Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Friday, August 14, 2009
And then I decided to jump off a bridge...
The Legend of Bungy Jumping:
'Land-diving' on Pentecost Island originated hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago. Local legend has it that a woman who was repeatedly abused and mistreated by her husband Tamalie ran away from him, only to be caught time and time again, punished, then given more of the same treatment.
She finally climbed up one of the tallest banyan trees to escape from her husband's abuse, he following hard on her heels. When she reached the top she dared him to join her, mocking his cowardice. She then jumped out of the tree, having been smart enough to tie vines to her ankles beforehand. Tamalie, taunted by his wife's accusations of cowardice and not noticing the vines around her ankles, was astonished to see her land on her feet and threw himself after her - succeeding only in falling to his death.
The event was subsequently reconstructed annually, initially only including the village woman. Shortly after, the men took over in order to address their historical shaming and to prove their courage to the woman, and eventually the jump became the premier annual custom coinciding with the Yam harvest on Pentecost Island.
Our Adventure:
After reading about the legend above in a book about New Zealand, I knew I had to try bungy jumping! And what better place for my first experience than on the first ever commercial bungy jumping site, run by AJ Hackett -- with a track record of 20 years of jumping with NO accidents. :) Henk and I visited the Kawarau Bridge site the day before our jump, to watch a video and watch a few people take the leap. Needless to say, regardless of having skydived not long before, I was scared out of my mind!
The morning Henk and I booked our bungy for, it was raining -- again! >.< New Zealand weather, at least in the winter, gets pretty annoying sometimes with all this rainfall. We decided to try and book our jump for another day, because we weren't sure if we'd get good pictures/DVDs due to all the rain. However, when we got to the pick-up point, we were unable to move our jump date, despite having specifically booked an open-dated ticket for this purpose. Pretty annoying! Not sure where good customer service goes these days, but it wasn't at AJ Hackett when we visited. :)
Nevertheless, despite feeling a bit forced, we got on the bus and made our way to the bungy site at the bridge. First, we had to get weighed to determine the length/girth of our bungy cords. The cords go from super light to heavy, and are supposed to ensure that your back remains stable and the level of whiplash from the bounces back up post-jump is minimal. As we were weighed on the scales, Henk and I both realized we had lost a bit of weight from all of our hiking! To be expected though, I've never done so much walking in my entire life -- and having greasy fish 'n chips and burgers still doesn't keep the weight on much! Not that we mind much! :)
With our weight written on our hands, we were given cards for our jump and sent outside to the bridge right away. There was really no time to doubt what we were doing -- it was pretty much gonna happen, no backing out at that point! We were each fitted with a harness that went under our legs and around our waists, and had a long cord attached to it so we could get hooked onto the bungy itself. Standing in line was absolute torture... it was freezing cold and raining. I couldn't even feel my hands anymore! At that point, the cold was more of a concern to me than the fact that I was minutes away from diving off a bridge. I tried not to look down as I stood on the bridge. We were 141 feet (43 meters) high above a river, which was racing due to the water pouring from the sky, and plenty of rocks and trees below.
The jumps went fast and before I knew it, I was sliding down to the platform to be fitted with the leg harness. Before I was sitting there, I hadn't realized that the leg harnesses were basically two towels wrapped around your lower leg and ankles. I mean sure, they then tied nylon bindings around the towels and through our legs a few times, but I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea that 'magical' towels were supposed to keep me from instant death! I kept sneaking looks down at the water, against my better judgement. We were so high up! o.o OMG! Eeeek... At that point though, I was standing up on the platform itself. I wasn't gonna back out now, no matter how nervous I was! I was gonna jump!!
I never realized how completely different bungy jumping and skydiving are from each other. You would think they provide about the same experience -- I mean, you are throwing yourself from some crazy heights in each case! However, once I saw the site, I felt like bungy would be a far more difficult challenge. First of all, in skydiving, your guide is completely in control... you're basically just along for the ride. Plus, since you are going at such a fast speed and jumping from such a great height, that feeling of 'falling' and 'height' never actually set in.
With bungy, it is just yourself literally on the line! You stand there at the edge of the bridge, and you have to make the decision to fall straight down off it. You know you're attached and safe, but it is still a completely unnatural feeling to will yourself to fall. Of course, you could always ask them to push you. But then you're not conquering many fears that way. :P I put my hands over my head and leaned forward -- there I went straight off the platform! Ahhh! I let out a few choice curse words almost the entire way down! :) You can't really help it!
I rocketed down towards the river, attempting to ignore the sensation of falling that I hate, yet failing... it was so intense, you can't *not* experience everything! Yikes. But after taking the leap, it's not over yet. Since you fall with such great force, the cord yanks you back up towards the platform... and there you are, being yanked up midair, only to then fall yet again back down. It's a bunch of mini-bungy sensations post-large jump. Even though the bungy people told us we'd be fine physically, during the jump and post jump bounces, my back hurt quite a bit. It might be because I didn't sleep right the night before, worried about the jump, but still -- Ouch!
