The Nevis bungy before today was something that I still held some fear for. The bridge bungy was a lot of fun, and there were no big dramas making the jump, but this one is 134 meters from a pod suspended by cables over a massive canyon and river. It is a bit more of a hand full shall we say! I was not put off of course, as the best bit about the first bungy for me was the fall, so this must surely be better as the fall is for 8.5 seconds!
The centre in town made us wait for quite a while past the pickup time, and I was bored of watching the looping video of all four of the AJ Hackett bungies on the wall of TV's in the pickup office by the time we got going. I was on the bus with eleven other people and we were about 40 minutes away from the bungy site. Once again the bus was silent! I Wish I took my ipod along...
Obviously we had to do some off road driving to get to the jump site, as it was at the top of a canyon, and the bus ride up the steep and thin gravel path was pretty hairy in itself. At the top we were presented with the main office, which looked pretty old stood next to the spanking new complex which is being roofed at the moment right next to it. They are installing a huge canyon swing on this site too, which will make them some serious dosh!
AJ HAckett sites are extremely professionally run to the point of making the whole thing 'too' easy to do. The guys there swiftly had us weighed and harnessed and I was in the first group out to the pod in the cool little cable car. The pod is a loooooong way out in the middle of the canyon. The scale of this thing doesn't really be come apparent until you're safely clipped into the car and halfway across to the pod suspended over the huge canyon below. This place is massively impressive. Once into the pod it is revealed that they jump people in order of weight, heaviest first... so yup, chubbs here was first jump of the fluppin day! I was actually quite pleased about that, as any extra 'edge' I could gain to make the experience all the better, was fine by me. I was slap bang in the middle of a 'bring it the fuck on' mood right now!
With the pod swaying in the breeze, I sat up on the glass shelf to have my ankles wrapped, which was done very differently to the bridge jump, and it all felt alot tighter and more 'modern' here. [That's not a bad reflection on the bridge jump of course, where you are extremely well looked after and they only use top kit].
Once the harness is tightened around you for a second time and the ankles strapped, you are taken through the gate into the jump area, and seated in what I can only describe as a dentists chair, where they sit you down and take three teeth out without using anaesthetic... obviously they don't do that, although I suspect some people would opt for it once sat here with the prospect of the jump behind them! As you jump into the chair, you get a wonderful glimpse of the canyon and the drop you're dealing with. Now I was taking a few deeps breaths! They strap you into the rope here and explain how the patented retrieval system works. Once you've bounced a couple of times, at the top of the next bounce you have to reach up and pull a cord away from your ankle which releases your feet(!) and swings you up the other way leaving you sat in your harness. They then winch you back up the pod, pull you in and hook you back onto the safety rail. Ok, got it... fall, bounce, ankle rope, winch. We're ready to go, first jump of the day and the lads I came over on the cable car with (one of whom is literally shaking with nerves!) start shouting encouraging words as I hop confidentally to the edge. The trick with these things is to not think about it too much, take a deep breath and just jump as far as you can. I think the guy got to '2' in his countdown and I was gone... big push out and there was that superb falling feeling once again! I can't remember what I shouted this time, but some noise came out for sure! The drop is amazing here, and the ground rush (the sensation of the ground coming up very very fast) is unbelievable! After a few bounces I gave a tuck on the cord on my ankle and it wouldn't budge, it needed a few goes and I caught it at the bottom of the next bounce, which gave me a nice jolt as it flipped me up, still a looooong way above the canyon floor. I looked up to the viewing platform, with the sun behind it to see the silhouettes of some people waiting to come over on the car and gave them a wave and got some cheers back, lol! The winch up is quite nice and you get a good relaxed view of things from here, which include a good look at the bungy cord itself as you are hoisted past it and asked to pull it in with you when you get to the top. It is literally hundreds of tiny strands of white rubber, wound together with more rubber. I'd never seen it before. Think of a rubber band ball you'd have made when you were a kid (or when bored at work ;-)), the surface kind of looked like that.
I was buzzing once again, and to be honest, this really didn't feel any different for me than the bridge jump, apart from a moment of realising it is further when you first see the canyon. These things are so safe and you constantly have the feeling of control what with your legs tied tightly together and the feeling of the cord slowing you down near the bottom of the fall.
I took snaps of the lads going after me, and one quick vid of one jump, which give some nice scale to the thing again for future reference. The guy that went after me was sooooo scared, fair play though, he jumped first time and had an insane smile on his face for the rest of the trip.
Once again I was shelling out for the DVD and photos, but what the hell, I might never come back here, or get a chance to do such a cool jump again, so purchase I shall!
I went to the now customary celebration venue, Fergburger for another monster burger and chips and had a short walk around town in the afternoon. I took some snaps of a cool little dog playing in the lake near town, who's owner clearly had some issues! Firstly the poor dog was called 'Tuesday'... I mean, come on! If you're going to name a dog a day of the week, at least make it a friday or saturday?! Secondly the dog had a huge thick studded collar on... I mean 3 inches wide, on a big staffy sized dog! It looked decidedly gay, and frankly I don't think it is fair on the dog to cast aspersions about its sexuality without asking it for an opinion! Granted, most dogs have gay tendencies, and will stick their nose pretty much anywhere, but even the gay ones themselves may not want to dress in this fashion! Did he think he was making his dog look 'hard' with this collar on? Perhaps so, until he meekly squeels 'Tuuuuuuesday' down the beach at it... Lol! Poor dog! Anyway, he looked like he was having fun running around in the wash of the lake with his stick, regardless of the stigmas inflicted on him by his stupid owner... ;-)
I also went to the cinema and watched the Indian Jones movie, which was a serious waste of cash! What a load of crap, it almost but me to sleep, and I can see the next spin off coming a mile off, which I'll be avoiding for certain! $12 for that nonsense! It was a good job I hadn't spent ~$280 on a 8.5 second freefall, a few bounces and a DVD earlier in the day huh! ;-p
Pics of the crazy bungy are over on my facebook pages for you to check out!!! (The cute dog pics are in another folder over there)
