Bungy

As I said in my previous post and from what you can most likely tell from my pics that I just posted, I bungee jumped for the first time yesterday. The jump site was called the Nevis and is located right outside of Queenstown. It is the highest jump in New Zealand at 134 meters, or 440 feet. Once on to the site we took a ride in a small cart suspended above the canyon floor for about a minute ride which was quite scary in itself because you could look straight through the bottom and see your imminent death that awaited you once your bungee failed. At the bottom of the canyon was a small river that was maybe waist deep, so not much help there if you do fall. Once we took our ride in the cart we were loaded into a suspended metal structure 440 ft. above the canyon with about six other jumpers. They go by weight so I was third behind a guy from Alaska and a buddy I met from Ireland. Waiting to jump is pretty exhilarating. They play some awesome tunes while you get to stare down at the drop that awaits you in a few minutes time. They played some Euro techno beat for me while I jumped. When it was finally my turn they make you sit in an old airplane chair and strap you in by your feet and harness to the bungee. They then proceed to stand you up and force you to walk little baby steps to a small platform outside of the structure. This is when you really start to realize that you are about to jump to your death. They give you a countdown and then you jump. I did so without hesitating, much like the rest of the people I was jumping with. The longer you wait the more hesitant you become. I did a dive straight out and immediately started to plummet. The first two or three seconds are unreal. Your entire body goes numb and your face feels like its melting because your body realizes what is about to happen if you hit the ground. After that point I caught my bearings and started to laugh uncontrollably, which I guess was attributed to me being absolutely elated. After around six seconds you are getting quite close to the ground and then all of the sudden the bungee catches and you are swung back up almost as high as you jumped. You bounced around three times before you are finally pulled up, which is actually very scary because you are still suspended downward. Once I was safe back up in the structure I could not stop laughing and my knees uncontrollably began to shake from the adrenaline. The high lasted for some time. Honestly, it was probably the best thing I have done in my life so far. Although it was only a short amount of time, the feeling you get of plummeting to the ground to your death only to be saved moments from that terminal moment is one that I will never forget. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to live a little.