Day 8 Afternoon

9 April 2010 PM

Our rafting expedition did not end until it was well over 12pm. We headed back to QT and had a small lunch of Subway's while waiting for our next assignment. We were quite drowsy and sleepy as we had had a great workout in the morning, but the day is not over yet.

That is because, we had some more important thing to do this noon. We are going to take the plunge.

A NZ entrepreneur with a couple of loose screws in his head decided to commercialize an activity inspired by an ancient rite-of-passage performed by Vanuatuans. He offered what was thought to be insane plus ridiculous, and had to hire a special team of solicitors to apply for ultra-special permits to carry out activities that challenged boundaries.

Today, we were introduced to Alan John Hackett, businessman and adrenaline junkie and the brainchild of his - the commercialization of bungy jumping.

Think Altitude
Think Momentum

Think Zero Gravity

D had wanted to do the bungy jump before we embarked on the trip, before we even hop on the plane. It was in his bucket list, his item-to-do-b4-he-dies, his dream adventure.
Me on the other hand had avoided the thought of bungy altogether because frankly speaking, I do not want to do it. Why would anyone want to do something like that? Why would anyone want to jump off into voids, throw themselves into oblivion, and risk their lives and limbs? The answer still eludes me.
I was grumpy and apprehensive, but in the end, against my better judgement I signed up too. Reason being, I could not not do it. No, I'm no adrenaline junkie, nor am I a lunatic, but I don't want to look back and regret. And, I do not want D to exclusively own the bragging rights : )

Bungy Centre

At 2pm, we found ourselves queuing up to register for the event. We have previously booked & paid, but we needed to sign more disclaimer forms and had our weights taken. The correct measurement of your weight is a matter of life & death when it comes to bungy. It took about 10 minutes of paper work and 30 minutes of waiting. The waiting was not fun.

Similar to the rafting, we were taken on a bus journey to the jumpsite about 45 mins away. The journey was pretty mundane which was good, because I do not think my nerves could handle anything more than normal-grade tar road.

Cantilevered Cabin

All too soon, we reached the jumpsite. Obediently, I got off the bus, although I'm quite happy to sit there and wait. The first sight that greeted us was the rack of bungy harnesses located at the entrance of the jump site building.

safety harnesses

The personnels came out and handed us the body harnesses whilst explaining how to wear it. I had lost the ability to absorb instructions, so I just stood there dumbly. When the friendly staff sees you standing dumbly, they will help you into the harnesses. I suppose that's the safest option, seeing that you might not strap yourself properly and may end up slipping, then falling, crashing into the mountains, breaking into a million little pieces, suffering a painful death, looking ugly in your funeral, dontinkaboutit, dontinkaboutit, dontinkaboutit, why r u still tinking abt it?

wearing a body harness & a nervous smile

After stuffing our stuff in lockers provided, we were led to the outside of the building where we were briefed on a pedestal overlooking the gorge. The personnel was droning on and on but I was not & could not listen, so I don't know what she was saying. I was just looking at the minuscule little cabin hanging on steel cables stretching from one end of the mountains to another. It did not look real.

Little faraway cabin & cable-car suspended in the air

Next thing we knew, we were locked into a tiny cable-car sort of device and were being transported into the little cabin hanging in the middle of nowhere. The car, a metal-grille box was enclosed by metal rails and while we were travelling on it, we were hooked to the wires above which was supporting the cable-car and the cabin. I never doubted their safety measures, not for a minute. I just doubted myself.

Locked in the car with a personnel & other jumpers

river below_don't even know what river that was.

Metal grate floor of the cable-car

I could not look down as it was an alarming sight. I could not look at the surroundings as the valleys remind you how deep they are. I could not close my eyes as it would be embarassing. It was a horrible position to be in. Almost like a caged animal, perhaps.

Not so far now

All too soon, we arrived at the cabin. There was an electronic sliding door that opens when we bumped into the side of the tiny structure. We were unhooked, and stepped into the tiny space. I've already advanced from sweating profusely to the next phase - buckling knees.

entrance to the suspended cabin

The Cabin is a tiny room, approx. 3 x 4m wide area. It is flanked by 3 sides of steel cladding and windows while one side was completely open - the side where jumpers take off. A section of the floor has been sliced away & replaced with a piece of tampered glass for you to witness the jumpers' fall. It would not take much for me to throw up by now.

Someone being hauled up

There were 3 personnels in the room, along with about, 10 other jumpers (maximum) at one time. It was horribly constricting and my throat was closing in everytime I look over at the open side. 2 staff members were administering the jumps and the hauls. They worked speedily as if processing people in a factory. There were so many jumpers, they just strapped people on, say goodbye, wait for them to finish the jumps, then haul them up. Over & over routinely. I hope they know what they were doing.

