Posted June 5, 2024
Upon booking my trip to Aotearoa - New Zealand, I decided that this would be the trip that I was going to face all of my fears. What better place to do this, the land of extreme sports and beautiful scenery? One of my biggest fears being heights I decided that a bungy jump would be the perfect way to face this fear, after all AJ Hackett Bungy’s tagline is ‘Live More, Fear Less’.
I started watching multiple videos of the Kawarau Bungy and mentally prepared myself for the big day in the best way possible. My biggest support being my mum decided to go ahead and book the bungy for me so that I couldn’t get out of facing this fear. With the bungy being booked and confirmed that is when it hit, the feeling of excitement, fear, and what have I got myself into. I started telling all of my friends and family that I was going to do a bungy jump. In all honesty not many people believed that I was going to be able to do it as they all know how scared I am of heights. To me this just meant that I now had a point to prove.
The big day had arrived. We had already driven past the bungy centre twice but pulling up into the car park was a whole new sensation, my knees were already weak and the butterflies in my stomach had started. As you walk into the building you can feel that there is a very high energy to the place and all the people that are there (visitors and workers). Except for the fact that I was about to let myself jump off of a bridge, I knew that the first thing to do was to check in and get weighed. Great, I don’t know what I was more worried about the fact that I was nearly there on the side of the platform or that I was about to get told how many kilos I had gained in the last 3 months.
The check in was super easy, I was given a ticket for my jump and off I went. As you step out of the building you step onto the watching platform, I was already watching people bungy live, I can tell you for a fact that it is nothing like watching the videos online. Now it was my turn, I had to get myself off of the platform on to the bridge, this came as quite a struggle, gave mum a hug then started to cry. Mum reassured me that if I really couldn’t do it then I didn’t have to, however, I had made myself a promise and there was no turning back.
As you walk up onto the bridge the bungy team asks you to get in line, as your turn gets closer and closer you are then put in a harness. Once I was in the harness I had a rush of excitement, fear, anxiety, bravery you name it (Yet the crying continued). After having a chat with the team and calming down I was fully strapped in, the next thing I know is I'm shuffling along the small platform to the side of the edge. They ask to take a couple of photos, then the count down. ‘5,4,3,2,1, BUNGY!’. It was now or never, there I went a freefall of 43 metres. I did it! I was quickly humbled by the bungy cord pulling me back up, another freefall sensation, but this time I wasn’t scared, I felt free.
As gravity kicks in you are left upside down swinging left and right, the crew at the bottom quickly comes out on a little speed boat, now you are left to try and catch the pole they have so that you are able to get unhooked and onto the boat. I’m not sure if it was the adrenaline or the small bit of fear still left in me, however, I grabbed the pole first try, I was on the boat and quickly my feet were back on the ground. The only thing they don’t tell you is how many steps you have to walk back up to get to your family and friends (you could say you get a free work-out in the process). After doing the bungy I felt like I was on top of the world, nobody could get in my way. This is also the way I still am, that one bungy jump changed my life in certain ways for the better.
I am sincerely grateful for being able to have this experience and would certainly recommend it to everyone that has the chance to do it.