I kept my eyes closed as I was hanging in midair, still pretty high up, waiting for the yellow raft to come closer to me and get me down from the horror. It was quite an experience, but more of a challenge to overcome rather than the most enjoyable one. I grabbed onto the pole my rescuers offered me, and chatted with them while removing my harness in the raft. I felt a slight bit dizzy, perhaps from not having anything to eat yet, and rushed up the pathway to meet Henk. Henk was the last from our group to jump, so we got to watch each other jump from the bridge. He has done this jump before, so he wasn't too nervous until he was standing on the edge of the platform.
His jump was pretty fun to watch! Since losing a bit of weight from the hiking, his clothes have been quite a bit looser on him... therefore, during the jump they didn't want to stay on! His shirt flew up a bit and even his pants started to slide down despite his tightened belt. :D I didn't mind watching that! But he does need new jeans. Donate for new jeans for Henk!! :) We got to look at our pictures and DVDs after his jump on a big screen -- they looked pretty awesome. We purchased them, and got some free T-shirts and laminated jump certificates as well. We earned it!
Make sure to watch our videos. Pretty awesome!
After using some free internet at the AJ Hackett center, Henk and I decided to grab lunch at Fergburger -- this jam-packed burger joint close by. We heard great reviews from our driver, and the line of people out the door only heightened our curiosity. We looked at the menu and decided on the 'Tropical Swine' burger: Prime New Zealand beef, American streaky bacon, edam cheese, pineapple, lettuce, tomato, red onion, aioli & tomato relish. Amazing! We also got fried onion rings to go with our burger, which came with a giant aioli dipping sauce. Quite possibly the BEST BURGER PLACE EVER! (Seriously.)
After filling up, we happened to walk next to the cinema and notice that the new Johnny Depp movie -- Public Enemies -- was playing! We both really wanted to see it, so we went in and got tickets for the next showing. I didn't know much about John Dillinger and his life, but Depp, as always, brings him to life in an amazing way. Go see it if you haven't yet!
After the movie, Henk and I headed back to our awesome hostel (called 'The Black Sheep') and get ready for the next morning's early departure around 6:30 am. Yikes!! After bungy, we needed the sleep for sure.
Ttyl,
Francesca
(Note: Click outside the 'play' button to watch the larger video version on YouTube. Check this post again later, as I will update with photos of our jumps!)
Francesca's Bungy Jump!! WATCH IT!!
Henk's Bungy Jump!! Woo-hoo! :P
'Land-diving' on Pentecost Island originated hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago. Local legend has it that a woman who was repeatedly abused and mistreated by her husband Tamalie ran away from him, only to be caught time and time again, punished, then given more of the same treatment.
She finally climbed up one of the tallest banyan trees to escape from her husband's abuse, he following hard on her heels. When she reached the top she dared him to join her, mocking his cowardice. She then jumped out of the tree, having been smart enough to tie vines to her ankles beforehand. Tamalie, taunted by his wife's accusations of cowardice and not noticing the vines around her ankles, was astonished to see her land on her feet and threw himself after her - succeeding only in falling to his death.
The event was subsequently reconstructed annually, initially only including the village woman. Shortly after, the men took over in order to address their historical shaming and to prove their courage to the woman, and eventually the jump became the premier annual custom coinciding with the Yam harvest on Pentecost Island.
Our Adventure:
After reading about the legend above in a book about New Zealand, I knew I had to try bungy jumping! And what better place for my first experience than on the first ever commercial bungy jumping site, run by AJ Hackett -- with a track record of 20 years of jumping with NO accidents. :) Henk and I visited the Kawarau Bridge site the day before our jump, to watch a video and watch a few people take the leap. Needless to say, regardless of having skydived not long before, I was scared out of my mind!
The morning Henk and I booked our bungy for, it was raining -- again! >.< New Zealand weather, at least in the winter, gets pretty annoying sometimes with all this rainfall. We decided to try and book our jump for another day, because we weren't sure if we'd get good pictures/DVDs due to all the rain. However, when we got to the pick-up point, we were unable to move our jump date, despite having specifically booked an open-dated ticket for this purpose. Pretty annoying! Not sure where good customer service goes these days, but it wasn't at AJ Hackett when we visited. :)
Nevertheless, despite feeling a bit forced, we got on the bus and made our way to the bungy site at the bridge. First, we had to get weighed to determine the length/girth of our bungy cords. The cords go from super light to heavy, and are supposed to ensure that your back remains stable and the level of whiplash from the bounces back up post-jump is minimal. As we were weighed on the scales, Henk and I both realized we had lost a bit of weight from all of our hiking! To be expected though, I've never done so much walking in my entire life -- and having greasy fish 'n chips and burgers still doesn't keep the weight on much! Not that we mind much! :)
With our weight written on our hands, we were given cards for our jump and sent outside to the bridge right away. There was really no time to doubt what we were doing -- it was pretty much gonna happen, no backing out at that point! We were each fitted with a harness that went under our legs and around our waists, and had a long cord attached to it so we could get hooked onto the bungy itself. Standing in line was absolute torture... it was freezing cold and raining. I couldn't even feel my hands anymore! At that point, the cold was more of a concern to me than the fact that I was minutes away from diving off a bridge. I tried not to look down as I stood on the bridge. We were 141 feet (43 meters) high above a river, which was racing due to the water pouring from the sky, and plenty of rocks and trees below.
