Bite Size Memoir

Bite Size Memoir: Crazy!

BITE SIZE MEMOIRBelatedly, this is for Lisa’s Bite Size Memoir: Crazy! (in 150 words). I thought of some really crazy stuff, but decided to play crazy-happy – instead of crazy-stupid or simply crazy-crazy!

 

As the Footloose Bus approached Queenstown, New Zealand, I rashly declared my intention to Bungee Jump. Only a few weeks before, at home, I’d scoffed, said I wasn’t that crazy.  Apparently I was.

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Lined up on the platform to the right … try again, shall we? 5 – 4- 3 – 2 – 1 … …

The waiting was the worst, queuing seemed hours of being deaf and denture-less.

Eventually I moved into place; my ankles wrapped in towels. I didn’t like the way the little frayed hat-elastic ends swirled in the breeze on the sides of the elastic they bound around my ankles.  When I spoke, the attendant laughed and said he would be expecting a huge Australian scream from me. He counted backwards, twice, before I found courage to launch myself into space.

Jumping off

Jumping off

 

Heading straight down

Heading straight down

Jumping off that bridge, 143 feet above the river, was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I heard my scream echoing off the sides of the ravine.

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coming back up, still screaming

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flicking back up under the bridge, second freefall

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Getting lowered down to the inflatable, to be deposited on the bank for the climb back up – to a point a bit lower than the bridge level.

 

I still can barely believe I did it!

1989 - aka The Ouzo Lady - New Zealand.

1989 – aka The Ouzo Lady – New Zealand.

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27 thoughts on “Bite Size Memoir: Crazy!”

    • Sue, aren’t you the one who wanted to skydive? At least I was hooked up to something! I don’t think I could bring myself to jump from a set-up over solid ground. Water seems safer, somehow. I thought the climb back up to the top of the hill was scarier in the end, especially under the influence of hysteria; the path being incredibly steep. Yep, I do think it was worth it, for bragging rights back home. 😀

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      • Christine I bow before your bravery. I have some neck issues and have always wondered when the bungee cord reaches full length if the force of rebound would be hard on the spinal cord. Am I being overly cautious?
        I love the description of under the influence of hysteria. 🙂 Truly it makes my hands sweat thinking about it. Good for you!!

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        • Same here, I was worried about jarring, but I didn’t notice any at all. (Really, my legs could have been falling off and I might not have noticed.) Your first fall takes up the slack and then you flick back up. You could always wear a neckbrace to be safer, but if you have serious issues it would be best to give it a miss. 😀

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    • I reckoned I was going to keep off the grog while I was in NZ, Sue, so I gave the duty-free a miss. Second night in, I drank a half bottle by myself, watching the stars, while everyone else played childish ‘get-to-know you’ games inside. Ouzo, Sue, not vodka. A Greek drink, it smells and tastes like aniseed. The night before the channel crossing, I had alcoholic poisoning – though it could have been some crook fish I had for lunch. Swallowed a bottle of berocca overnight and I was right as rain next morning. I missed the farewell party for the bus-driver and tourists not going on to the North Island. 😀

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    • I was the first on the bus to open my mouth, M-R, and I didn’t want to look like a chicken. A couple of people pulled out while waiting on the bridge for their turn. I imagine jumping out of an aeroplane is worse. 😀

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      • Either of ’em takes the kind of bravery I have never had a skerrick of, alas. Raised by a somewhat hysterical mama and a very non-physical papa, we were all chicken. Although the eldest shows some signs of … whatever.

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  5. Holy Crap! I bow to your advanced level of crazy.

    Bungee Jumping is the only thing I’ve ever said I wasn’t crazy enough to try. Having said that, I seen TV shows about BJ in New Zealand and I can see the incredible attraction. I am in awe of your bravery because I can’t imagine taking that dive … even though I’ve sky-dived.

    I’ve always been curious about how you get down from the cord after the jump. The fact you had to climb the hill afterwards implies they reach you from the bottom. Do you actually get THAT CLOSE to the bottom on the drop?!!!

    Climbing that hill afterwards would be very challenging at the best of times – never mind after a major adrenaline rush!

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    • Hi Joanne, one gets weighed at the start, so they know what strength / length cord to use. They try and make it so you just skim the water below, so one never knows if you’ll get dunked or not! I didn’t get wet. After you finish bouncing about they lower the bungee cord until you reach a boat. Then they let you out on the bank. I thought the climb up more dangerous than the jump itself. I’ll add another photo with the boat in it. I was laughing at the fellows looking up at me, and asking if anyone had ever spewed on them. 😀

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      • They can lower you from the top of the bridge into the boat? Hanging upside down like that would feel really odd.

        Now that I think of it, I’m guessing that eating before a jump is not a very good idea 😉

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        • It did! If you look at the top, back on the bridge, you can see the rope is looped, that’s the rest of the elastic rope hooked up to me – they use only enough for the jump itself to clear the water – the rest is secured until needed to lower me, once I became just a hanging pendant – talk about rush of blood to the head – you land in the boat like a stranded fish and they unwrap your ankles and the guys on top pull up the rope.

          I’ve added the promised photo, showing the boat. The sunlight is a bit bright on the rocks, but you can just see a couple of poles marking the path. 😀

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  6. Hi Christine, how brave you are! I could never do it. But at the same time I can imagine the feeling, freedom, peace, power, I don’t know many feeling should rush in your mind at that moment, the jumping! Good job, you must be very proud of it!

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    • I really wanted to impress my kids, and I couldn’t wait to send a postcard to to tell my workmates! I was the first person in my little town to have done it, but only by a few weeks. It was right when there was only the one operation in New Zealand, none in Australia. Yeah, so proud of myself. I felt I could take on any challenge after that. ❤

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  8. Yay crazy you, Christine! I know it was an exciting, thrilling, and scary few moments for you! 🙂

    I did a modified bungee jump/swing at an amusement park to celebrate my 40th birthday (16 years ago!), but never had the chance to do something as real as your experience while my body could let me!

    I have photos on my blog of someone else bunging jumping that Kawarau Bridge outside Queenstown in January 1, 2012. Such a gorgeous place!!

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    • It was spooky, Kayti. The rope was made up of thousands of strands of hat elastic – okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but it was thin – I can still see them in my mind’s eye. It was the sides that were frayed, where the fine stuff had broken under pressure, but there was still inches and inches of solid, thick, elastic. There must have been straps and buckles, to secure it around the towel and my ankles. It’s funny, the bloke has to hang on to you, in case you accidently fall off when you get to your feet to get ready. 😀

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  10. I was going to comment on your courage in the leap, but then got to the ouzo, which, in my opinion, takes even more courage–Blech!!

    Seriously, the photos are amazing, and you are insane–although my younger self would have been with you in a heartbeat. It must have been a blast. Congrats!!

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