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Published: November 8th 2008
Today was an adventure packed day! We decided that we wanted to do something active today, since the weather took a turn for the better. It was such a beautiful, sunny and warm day today!
We started off our day with driving over to the sight of the very first Bungy jump.. the Kawarau Bridge. The bridge is 43 meters high.. that's 134 feet. We watched a couple of people as they jumped off the bridge. Most people looked like beginners and many of them were tentative.. as we were. After seeing a couple of people and deciding that our camera worked.. we somehow decided that one of us would go at a time so the other person could photograph. Well guess who went first... ME! I don't know how that happened. As I walked over to the bridge.. my heart was pounding so fast! There were a couple of people ahead of me. I talked to a couple of them and they were nervous as well. It was finally my turn. I felt a little better about it because the 12 year old boy behind me said it was a blast! Ok so if a kid can do it..
Somala jumps!
I can't believe I did it.so can I.. right?
They tied me up and I stepped up to the plank. The guy started to count down.. 3...2...1... my feet didn't move! LOL I was so not ready! Ok that was a practice one.. so he calmly told me (in his cool kiwi accent) that the scariest part of the jump is standing up on the platform and once I jump it won't be scary anymore. Keeping in mind that the fall was only going to be about 5 seconds... I gathered up my courage. The guy counted again.. 3..2..1... and I jumped! It was the most amazing feeling! I was head first going towards a beautiful river! The rush was just amazing!
Jeff did a much better job than I did. He didn't seem scared at all! He just jumped right away and I got many good pictures of him!
Wait.. we are not done yet. That was just the first half of our day! Our next adventure is hang gliding! They drove us up to a peak.. I think it was Coronet Peak.. I'll have to look it up later. Anyways it was about 2000 feet up. They strapped us in and gave us a very quick overview of what to do. Basically.. run, hold on to the instructor. My instructor was from Argentina named Gerardo. Gerardo strapped me onto the glider and said ok we are going to run down this hill together.. ready? I said no at first, then we chuckled and went on our way. But really, I wasn't ready! Too late.. next thing I knew we were running down a steep hill together. I was holding on to dear life.. but my feet were no longer touching the ground. Gerardo and the glider were pretty much in control and then I felt the feeling of weightless flight. We were flying! Next to a huge cliff! lol.. ok so don't imagine the cliff. The view was spectacular! The feeling of flying was awesome. It was more like gliding.. floating through the sky. We flew around for about 15-20 minutes and he snapped pictures of us. After a while.. he said "so.. would you like to do some tricks?" TRICKS! I was thinking.. What kind of tricks! but my mouth said "ok". "So, tricks are good?" He said. I said yes.. He then took control of the glider and the next thing I knew we were plummeting straight down to the ground! OMG it was soooo cooooool! He did that a couple of times and then sudddenly.. the ground was right there! He glided onto the ground with a smooth landing! OMG it was just unbelievable. I have pictures and video of it =)
So that was our day today.
Tomorrow we hope to drive to Dunedin and check out the penguins.
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Dana
non-member comment
When I grow up . . .
I want to be just like Somala!!! =D Fearless. Well, fearful but willing to overcome it, which I believe is the definition of courage. My stomach started tensing up just reading about your adventures. Hang-gliding I'd definitely try. Bungy, not so sure.