Sarah were doing paragliding and Mickey and I had chosen to do Hang gliding. I was first - I changed in to my comedy umpa lumpa suit as Liz and Sarah changed into their giant snail like costumes. What topped it off this crazy pantomime of silly costumes was when my Hang gliding instructor put on a what can only be described as a caterpillar suit. Things then got rapidly less funny as I was instructed where I should and shouldn't put my hands and which parts of the bar I definitely should never touch and the final scare being that the take off is all in the run an if I don't do a good run then things could get
messy.
Well we were finally ready to go, 1, 2. 3 ….I gave the run of my life, Linford Christie couldn't have done better, however before I knew it the ground had disappeared and were gliding and it wasn't scary at all. The instructor gave me the glider to control for a bit which was cool and before I knew it we were hurtling towards the ground at an alarming rate, before levelling out and coming in for smooth landing. I gave my instructor a huge hug and then waited for the others to all get down. Soon as we got back to the hostel the others went on their wine tour leaving me to do my bungee with out any moral support, I just hoped that Philip, one of my mates from the bus actually remembered to turn up having promised the eve before. I psyched my self up by playing Madonnas 'Jump' on the way to the gondola but I still felt like my body was jelly. To my relief I spied Philip waiting by the Gondola and I have rarely been so pleased to see some one. We got in a car with another guy
who then decided he would come and watch too- no pressure eh? And we all made our way to the jump station.
Now I seemed to be the only one who was signed up to do the combo, the ledge swing and the ledge Bungee, after waiting about in the box watching people jump- which really didn't help in the slightest- I was called. With my weight written on my hand I proceeded on my heart stopping walk over to the jump station. Here I received a bit of Kudos from the guys for doing the combo and then I asked if I could do the swing first as I'd done one of these before so kind of knew what to expect- Well this one was completely different, after being harnessed up they lowered me down a safety rope here I had to unhook my own safety and when I felt ready i was to pull on a rip cord that released me. In reality I tried not to think about it and as soon as I could I yanked that rip cord and fell through the air for I don't know how long. As soon as the
rope became tort and my heart started beating again I let out a huge scream which felt amazing and then I just enjoyed the swing.
When I looked up I was so pleased to see Robbie, in tow with the other guys from the bus, but it did put a little more pressure on for the following bungee. As they winched me up on to the bungee platform I had to sit and watch three other guys jump. One caused much hilarity for the guys working there: I must explain here that with this bungee you are harnessed round the waist so you have your legs free to run and jump. The guy in question ran and instead of leaping off he kind of screwed himself up into a little ball and fell off the edge screaming like a girl! Well my time was up and I was pretty much told I had to run and jump. I cannot explain the spine tingling fear I was feeling yet from no where I went to the back of the platform, ran and managed a kind of star jump. I cannot explain the free fall thing, only people who have
done it will know what it takes to jump off a perfectly good platform and hurtle towards the floor with your heart literally between your teeth and again, only someone who has done it can explain the pure rush and exhilaration you feel after- it is a drug for sure.
Later that day we headed into Queens Town to celebrate Mickey's birthday in the minus 5 bar and with a bottle of Champagne. We ate dinner at Ferg Burger the absolute best burger in the world; you have to try a Ferg Burger if you go to Queens Town. Later we met up with Philip and Robbie and the guys for much drinking and celebrating of a bloody excellent day.
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Dazza G
non-member comment
Cool pics!
Love these pics on here, hun! Bloody amazing, as you might say!!! ;o)