To Bungy or not to Bungy?

Travelling can often encourage people to get involved with extreme activities. For many people these can be impulse decisions while they travel and for others, the opportunities for extreme activities are already planned before they set off. 

I would have to say that I am part of that second group, when I booked my southern hemisphere trip I knew that I would do a skydive and a bungee jump at some point. However, I met plenty of people in the former group too, those who hadn't planned to do anything extreme but presented with the opportunity, they made a snap decision and went for it. 

Bungy (bungee) jumping has been in the news recently as Australian Erin Langworthy was plunged into the Zambezi River at Victoria Falls on New Year's Eve 2011 after her bungy rope snapped during a jump. It is a miracle that she survived particularly as her legs were tied together. 
Extreme sports like bungy jumps or skydives are dangerous but that is part of the thrill. At the same time though, the operators will be incredibly safety conscious because they do not want a tragic accident either! Clearly something went catastrophically wrong at the Victoria Falls operation and I understand a full investigation took place and steps were taken to reduce the same risk. From experience I think that skiing is more dangerous than bungy jumping. I believe that there are fewer accidents with bungy jumping and there are many safety checks undertaken.

During my life I have done a tandem skydive and two bungy jumps, at the time the first one was the biggest one in New Zealand and my second one was the biggest in the world. 

The 'Official' Shot 

My first bungy jump was the Pipeline in Queenstown, New Zealand. Being an 'all or nothing' type of character I wasn't interested in the smaller bungees on offer, the Kawarau Bridge at 43m (the first ever commercial bungee site) and Skippers Canyon at 71m. 

Instead I decided to go for the biggest which was The Pipeline at 102m (340ft). 
On a drab wet day, a few of us from the Kiwi Experience bus took the ride out to the bridge and jumped off it attached to an elastic cord.

It is difficult to describe the experience. There are actually many drops because the cord pulls you up and you fall again and again. I remember feeling disorientated and I wasn't sure if I was rising or falling which was odd.

At the end I was winched down into a boat, taken to the river bank and had to walk up the 102 metres I had just jumped from. That was the worst part. I only did the one jump that day but my mate Todd did two, his second one walking off the bridge backwards and dropping feet first. He said that was a real rush.

Apparently the Pipeline Bungy is no longer in operation after it was bought by AJ Hackett. There are three bungy jumps in Queenstown now run by AJ Hackett and you can do one in Auckland too. The highest jump now is the Nevis at 134m. Full details can be found at http://www.bungy.co.nz/. I hear bungy jumps are free if you do them naked.

My second (and final) bungy of my life was in South Africa at the Bloukrans Bridge which is on the Garden Route between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. 

Bloukrans Bridge, South Africa. Look carefully and you can see a jumper hanging. 

Kim and me. Bloukrans Bridge

I can't remember when I first heard about the world's biggest jump but it must have been before I visited Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe as I declined the opportunity to do that one at 111m because I knew I would do Bloukrans at 212m. I didn't see the point of doing one that was 9 metres higher that the Pipeline.In South Africa I was travelling with a fantastic Danish guy called Kim who I met on the Baz Bus. We were both heading to Cape Town and got on so well that we became a dynamic duo. Kim was also well up for the Bloukrans jump.

I was pretty excited as we woke up in a Port Elizabeth hostel knowing it was Bloukrans day. We got into the Baz Bus and after a relatively short ride we reached 'Face Adreneline', signed up and headed to the bridge. At first we watched some other jumpers and it was then that the sheer scale of the jump hit me. As in the top Bloukrans bridge photo above, it was difficult to actually see the jumper. Soon it was time to make our way to the bungy site which is situated underneath the road. I watched as Kim and another lad from the bus did the jump and finally it was my turn. Standing on the edge, the drop was enormous and far greater than the 212m (695ft) bungy cord would allow. As the countdown commenced I started shouting the numbers out with them and with a large cry I launched myself off the bridge. The first second was ok but then the gut-wrenching free fall took over. Five seconds later I was heading back upwards ready for another drop. Within minutes it was over.
Hanging upside down approx 150m from a bridge with the same distance between you and the ground is not a likely scenario you often find yourself in, which is what I was thinking as I hung there. It was weird. This time the recovery came from a man winched down to me who attached me to him, put me in an upright position and winched me back up. Video evidence shows that this was probably the most scary part of the jump for me as my face is one of pure worry. But finally I was back on the bridge, a big smile back on my face and I happily announced my retirement from bungy jumping. Video below - forward to approx 5 mins.
      

       
So to bungy or not to bungy? 

My thoughts are that I would never encourage anyone to do anything dangerous. It has to be a decision purely for the individual. For me, I wanted to do it, I accepted the risks and I trusted the operator. You have to complete a waiver form for these types of activities and this act in itself brings home some of the risks. There are reported injuries from people bungy jumping but I have not met anyone who experienced these. Deaths are few and far between as far as I know too. I think that there are far more dangerous activities in life.

And finally am I glad I did my two bungy jumps? 

100% YES!!


UPDATE: 29th October 2012

In August 2012 I revisited the Bloukrans site, thirteen years after my bungy experience. I didn't do the jump and neither did my wife but I wanted to show her anyway. On the way back to our car one of the guys asked if I was going to do it.
"No mate, I did it thirteen years ago" I said
"Really? I started working here then" replied the man. 
And then I realised, this was the guy that strapped me up in 1999. 

  

Got any great bungy tales? Leave a comment!