More crazy vids
Thanks again to my brother Brian for uploading our skydiving video for us. Now we have FOUR more videos to amuse/entertain/shock/bore you with.
You see, Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand is essentially the extreme sport capital of the world and it is most definitely the home to bungy jumping, with the activity being invented by some crazy Kiwis back in the 1980s. So really, you can't leave New Zealand without going to Queenstown and you can't leave Queenstown without doing a bungy. Otherwise the immigration officials won't let you out of the country.
There are a few different bungy places to choose from, with the heights varying from 43 meters to 134 meters (the highest in New Zealand). Karen wanted to do the biggest and the baddest of them all, the Nevis bungy which is the 134 meter one. I originally wanted to do something a bit more sedate, either the 43 or the 47 meter one. At first, I vehemently declared that there was NO WAY I was going to do the mega one. But then we went to sign up and Karen signed up for the big one while I was non-committal. But it was going to cost me a bit of money to travel to watch Karen anyway, as the bungy was a way out of town and on private land, so they charge for you to come watch. We both signed up to do the 40-something meter Sky Swing, which was at the top of the hill in town.
The next day, we took the gondola ride up to the top of the hill and were the first Sky Swingers of the day. The Sky Swing entails lowering you out above a precipice with you strapped in a harness. And then you have to pull the ripcord to let yourself go and then you swing on ropes that are 40+ meters long. It's actually not too scary, but it's pretty fun.
Right near the Sky Swing was the 47 meter bungy. We stayed to watch a few jumpers go. The first two girls backed out (and forfeited their money), while the third person finally went. But frankly, that bungy was rather lame and the guy who went was slightly disappointed with it, as it only gives you less than 2 seconds of freefall. Seeing these jumpers gave me mixed feelings - if the first two people we watched backed out at 47 meters, how in the world could we do 134 meters; but also, if the 2 second freefall looked lame, there was really only one choice to do - the 134 meter bungy.
In the afternoon we were picked up in town and driven 40 minutes out to the mega bungy site. At this point I was still officially a spectator. But even the spectators got to take the rather scary cable car ride to the bungy platform anchored by wires high above a gorge.
One of the good things about adding a few extra holiday pounds was that I was the second heaviest person in the group. Since this bungy went according to weight, I was all of the sudden the second person called. Well, it was decision time and the decision was to go for it. Strangely, I was rather calm about the whole thing. I got strapped in and off I went!
Doing the big bungy was definitely a better choice. You get between 6-8 seconds of freefall and actually get to experience something. Plus, as long as you don't look down, I think it takes the same psychological trigger either way to jump off a ledge, whether it's 40-something meters or 134 meters.
Poor Karen, though, was the second lightest in the group and had to wait for about 15 people to go ahead of her before she could jump. I was quite happy that I was all over and done with. I did get to stay out in the platform for over an hour after my jump waiting for Karen to do her jump as well. Karen did one of the more gracious jumps off the platform, as you'll see from the video.
Oh, and since we did the bungy on Groundhog Day and both Karen and I saw our shadow coming ever closer to us at the bottom of the gorge, I think that means we get another 6 weeks of Southern Hemisphere summer or something like that.
If you want to experience the same thing, just go to the local 44 story building in your neighborhood, climb up to the roof, tie a piece of latex rubber to your ankles, clamber towards the ledge, look down, and jump! Enjoy.
The four videos:
Kevin's Sky Swing
Karen's Sky Swing
Kevin's Bungy
Karen's Bungy
You see, Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand is essentially the extreme sport capital of the world and it is most definitely the home to bungy jumping, with the activity being invented by some crazy Kiwis back in the 1980s. So really, you can't leave New Zealand without going to Queenstown and you can't leave Queenstown without doing a bungy. Otherwise the immigration officials won't let you out of the country.
There are a few different bungy places to choose from, with the heights varying from 43 meters to 134 meters (the highest in New Zealand). Karen wanted to do the biggest and the baddest of them all, the Nevis bungy which is the 134 meter one. I originally wanted to do something a bit more sedate, either the 43 or the 47 meter one. At first, I vehemently declared that there was NO WAY I was going to do the mega one. But then we went to sign up and Karen signed up for the big one while I was non-committal. But it was going to cost me a bit of money to travel to watch Karen anyway, as the bungy was a way out of town and on private land, so they charge for you to come watch. We both signed up to do the 40-something meter Sky Swing, which was at the top of the hill in town.
The next day, we took the gondola ride up to the top of the hill and were the first Sky Swingers of the day. The Sky Swing entails lowering you out above a precipice with you strapped in a harness. And then you have to pull the ripcord to let yourself go and then you swing on ropes that are 40+ meters long. It's actually not too scary, but it's pretty fun.
Right near the Sky Swing was the 47 meter bungy. We stayed to watch a few jumpers go. The first two girls backed out (and forfeited their money), while the third person finally went. But frankly, that bungy was rather lame and the guy who went was slightly disappointed with it, as it only gives you less than 2 seconds of freefall. Seeing these jumpers gave me mixed feelings - if the first two people we watched backed out at 47 meters, how in the world could we do 134 meters; but also, if the 2 second freefall looked lame, there was really only one choice to do - the 134 meter bungy.
In the afternoon we were picked up in town and driven 40 minutes out to the mega bungy site. At this point I was still officially a spectator. But even the spectators got to take the rather scary cable car ride to the bungy platform anchored by wires high above a gorge.
One of the good things about adding a few extra holiday pounds was that I was the second heaviest person in the group. Since this bungy went according to weight, I was all of the sudden the second person called. Well, it was decision time and the decision was to go for it. Strangely, I was rather calm about the whole thing. I got strapped in and off I went!
Doing the big bungy was definitely a better choice. You get between 6-8 seconds of freefall and actually get to experience something. Plus, as long as you don't look down, I think it takes the same psychological trigger either way to jump off a ledge, whether it's 40-something meters or 134 meters.
Poor Karen, though, was the second lightest in the group and had to wait for about 15 people to go ahead of her before she could jump. I was quite happy that I was all over and done with. I did get to stay out in the platform for over an hour after my jump waiting for Karen to do her jump as well. Karen did one of the more gracious jumps off the platform, as you'll see from the video.
Oh, and since we did the bungy on Groundhog Day and both Karen and I saw our shadow coming ever closer to us at the bottom of the gorge, I think that means we get another 6 weeks of Southern Hemisphere summer or something like that.
If you want to experience the same thing, just go to the local 44 story building in your neighborhood, climb up to the roof, tie a piece of latex rubber to your ankles, clamber towards the ledge, look down, and jump! Enjoy.
The four videos:
Kevin's Sky Swing
Karen's Sky Swing
Kevin's Bungy
Karen's Bungy
posted by Kevin at 2/06/2007 06:13:00 AM
2 Comments:
Wohow Karen & Kevin.. it is amazing ! All those crazy things you are doing ! Beautiful video's, enough to convince us tot go to Kiwi-land too...
Keep updating your blog, we are following your every move (and thus travelling a little bit in our head too)
Much love,
Tine & Wouter (your Nepali rafting buddies)
K n K,
Did not realized that bungy jump is so formidable.Can not imagine how you felt when the cable or rope swung so close to the cliff.
Hope the rest of your world tour n adventure is a bit more tame and subdued.
What a great adventure.No wonder you are doing this now.
Post a Comment
<< Home