Boiiinnggg!!!

"Are you nervous?" asked the grinning kiwi.
"Yes, I’m frickin’ terrified!" I replied.

Instantly his smile vanished and he hunkered down beside me.

"OK, listen." he said in a quiet but firm tone. "You have absolutely nothing to worry about and I mean that. This equipment can handle a strain more than five times what we’ll be putting on it today. In all our years of operation, hundreds of thousands of people have done this and we’ve never had so much as a single injury. We’re experts and won’t let anything happen to you. So what do you say - are you going to give it a go?"

"Sure," I replied "let’s do it."

After the sincerity of his speech, I didn’t want to tell him that I wasn’t worried about getting hurt; I had every confidence in his operation. I was however, nervous that I might bottle out. Afraid that when the time came, I might be too scared to go through with it. I make no apologies for that. After all, it was the first time in my life I’d jumped off a 275 foot high bridge with only a thin strand of elastic preventing me from doing a face plant into 6 inches of water.

Bungee (or bungy) jumping is a modern version of an ancient ritual which took place on the island of Vanuatu, in the South Pacific. Known as "Gkol", it was a rite of passage whereby the young men would tie ropes made from vines around their ankles before hurling themselves off platforms high in the treetops, dropping like stones until the vines snapped taut and (hopefully) arrested their fall a moment before impact. There were no sophisticated formulas for calculating the length of the cord, or the body weight of the initiate, or the anticipated stretch – they worked that out by….well, nobody’s quite sure how they worked that out but the trick was to get as close to the ground as possible without actually making contact. This had the desire effect of enhancing one’s status in the village. Particularly with the ladies of the village.

Not surprisingly, it took some time for this activity to catch on elsewhere in the world and it wasn’t until the late 80’s when a semi-insane New Zealander named A.J. Hackett saw a video of the Gkol ritual being recreated by the equally loony members of Oxford (England) University’s Dangerous Sports Club. Hackett realized that others might be willing; not only to make such jumps themselves, but to pay for the experience and the germ of an idea was born.

With the help of a business partner named Henry van Asch and some Auckland University scientists, Hackett set about testing bungee cords and looking for suitable sites. In 1987, he himself jumped from the Eiffel Tower in Paris to make a very public display of his complete faith in the product – and to garner more than a bit of publicity. The world's first commercial bungee jump opened in New Zealand in 1988 and was hailed as the birth of adventure tourism in New Zealand. A mere 3 years later, I stood on a platform on a bridge high above Skipper’s Canyon, outside Queenstown on the South Island, fervently hoping I wouldn’t wet myself.

A bunch of us had ridden up in a mini-bus that morning. A mix of wealthy tourists, two American oil workers taking the scenic route home from the middle-east, a young family and a handful of backpacker types like me. At the time, Skipper’s Canyon was the highest commercial bungee jump in the world although that record has long since been surpassed. It was plenty high enough though and those bungee cords looked awfully fragile.

We chatted nervously while the employees made their preparations. "I’m not worried about myself, so much as my son" confided the father. "He’s only thirteen and I’m not comfortable with him doing this."

"Don’t worry." I told him "You’re still a young man – you can always have another kid." He thought this was hilarious but after seeing the look his wife gave me, I resolved to make sure she jumped before I did.

The two oil men swaggered confidently in public, but one confided to me "I just hope my buddy doesn’t realize how nervous I am." It was very touching when a few minutes later, I heard his friend mutter the exact same thing.

A number of people had brought cameras but of course, it wasn’t possible to photograph yourself so this required an assistant. A cute little British girl handed me her point n’ shoot with explicit instructions as to the compositions she was looking for.

"One of me on the platform, one jumping off, one swinging in the air and one of me being lowered into the boat." She was the first to go and caught up as I was in the excitement of the moment, I totally forgot the camera in my hand until it was all over and she was having the cords untied from her ankles. I fired off 4 snaps with my finger over the lens and when she later asked excitedly "Did you get them?" I fibbed and assured her they would be great. I’m afraid I don’t remember your name but if by any chance you’re reading this, cute little British girl then, uh...sorry.

Finally it was my turn and after receiving my little pep talk, I took a deep breath and poised myself at the edge of the abyss. "Look at the trees, let yourself go and don’t forget to have fun" advised my pal and after a bare moment’s hesitation, I bounced on the balls of my feet and leapt into space.

There was a brief moment of terror, then a mild concern that those trees were getting awfully close, then a close up look at the river and all of a sudden, everything was getting smaller once more. No jerk, no bounce, just a smooth rise back up towards the bridge. Then back down towards the river, then back up to the bridge and so on. I’d been zipping around for a few seconds before I realized I’d forgotten to yell "Yippee!" or anything else appropriate. Worried that people might think I was feart, I let loose a couple of "Yee-Haaas!" before being lowered into the waiting jet-boat and ferried back to shore where my new friends were waiting to give me a high-five. Then it was back to town for the obligatory souvenir T-shirts and a look at the video. By golly, I looked graceful.

If ever I should run into a lady from the island of Vanuatu, I’ll bet she’ll be well impressed.