The jumps went fast and before I knew it, I was sliding down to the platform to be fitted with the leg harness. Before I was sitting there, I hadn't realized that the leg harnesses were basically two towels wrapped around your lower leg and ankles. I mean sure, they then tied nylon bindings around the towels and through our legs a few times, but I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea that 'magical' towels were supposed to keep me from instant death! I kept sneaking looks down at the water, against my better judgement. We were so high up! o.o OMG! Eeeek... At that point though, I was standing up on the platform itself. I wasn't gonna back out now, no matter how nervous I was! I was gonna jump!!
I never realized how completely different bungy jumping and skydiving are from each other. You would think they provide about the same experience -- I mean, you are throwing yourself from some crazy heights in each case! However, once I saw the site, I felt like bungy would be a far more difficult challenge. First of all, in skydiving, your guide is completely in control... you're basically just along for the ride. Plus, since you are going at such a fast speed and jumping from such a great height, that feeling of 'falling' and 'height' never actually set in.
With bungy, it is just yourself literally on the line! You stand there at the edge of the bridge, and you have to make the decision to fall straight down off it. You know you're attached and safe, but it is still a completely unnatural feeling to will yourself to fall. Of course, you could always ask them to push you. But then you're not conquering many fears that way. :P I put my hands over my head and leaned forward -- there I went straight off the platform! Ahhh! I let out a few choice curse words almost the entire way down! :) You can't really help it!
I rocketed down towards the river, attempting to ignore the sensation of falling that I hate, yet failing... it was so intense, you can't *not* experience everything! Yikes. But after taking the leap, it's not over yet. Since you fall with such great force, the cord yanks you back up towards the platform... and there you are, being yanked up midair, only to then fall yet again back down. It's a bunch of mini-bungy sensations post-large jump. Even though the bungy people told us we'd be fine physically, during the jump and post jump bounces, my back hurt quite a bit. It might be because I didn't sleep right the night before, worried about the jump, but still -- Ouch!
I kept my eyes closed as I was hanging in midair, still pretty high up, waiting for the yellow raft to come closer to me and get me down from the horror. It was quite an experience, but more of a challenge to overcome rather than the most enjoyable one. I grabbed onto the pole my rescuers offered me, and chatted with them while removing my harness in the raft. I felt a slight bit dizzy, perhaps from not having anything to eat yet, and rushed up the pathway to meet Henk. Henk was the last from our group to jump, so we got to watch each other jump from the bridge. He has done this jump before, so he wasn't too nervous until he was standing on the edge of the platform.
His jump was pretty fun to watch! Since losing a bit of weight from the hiking, his clothes have been quite a bit looser on him... therefore, during the jump they didn't want to stay on! His shirt flew up a bit and even his pants started to slide down despite his tightened belt. :D I didn't mind watching that! But he does need new jeans. Donate for new jeans for Henk!! :) We got to look at our pictures and DVDs after his jump on a big screen -- they looked pretty awesome. We purchased them, and got some free T-shirts and laminated jump certificates as well. We earned it!
Make sure to watch our videos. Pretty awesome!
After using some free internet at the AJ Hackett center, Henk and I decided to grab lunch at Fergburger -- this jam-packed burger joint close by. We heard great reviews from our driver, and the line of people out the door only heightened our curiosity. We looked at the menu and decided on the 'Tropical Swine' burger: Prime New Zealand beef, American streaky bacon, edam cheese, pineapple, lettuce, tomato, red onion, aioli & tomato relish. Amazing! We also got fried onion rings to go with our burger, which came with a giant aioli dipping sauce. Quite possibly the BEST BURGER PLACE EVER! (Seriously.)
After filling up, we happened to walk next to the cinema and notice that the new Johnny Depp movie -- Public Enemies -- was playing! We both really wanted to see it, so we went in and got tickets for the next showing. I didn't know much about John Dillinger and his life, but Depp, as always, brings him to life in an amazing way. Go see it if you haven't yet!
After the movie, Henk and I headed back to our awesome hostel (called 'The Black Sheep') and get ready for the next morning's early departure around 6:30 am. Yikes!! After bungy, we needed the sleep for sure.
Ttyl,
Francesca
(Note: Click outside the 'play' button to watch the larger video version on YouTube. Check this post again later, as I will update with photos of our jumps!)
Francesca's Bungy Jump!! WATCH IT!!
Henk's Bungy Jump!! Woo-hoo! :P
1 Comments:
Hey jumping globetrotters,
And again a nice story Fran and what a experience!! the jump!!!
Henkjan..... is het zo erg met je spijkerbroek?? I will donate you!!
Love from
mams
Post a Comment
<< Home