דניאל והילי מטיילים בעולם

Don't think. Just do it. Ignore the 43 meters drop. Imagine it is a swimming pool you are about to dive into. No, Better not think at all. Clear your mind. Breath. Forget the fact that your legs are tied together. don't think. Whatever you do - don't think. do it quickly, like removing a band-aid.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
Jump.
We did.

Bungy is a very good way to look at the other side of life. Your life is literally hanging by a thread. One made of latex - so if you think about it a bungy cord is simply a death-control measure. The value per money is great. You jump from a bridge, and for only 139.99$ they give you your life back. What a better present can one ask for his 26 birthday? well...
How about doing it three times?

When I realized I was going to celebrate 26 in NZ, I knew exactly how I wanted to do it. I didn't tell the parents - it's better to say "hey dad, I jumped from a bridge but I'm O.K, than trying to explain the initial intention.
Hilly never considered Bungy jumping before. Her father says "to bungy jump one must be seriously stupid" (see the statement above). But when this stupid wanted to celebrate his birthday this way, she was happy to skip the west coast and head straight to Queenstown (700km detour).
We got there late at the night of the 5Th, and camped in a tent on the lake near town. On the B-day morning we went to the A.J. Hacket Bungy shop where they'll lure you to spend all your money on the most peculiar activities.
We took the "Kamaraw bridge" jump - The original historic site (first commercial bungy in the world). 43 meters from the bridge into the Kamaraw river. Only one jumper.

For a moment in the car, Hilly said: "if you'll jump with me (Tandem) I'll do it". "Sorry Babe" I said, "Bungy is a solitaire experience. It's you and your fear. If we'll do it together , one of us will be prematurely pulled to jump by the other. Off course I would be thrilled if you jumped but you must do it alone." Hilly was insulted and withdrew from her offer.

We got to the bridge. Stretched on a canyon with the bluest river you can imagine streaming below. The view itself was inspiring. A sunny day, blue skies - what more can one ask for?
The place is a bungy museum, built into the edge of the cliff from concrete and iron, giving the sensation you are inside one of the bridge's pillars. Well, something between that and a Nike shop. We went to the counter , where they weigh you (writing the number in red on your left arm), and sign you on a form that releases them from any relation to the fact that you are jumping of their bridge. (Note that they are not legally responsible for family members traumatised by the sight, also for no extra charge you can consult with a bungy shrink[!]).
With boarding ticket in hand we went to the balcony where the spectators can view the jumpers. "Not very frightening" I said to Hilly as a scream of a jumper echoed in the canyon. "It looks terrifying" she answered, as another scream echoed from the jumper bouncing the second time.

I was ready to go. We both went to the bridge. The heart was beginning to pump faster. Fear level rising up."Is it fun or scary as hell?" Hilly asked the operator as he was tying me up. "A bit of both" he replied with a smile. Fear level increasing. "How are you feeling?" Hilly asked me. "I'm fine" I replied. The bridge jilted from the pull of a bungy cord suspending another jumper. Heart rate going up.
You wear a harness like shorts. Then sited down a towel is tightly rapped around each of the legs, which are then tied together. As this happens, you are sitting on the bridge, a meter from the edge. Next to you is a wooden ledge comfortingly called "The Meat Shredder". In a few minutes you will stand on it and jump.
It's hard to breath. Butterflies are raging in your stomach. The throat is dry. Knees are weak. No avoiding it. You are scared shitless.

"Yahla."
"I'm doing it too." Hilly shouted from behind me.
Not a comforting thought as I am being led to the ledge like a pirate's hostage about to be thrown to the sharks. "Great honey" I cry to her trying to maintain fasson. She runs quickly to the balcony to get a good view of my jump.
"Does every body get really scared standing here?" I ask the hangman beside me. "Yes" he replies like a bank clerk refusing to give you a loan. No compassion there, I might as well jump.
"Smile to the camera" he says. You smile. "Now wave to the fans on the balcony". You wave.
You look down seeing your tied legs above the chasm. "Man... It's so high!" No air in your lungs. Heart rate over 300bpm.
You are paralysed, but your mind is racing...

Don't think. Just do it. Ignore the 43 meters drop. Imagine it is a swimming pool you are about to dive into. No, Better not think at all. Clear your mind. Breath. Forget the fact that your legs are tied together. don't think. Whatever you do - don't think. do it quickly, like removing a band-aid.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
Bungy

You soar for a moment in the air. Time slows down to a near halt. You freeze in mid air, feeling like a bird. Then you plummet. You gain speed. The wind is whistling in you ears. You gain more speed. The air forms a tunnel around you and you zoom through it like a hawk diving for the kill. The water is getting closer in an alarming rate' but strangely enough you seem to fall endlessly.

You hear the bungy cord and feel a slight deceleration. You gradually lose speed 'till you (in my unfortunate case - almost) break the face of the water. Instantaneously the terror changes into relief, as you are pulled up for the suspension swing. You go up again. Pulling away from gravity. Stopping at the balance point between the pull of the earth and the tug of the cord. you are weightless for a split second, which seems much prolonged in subjective time. Then you plummet again. A shriek of excitement escapes your lips. You are exhilarated. The adrenalin floods your systems. When you reach the low point again, you are maxed high.