The open elevation

This is the side where the 2 personnels were working on. One is the jumpmaster and the other, someone to haul you up. Both are clipped to a safety rope in the cabin. This side of the room is cordoned off from where we were waiting by a 1.2m high vertical metal fence. The little metal platform protruding out is the jumper's last terra firma. The cabin was blaring with loud techno music. One of the staff had "Butterfingers" clipped to his shirt. They must have thought of everything to make the jumpers at ease.

i dare you

I had to witness a lot of jumps before it was my turn. We are allocated the jumps according to our weights. I was comparatively light so I had to suffer a long wait. Jumpers are called out by their names and led into the cordoned-off area. Once there, you will be strapped to the safety cords above with your carabina. Then you will be led to a chair not unlike an electric chair.

the electric chair

You make yourself at ease while Jumpmaster strapped ankle cuffs to your legs. A very important note is to wear secure shoes. Tightly-laced fitted boots or sneakers highly recommended. I think if your shoes are loose fitting & slipped during your jump, the ankle cuffs may slip as well. After that, make absolute sure that the Jumpmaster hooked the bungy cord to your left leg, right leg AND your body harness.

the specially engineered elastic cord

For the next short moments, your life shall be literally hanging off this cord, depending on your weight. After you are strapped in carefully, Jumpmaster will lead you to the platform of death. Just kidding. He will hold your body harness and make the count 3-2-1!

3-2-JUMP!

When the Jumpmaster finished counting, do yourself a favour and jump! Because if you hesitate, it will be very difficult to continue.And for pete's sakes, don't hug the jumpmaster. Do not weigh your options, do not speculate and do not think at all. Remember what nike used to say?

JUST DO IT!

8.5 seconds of freefalling

D executed an adventurous lunge into the void with an excited yell. He embraced the jump and came up loving every second of it. He was flushed with adrenaline and looked as if he won a million dollars. Then it was my turn.

My expression bares it all

Needless to say, I was scared shitless. My knees were seriously buckling and it was an awfully tense moment.

Video below should explain all of it. In a blink of an eye I felt myself being led to the platform. I was gripping the Jumpmaster's arms really tightly & I could not walk properly with the cord between my ankles. Standing on the tiny platform was the last thing I wanted to do. I forced myself not to look down but ahead. Then I waited for the dreaded countdown. I had already stopped thinking at this point and I had set my body on autopilot to jump at the count of 3. That was because, you should not bring your brains with you whilst standing on the platform.

Apologies for sideway video

At the Count of 3, I dived ... into nothingness. And immediately regretted it. Sure, it felt brave to depart from the platform but after that it was pure, blinding fear. I could not handle zero-gravity and I made the mistake of trying to brake. Yes, brake. Do you know how futile it is to be falling at 100km/h and trying desperately to defy gravity?

Instead of diving gracefully, my arms are flailing, my eyes are bulging and there is a painful grimace on my face. I can't scream because there is so much air in my lungs. I can't shut my eyes because I have paid for this jump and I'm not going to miss any second of it! you can't take the shrewdness out of me even in the face of death. I suppose my shit would have turned green with fear.

Finally I have stretched the length of my cord and I felt myself being tugged up for the rebound. It felt sooo good to stop falling. But once the rebound reaches it's maximum length, its the dreaded freefall again.

I wasn't prepared for it. It was as if my breath was rudely snatched away & I thought I was going to pass out in a massive heart attack. Quite frankly, by now I was extremely angry at Gravity. Totally pissed off. Again, I was trying to brake. I was like a drowning woman clutching at straws, literally! How dumb could I get? Suffered mid-air bimbo moment.

The view down below

My brain was functioning again after the second rebound. I was still hanging upside down, bouncing away like a ragdoll when I remembered then I needed to pull off my left leg strap. This was tricky because physically I had trouble heaving myself up to reach my legs in a topsy-turvy position. Mentally I don't feel like pulling anything, lest I pulled the wrong thing & plunge to my death.

Of course I managed to pull the strap resulting in me returning to an upright position. A magnet-like thing plunked from the top and I was pulled up towards the cabin again. The mountains & valleys don't look so murderous now.

Home again

Butterfingers hauled me in & I'm happy to say his name did not do him justice. Jumpmaster said, "Please to meet you!" but no, I don't feel like a new person. I didn't feel like I have conquered some sort of obscure inner fear or obtain some sort of inner strength, that was just pure bullshit. I just felt ... extremely relieved.

The conclusion is, D deduced that he loves adrenaline and will do it over & over again. I swore off bungy jumps from then. Also, please do not google bungy jump fatalities before you do your jump because there are a lot of freak accidents out there.

Most importantly, I know now more than ever, there are some journeys you can only take alone. Nobody will not shove you, push you or any of the sort. You and you alone have to make the dive. That is to me, the essence of Bungy Jumping.

And once you have made the jump, no one can take that away from you.