I never thought in my whole life I would ever bungy jump but I did it. I bungeed off the Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown, New Zealand.
How did this happen? Well with much hesitation at first. I had to watch quite a few people jump off the bridge before I decided to go through with it.
Once I was going to pay for the jump I asked the girl at the desk a few questions. I asked the girl “is skydiving scarier than bungee jumping?” I wanted to ease my mind a bit hoping she would say “yes bungy is less scary than skydiving” haha. Side note - I haven’t skydived yet but I will at some point after tasting the adrenaline rush of bungy. The girl at the desk responded, “skydiving and bungy jumping are different. In skydiving you are tied together to someone and they jump off the plane for you. Whereas in bungy jumping you have to jump off yourself and only you can do the jump.”
So after getting everything sorted and signing my life away, I walked on the bridge and waited in line for my turn. I was talking to the woman behind me to calm my nerves a bit. This was her first time too. She seemed excited but also nervous. With this kind of experience the longer you wait the more anxious you get.
It was finally my turn to sit on the ledge entry and one of the staff checked my harness again and attached a more cords, etc. I was concerned that my harness wasn’t tight enough but he responded that it had to have some give. The harness was more around my waist as they couldn’t do the traditional ankle harness due to previous weather and the water level in the river was too high at the moment.
It was my turn to go up on the plank. Eeeek! They attached the bungy cord and I’m on the ledge of the bridge. They have music playing in the background so it feels less tense but my nerves were running high.
I’m about to go off and I make the mistake of looking down. Holy shit don’t ever look down!!!!! This created the most fear. I’m about to jump 43 meters and there is a canyon and a roaring river below me. Shit!!!!
I tell the guy on the ledge “I can’t do this”, I start to freak out a bit. And he responds, “Yes you can I promise” The moment he said that was the moment I mustered up all my courage and bravery to make sure that I did this jump somehow.
I’m still quivering with fear as they tell me to wave at the cameras for the video. My smile to the camera is fake, it’s not a smile of joy it’s a smile of fear haha.
I’m determined to do this but shitting myself at the same time. The guy tells me to look out and go straight ahead like a swan dive. I was so sure in my head I was going to swan dive but at the last minute my survival instinct kicked in and I went feet first instead. Oops, I had to make the jump anyways. There was no turning back now!
The free fall went so fast I don’t even really remember how I felt, it was a bit of a blank. There was no time to think at all, I just fell through the air. Before I knew it the free fall was over and I bungeed back up. As I bungeed back up I had the time to scream.
During this moment I thought to myself I fucking did it. I did it even though my form wasn’t a perfect swan dive, I jumped off a bridge and survived!
This experience was insane and exhilarating at the same time. It’s basically an emotional rollercoaster. I knew deep down I wanted to do an extreme sport in Queenstown and I followed through with it.
What I learned from this experience is that I conquered my fears and never thought I would be this brave. You are braver than you think. I guess in the end I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie as I liked it. I would bungee again and do other high adrenaline sports/activities.
You feel so alive when you do these unnatural and extreme experiences. By all means I’m not saying this is a piece of cake unless you do this all the time, but it is an exhilarating feeling you will never forget. I understand why people do these experiences, it’s amazing.
With extreme fear also comes extreme bliss and joy. It’s hard to explain but that’s how I felt. I’ve never felt so free and alive before in my life.
Check out the video here: bit.ly/MoBungyJump
Until next time, lots of love,
Monique XOX
