Day 145 - The Nevis Bungy day!! Around Queenstown, South Island - Thursday 8th March 2012

We woke up with dry mouths and turning stomachs………………..only joking! We actually felt surprising ok and not that nervous - let's see how we feel when we're standing looking over the edge! After a shower we walked into town and to the bungy centre; after checking in we were weighed, given our numbers and told the bus would pick us up in 30 minutes and so we killed some time on the internet and tried not to think about the forthcoming jump.

As promised, our bus turned up 30 minutes later so we jumped on and looked at the scenery as we made the 35 minute drive to the bungy spot. We arrived and were quickly harnessed up and reweighed again.

The night before Adam had asked me what order I'd like to jump in, to which I very quickly replied that I'd like to go first as the waiting around and thinking about it would be the bit that would kill me - this now seemed quite ironic as I stood before the bungy lady as she told me that as I was the lightest of the group I would be jumping last!! Now I wish I had eaten more cakes in the last week!

We wandered out to the take-off area and looked around - it consisted literally of a little box suspended above a massive valley, in between two mountains and above a river. And the mode of transport to the little bungy box - ummm, yes a tiny, little cable box! My stomach was now starting to turn - Ad, on the other hand, was as cool as a bl**dy cucumber!

We stayed on the first ledge and watched the first couple of jumpers before getting into the little cable car across to the bungy box; the blood cuddling screams from the jumpers made the ride over in the little cable even more fun!

Before we knew it everyone had gone and it was Adam's go. Adam got into the little seat to be bungy roped up - it's literally like a dentist chair and carries the same apprehensive feeling when you sit in it! I stood and waited with both the camera and video camera to try and catch the moment - my only problem being that my whole body was shaking by this point and so the photo's and footage are not a masterpiece (sorry Ad!).

Adam stood on the edge and looked down as the man counted down from 5……………..1 came and Ad was straight off like a little soring eagle! There was no scream - the only sound came from the bungy man telling me that Ad's was the best dive of the day! Before long, Ad was holstered back up and with a Cheshire cat smile was telling me how amazing it was - I did not buy it at all!

Suddenly I was in the chair having my bungy rope tied on - I'd love to tell you how excited I was but I've got to be honest and say it was all a bit of a blur; all I can remember is wondering why the hell I had agreed to do the jump and actually paid a lot of money for it! The next moment I'm standing on the ledge looking down with the bungy man counting me down. This is the part where I was thinking that it seemed a lot higher than the 134 metres which thinking about it now, it was; you jump 134 metres but actually you're quite a way off the bottom of the valley so the little box must be about 200 metres up - now that's a long way to jump!

The final number came and I was off! You free fall for 8.5 seconds and although this seems quite long it goes really quickly; before you know it you're bobbing up and down waiting to be dragged back up again. Up at the top and my first question was "am I still alive?!" - the answer was of course yes. Both Ad and I felt great (once I'd got my legs to work again and could stand up) and really enjoyed it!

Back in town we headed for the local pub for a well-deserved pie and pint to celebrate our victory over the Nevis bungy!

Come afternoon I met up with Alex, who I used to work with at Deckers and just so happened to be in Queenstown, and her friend Kirsten went for a beer on the grass by the lake. It was lovely to catch up and hear all her news!

In the evening Ad, D&N and I drove to Arrowtown for a walk around, some dinner and a cinema session at the boutique cinema Dorothy Browns. The cinema was great - lovely little chairs with big cushions and rugs and a cheese plate and glass of wine to go with our film "The Descendents".

With the cinema finished, we drove back to Queenstown and said a sad goodbye to D&N before heading to bed in a little campervan park nearby. What a day!