A Perfectly Good Ledge

So here I am in New Zealand, home of all kinds of scary adventure activities. And currently I am in Queenstown, where AJ Hackett invented bungy jumping. It was a long internal debate about whether or not to bungy jump. I decided that if I was going to do it, I was going to do the nevis jump, which is 143m high. They suspend you out over the middle of a gorge from a gondola. If you're gonna do it, you gotta do it right.

But I chickened out. I couldn't bring myself to do it, especially considering the exorbitant fee attached. On the other hand, I couldn't really leave here without doing anything daredevil-ish. So I opted for something that you can only do here in Queenstown: the Canyon Swing. Situated in the Shotover Canyon, the swing "lets" you jump off a 109m platform, freefall 60m, and swing an arc that stretches 200m. Much more fun than a bungy jump, I'd say.

I ended up doing two jumps. The first was eloquently titled "Gimp Boy Goes to Hollywood" (their name, not mine). They suspend you in the air just off the platform, flip you upsidedown so you're facing head first into the canyon, and let you go flying. Awesome.




The next one was more scary for me because I actually took the leap off the platform instead of being released. And I jumped backwards. Okay, it wasn't so much of a jump as a fall. I was so freaked out that the guys had to basically talk me into it. I think they started to get annoyed with my by the end, but I am glad I did not completely chicken out and walk away. How else would I have gotten these awesome pictures?