Yesterday was a milestone day for me. Given that I want this trip to be some sort of grand adventure, it only makes sense that leaping off the first bridge to support commercial bungie jumping would be an activity early on in my journey. And it really didn't make sense not to.
So yesterday outside of Queenstown, New Zealand at AJ Hackett's bungie joint, I jumped off the Kawaru Bridge at precisely 4 pm.
The funny thing about bungie jumping, like other really scary activities I had to overcome previously, is that almost all of the fear exists in the build-up to the actual event. As I was approaching it, my stomach was in knots and my hands were frozen out of fear.
But once I got up there I flew like an eagle.
Okay, if I was an eagle in that situation I would have been the world's crappiest one because I dove straight out and proceeded to go straight down rapidly. Naturally.
The fun thing was I had no idea how my surgically repaired knee would respond, and to be honest, neither did the crew working. They suggested jumping straight out as far as I could ("imagine you are jumping onto a bed 6 feet away") to reduce any strain on my knee. It didn't hurt at all.
In fact, all potential pain and real fear was quickly replaced with pure elation.
While those before and after me met the leap by screaming, I responded by laughing like a madman, much to the elation of those watching. I spread my arms out and spun and smiled and as I was pulled into a boat far below me on the Kawaru River by the crack team they had there, only one sensation remained.
The desire to do it again.
Music of the day: The "extreme" soundtrack of AJ Hackett's bungie crew - EXTREME!
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