It's over. They pull you into a boat. You Can barley stand as they remove the harness and uncling you. You've jumped. Now you run as quickly as you can to tell.
It takes much longer climbing up.

Hilly waited for me at the viewing balcony. her left hand bearing the double digit number in red ink. "How was it?" she asked. "The most amazing thing I've done in my life. You're going to enjoy it," I promised her. She kissed me and went to the bridge.

Jumping from the bridge was not the scariest thing that happened to me that day. Watching your loved one about to leap into the abyss is scarier by far. From that point of view Hilly, as the second jumper, was the hero first.
After a beautifully performed jump, with a perfect plunge in the turquoise water, she ran up to me - her eyes glowing, her hair wet - and said: "It was so much fun, I wasn't scared at all".
"Great" I cried, "Then we must do the trilogy together". "What's the trilogy?" she asked. "It's a triple jump" I explained. The "Kamaraw bridge" (43m) that we just jumped, The Queenstown "Ledge" (47m) and the mother of all fears "The Nevis High Wire" (134m). "No thank you" Hilly said. "My Hendel genes stood up for the challenge. I have nothing more to prove". well, no arguing with that. I continued on my thrill journey alone.

I will skip the description of the "Ledge" experience which is pale even compared to the less high Kamaraw bridge. The Nevis High-Wire is the ultimate fear experience. If fear could be solidified into to little cube blocks you'll have to freeze them up and slip them on your spine and it still won't come near to how spine chilling that experience was.

It Starts with the weighing ceremony. Then a bus ride with 30 people scared as you are. Like cattle in the truck to the butchery You could smell the socialisation of fear. Our driver John, a native Mauri, and an A.J. Hacket committed employee made sure fear factor was maximised: describing what was destined for us while steering the 4 wheel drive bus up a steep narrow gravel road. "No worries, fox. The average at the High-Wire is only two chicken-outs per bus."

You arrive at an isolated structure made of tin at the top of the ridge. You get harness even before you get in. Already you are full of fear. 
"Yes, I decline the right to sue in case of injury or death."
You are weighed again. Then you get out of the other side and see a canyon so deep it's bottom isn't visible. In the middle floating like a spaceship a shabby looking cable-cart hanging on two wires. The people are divided into groups of six, I am on the last group. Then sent out on a smaller cable-cart that slides on the cable to the hanging jumping station.
It's a scary ride.
You are hooked onto a safety wire while inside the cart. As this wobbly transport slowly makes it's way over the ravine, the bottom is finally revealed.
134 meters deep. 
134 meters deep!! 
134 METERS DEEP!!!
That's like a 45(!) stories high building - a genuine sky scraper. Imagine you are on the roof of the Shalom Meir Tower (Migdal Shalom), but instead of admiring the view, you are planning to jump.
At this point I was ready to faint. The heart finally gave in to gravity. It stopped pumping blood up to the head letting it drain down to the feet. We arrived to the High-Wire cart. The bungy operator unhooked each one of us and welcomed us in with the familiar phrase "mind the gap". Never in my life have I minded a gap so much!

I was safely in. Safe but not sound. Electric guitars were playing in the background adding to the heavy metal atmosphere. The entire metal Cable cart was swinging to the beat. I was barley able to stand. Not only because of the swinging. The floor was made of glass. You could see all the way down the abyss. At that point I honestly thought "I can't do it" I am one of the unfortunate victims of the statistics. I am chickening out.
I sat down and tried to breath again. "Calm down" I said to my self repeating the don't think mantra.

The bungy jumpers are sorted by weight, jumping from the heaviest to the lightest. I was unfortunately the lightest jumper on the bus, and therefor the last one due to jump. 29 people jumped before I did. I waited for 60 minutes, soaking in fear, marinated in horror, hanging between sky and earth. As more and more jumpers got back from their death teasing jump returning to safe ground, the High-Wire was becoming less crowded. I was being left alone with my fear. By the time jumper 29 was called into the jumping bay I was pretty much a rack. I am next.
"Can I do it? Am I up for the challenge? Why the hell do I need to jump?" These are the thoughts that were racing in my mind as my name was called.

I got up. Shaking knees, soar throat. I went to the jumping bay sat in the preparation sofa (sited with your back to the drop) for final harnessing. Meditating like a boxer on the bench before a fight. All was ready. I was being led onto the ledge.

I looked down.
Imagine the Shalom tower balcony again.
This time you are standing at the rail, looking down at the world below. So small it is almost surreal. From behind you hear those terrifying words:

5... 4... 3... 2... 1..

I didn't hear the "bungy".
I was already in the air.

It was the scariest thing I have done in my life
And the happiest birthday I ever had.
 

http://www.ajhackett.com/index.php/ps_pagename/queenstown

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