All My Friends Jumped Off a Bridge So I Did Too!
In the days leading up to bungy jumping I was beyond excited. But the moment I woke up Sunday morning the first thought that crossed my mind was "I'm going to die"..but then I realized dying in New Zealand wouldn't be half that bad and at least it would be a cool story? Joking aside though, I had no idea what to expect and that's probably why I was mute as we walked to the bus station. It was arranged that two vans would come pick us up and bring us to the Auckland Bridge. Leo was my van driver and he was the coolest kiwi I've met yet. I even learned a new term: BBW (pronounced bee-bee-double-yew), it means big beautiful woman. I then signed away my life on a piece of paper that I didn't bother to read and got weighed. We were suited up with harnesses and helmets (the helmets for were when we walked under the bridge). During the demo we were told to imagine the cord that attaches us to the bridge as us walking a dog (Shoutout to my favorite ball of fluff Ralphie). When we started ascending staircases I was starting to get a feel for how high 13 stories~40M were. The bungy base is suspended under the bridge and looks like a large gondola. We were told that we were jumping from heaviest to lightest and that when your name is called it's your turn to walk the plank. Music was playing the whole time so we had a lot of fun dancing, watching everyone jump and awaiting our turn. Pre-jump most people looked reserved or had exciting nerves and post-jump people looked like they were drugged on adrenaline. I was the 15th person to jump (Kelley Anne, Kevin & James: shocker right? I bet you guys thought I'd be in the top 5). I sat in the seat and the dude strapped up my ankles and attached the bungy to me. He informed me how to pull the release so I could ride up sitting down versus upside down. I waddled towards the edge of the platform and had to pose for my pictures. I then proceeded to do a beautiful swan dive off the bridge. This was by far the coolest thing I have ever experienced in my life. On March 9th I became a bird for 8 seconds and I can't wait to do it again. There was so much adrenaline rushing through my body that I completely forgot to pull the release so I rode back up to the top upside down, blood rushing to my head the entire time. When I arrived I was shaking from all the energy and Michael Jackson's Black and White was blasting through the speakers. It was awesome.
*my videos are coming soon but here's one that Ryan made:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ptEKF52U6c
Fun Fact: The largest bungy is in Queenstown called the Nevis Bungy which is 143M and I plan on doing this. I also plan on doing a a tandem jump.
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