Around the World in 140 Days: 3, 2, 1 BUNGY!!!!

Some myths about bungy jumping.

First, it doesn't hurt at all. Even if you watch someone go down somewhat awkwardly and they snap forward when the bungy catches them it actually feels quite comfy when you are actually doing it. It doesn't stretch you at all and the recoil is a lot of fun and zero discomfort, except for the water going up your noise. If you hang around New Zealand you will hear from every backpacker about how last week a girl in was jumping got scared and turned and grabbed her boyfriend who then fell to his death because he obviously wasn't attached to a bungy. Funny thing is this even always happened last week and is always in a different place in the world, South Africa/South America/New Zealand/anywhere else. The story is either a phony or a lot of people die bungy jumping and it is kept a secret, because the company in NZ tell you that no one has ever been seriously injured from a commercial bungy site. Rest assure I felt a heck of a lot safer bungy jumping than I have with most activities in the area.

I'll briefly try to explain the jumps.

The cord is made entirely of latex and has about 150 thin filaments tied up in bundles and there are 4 different sizes cords depending on your weight, which they tatoo on your hand for everyone to see. They fasten it to your feet and waist using a climbing harness with nylon webbing and caribiners. The nylon is tied into a slip knot which means it tightens when it is pulled at making it a fail-safe. They wrap a regular towel around your ankles for comfort so that it doesn't hurt and tighten everything up on you. You actually feel very safe with the equipment when its on you because it is so tight and looks strong enough to hold you. You then have to waddle out to the platform, by far the hardest part of jumping, and put your toes over the edge. You don't want to but of course you look down, then get your terrified picture taken before a comforting word from your jump master before you hear....3, 2, 1.....and you can't be that person to freak out on the platform so you just jump. Swan dive out, feel the rush of free fall consume your body and then plunge toward the river below.

The Kawarau Bridge was small enough that by the time you really felt like you were going fast you felt the cord pull at your feet and before you knew it you were dunked in the river below and recoiling back up. It's the classic bungy jump and I'm really really glad that I did it even though most consider it a waste because the other bungy in town is 3 times as high. The rush of the bungy and the feeling of the recoiling is very difficult to describe. The feeling of water up your noise from the splashdown a bit easier to grasp. But the experience as a whole is incredible and witnessed by my entire Kiwi Experience bus. I was most surprised at how accurately they can control your jump height. I told them waist deep in the water and they got it perfectly, which, knowing the basics physics of it all is quite impressive. After the jump they lower you down to the river level so you can hop in a yellow boat to take you back to land (see pictures below)

Having done the "small" jump I felt very ready for the big one. You don't jump from a bridge at Nevis, but are brought out to a pod over a canyon that you jump from which is 134m above the canyon floor. It's a similar procedure to the bridge but they attach a few more ropes and safety measure to you for this one. I kept telling myself, and actually believed it at one point, that the river looked just as far from the Kawarau bridge bungy despite the fact that it's 3 times as far away. This helped settle my nerves. What didn't help settle my nerves was when part of the bungy got frayed on the jump before mine and they were cutting bits off of it and tying new pieces on.....what the hell are you doing??? I asked and they said making it faster...at least they had a sense of humor. I still felt safe though and knew they wouldn't let me jump if it was actually a problem, after the jump they told me it happens all of the time and some of the latex strands that help stabilize the vibrations in the cord pop out when they are doing there job....thankfully my engineering brain knew what they were saying and the fact that they popped out means they were in fact doing their job.....but its not fun to see a bungy cord tied to your feet and scissors in anyones hands. I waddled out to the platform and realized that this was in fact much higher than the bridge but didn't dare let myself be the wimp that didn't jump after they did the countdown, so off I went. Here is a timeline of what went through my head.

Seconds 0-1: What the hell did I just do accompanied with the usual feeling of gravity pulling you downwards.

Seconds 1-2: This is amazing. Smile on my face, loving my life

Seconds 2-3: Ok, I'm starting to go really really fast, like close to 100mph at this point and the ground is coming at me really really fast now and I still haven't felt the cord.

Seconds 3-4: A slight tug....the BUNGY!!! It actually works. On my video my arms were paralyzed until I felt the bungy which kind of jolts you forward. That little jolt scared me a bit apparently because I started flapping my arms at this point.

Seconds 4-5: Again, this is amazing

Seconds 5-8: Laughing with joy and the fact that I was still alive.

Second 8.5: Yeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, recoiling back up 300 or so feet.

Once the jump was over I was trembling with excitement. Dangling by my waist at this point, you can release the harness from your feet so you aren't hanging upside down, I waited for the rope to come down to pull me all the way back up to the cable car. The entire jump lasted for about 15 seconds, the pull back up maybe a minute, but it has to rank as one of the best things I have ever done. Part of the great feeling from it all is the fact that you had the guts to actually do it, the company will NOT push you off. Overcoming that fear in you is simply amazing and something I'm actually quite proud of and the jump itself is an adrenalin rush like no other. You could have performed minor surgery on me after the jump and I probably wouldn't have felt it because I was so high on adrenalin.

If you can, bungy, it is something you will never forget and you will love every second of it....after you get over the initial terror of jumping.