Free Fallin

A couple highlights from last week:
-I played tennis with Hillary on this court that is part of a freshman dorm complex right behind my flat. At like 6:30 everyone started disappearing and we wondered if it was to a dining hall. Turns out there is a freshman dining hall right next to the courts that doesn’t swipe cards and has delicious lemon cake…
-I went to the beach on Wednesday after classes. Being on the beach in March on a school day was awesome! And I got to surf again.

On Friday our Arcadia group headed to Queenstown, the “adventure capital of the world.” We were supposed to go luging once we got there, but it was raining so the place was closed due to slippery roads. Kind of a bummer, but we got passes to go back any time within two months for free.

On Saturday we got up bright (actually dark…before sunrise) and early to hike a day of the Routeburn Track. New Zealand has seven or so famous “walks” that are multiple day hikes where you camp out or stay in huts along the way. The track was completely beautiful. First of all, we saw not one but two rainbows! It’s like the country is actually magical. The plant life in the woods was really cool. It was so green with twisted trees and moss everywhere and felt like we were in Lord of the Rings. We eventually summated at a hut at the top of a waterfall, and then part of our group continued on up another mountain to a lake. I can’t describe how beautiful it was. I’ve been loving New Zealand, but the scenery on the day of hiking has been the biggest confirmation that I should be here. It was so incredibly beautiful and surreal and I don’t think there is anywhere in the world like it. All in all, we hiked 26 kilometers that day, about 16 or so miles.

That night I went out with a few of my friends to take our mind off the bungee jump the next day. Highlight of the night was seeing a bunch of women in 80’s outfits doing crazy dorky dance moves around the bar. It turned out to be one of the women’s bacheloret (no idea how to spell that) party. It was like Trin 80’s dance comes to NZ!

I woke up Sunday morning completely terrified. Bungee jump day! First though, our whole group went to do jet boating. It was probably one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. You’re in this big motor boat going so fast between walls of rock and doing 360s and the driver is insane and you get sooo close to the rocks.

After jet boating, out group split up for bungee jumping. Some didn’t jump, some did the Kawana Bridge, the original commercial bungee jump where you can go into the water, and some did the Nevis, a 450 foot drop known as the most intense jump in the world, with 8 and a half seconds of free fall. For some reason, I chose to do the Nevis. I still don’t know why, because I’m a huge wimp! The bus ride to the site alone is intense. You’re right on the edge of an enormous cliff. Then you get there, and in groups of six are carted on this gondola-like box out to the jump site, which is suspended in the middle of the air between the mountains. I made the mistake of looking down in the cart to the river and rocks far below and got completely terrified. We finally got to the jump site, which was swaying slightly in the wind. The jumpers were heaviest to lightest, so I became more and more terrified as I watched friends jump before me. One of our program leaders, a 30ish rugby player named Shane, jumped and was still shaking from it throughout the rest of the day, which wasn’t comforting! When my name was called, I had to sit in a chair where one of the instructors hooked up the bungee to my harness. I was clearly terrified so he was joking around hooking the bungee to my shoelaces and stuff. I wasn’t amused.

What followed was kind of a blur. I walked to the edge of this mini-diving board thing with the instructor holding onto my harness in the back. I could hear my friends cheering me on and Shane yelling “Don’t look down!” That part was impossible, since you had to look down to shuffle your feet out. At that point, I shook my head and didn’t understand how I was possibly going to willingly jump off that. But, the instructor told me to put my arms out, and told me to jump when he reached 1 and then counted down from 5 and I just did it without thinking.

I thought I would be too terrified to scream…but I was wrong. I don’t think I’ve ever screamed that loud in my life. The first 1-2 seconds of the fall were complete terror. The feeling was so unreal I didn’t even know what to compare it to. Once my body moved from horizontal to more vertical though, it became less scary and my screams turned a little more excited. After falling the whole way, you bounced up, and then down and up again, and after that second bounce pulled a red handle next to your knee to release your feet so that you were sitting up. After doing that, I bounced a few more times up and down and starting laughing hysterically. I couldn’t believe I was alive! The most amazing part was hanging from the bungee, sitting there being pulled up, and just surrounded by all of these enormous mountains. I had adrenaline pumping and was totally peaceful at the same time. Bungee jumping was incredible, and as terrifying as it was, I’d definitely do it again! I was so proud of myself for doing it even though I was SO SCARED! It was one of my goals when coming to New Zealand to experience as much as I could, and bungee jumping was definitely an experience.