This all started as a dare. And let's face it, it's not the first time I've taken an international holiday based on a dare. But this was a truly exceptional dare.

Many of you will have read my previous blog on "100 Ways To Die", a trip during which I flew to Queenstown and indulged in all the high adrenalin activities I could find. Which is quite a few. Roll forward a few months and my gorgeous friend "The Hot *****" made some slightly too casual remark about the Shotover Canyon Swing looking like a bit of fun. Since she was headed towards Queenstown in January I said, "You know, they let you jump naked." And so was spawned the idea to dive off the platform in burlesque costume. Somewhere in that conversation I found myself dared to join her and who am I to say no to a good dare?

I figured if I was going to go all that way though, one costume was clearly not enough. Those of you who know me well know I completely lose my mind when anyone says the word "costume". Crazy things happen. Thus began the great costume hunt of late 2014. I had so much trouble keeping the costumes to myself once I bought them! It was awfully tempting to say "Check these out!" to absolutely everybody but I refrained. The entire trip remained a reeeeeasonably well guarded secret.

I got into Queenstown on Wednesday and beelined for coffee - of course - and then the Canyon Swing store to reacquaint myself with the awesome birds of the store.

I've done pretty much all the activities worth doing around here. And yes, I've done the Nevis Swing - the world's biggest. So why would I want to keep coming back to do the Shotover Canyon Swing? Because of the people who work there. In exactly the same way that working with great people can improve an otherwise ordinary job, the staff at the Canyon Swing take a fantastic and fun experience and make it a million times more enjoyable and unforgettable. I think they were almost as excited to have us jump in costume as we were to actually do it. The girls were mad keen to see our costumes, and the guys were mad keen to see us barely wearing them. We obliged.

It was mercifully overcast the day of our jumps. Which is a good thing. That much spandex in the sunlight was going to be a recipe for overheating. As usual, this little vampire was happy to see no sun. The Hot ***** and I got off to a very relaxed start doing our hair and makeup and meandered down to the Canyon Swing store at 11am looking, well, a little odd. We had our first costumes on under our maxi dresses and, ummm, well, nipple pasties are kind of pointy and it kind of showed. :-P But that's OK. They knew we were toting mysterious costumes.

There's a set routine to the course of events here. First you must be weighed. Some of you might remember the hangman that was drawn on my hand last time. This time it was a snail. Apparently that means I've lost weight. Excellent. Once weighed and "marked" we are driven out to the site, around fifteen minutes out of town. Or ten minutes, depending who's driving. I'd do it in seven.

The stats for the Shotover Canyon Swing are as follows. It is the world's highest cliff jump. The platform is on a cliff, 109 metres above the river. That's 360 feet, for those of you who speak American. After departing the platform, voluntarily or otherwise, you drop for 60 metres. Just under 200 feet. At this point, the swing catches you and you glide into a nice 200 metre arc. Or, 650 feet. The thrill and rush of it is something very hard to describe to those who aren't into this sort of thing, or who haven't yet had the chance to try it.

And it's really not that hard. Let's not forget here, I'm afraid of heights. Even after seven jumps off this platform, I *still* get the shakes quite badly. It's a genuine mental battle for me to launch off that edge every time I do it. But I *know* it's going to be worth it. I know if I can juuuuust push past the voice in my head that says we're all going to die, it will be so much freaking fun. It's simple logic, really. They wouldn't be in business if people died doing this. So the chances are pretty fantastic that I won't die either, right? If that's the case, then suck it up and JUMP. :-D None of this rubbish and noise, standing on the edge and whimpering about it. I mean, I *paid* to jump off the edge, didn't I? No one's forcing me. So jump already.

It's probably a good thing I don't work there. I have such a low tolerance for stupidity. The first time someone tried that noise with me, I'd probably just say "Oh, you're going," and shove them over. Job done. I mean, I'd still be delivering on the objective, right?

Everything is geared to make you feel very safe. The same person who meets you in the store and drives you out is the same one who shoves you over the edge. You are harnessed up and checked several times before plunging, with everything cross-checked by the pair working the edge of the platform. Who, as a side note, I suspect are thoroughly insane. They swan around out there as though they're not constantly one wrong step from a fall. If you're game and showing considerable testicular fortitude they'll mess with you and dummy push you and heckle you. If you're more timid and showing some genuine fear, they'll ease you through it the whole way. If have a great rack and show up in a burlesque costume, consider yourself fair game.

I'm pretty sure at first they used casual conversation to put us at ease while we inched our way to the edge of the platform. It started out sedately enough.

Jump boy 1: "What did you girls get up to last night?"
Me: "It was hot last night, so we just ended up having a bit of an underpants party in our room."
The Hot *****: "I don't remember any pants."

It was right around this point the boys realised these girls would fight fire with fire.

I kind of cheated and went out the day before and had a practice run at all this. Given my fear of heights I didn't want to risk screwing it all up on costume day. So I popped out and did a Pin Drop. This is a class five jump, or on the Canyon Swing scale, five underpants. That means it's difficult and takes much courage. In keeping with tradition, I jumped straight off, no hesitation. During the course of that visit I was offered a second jump and encouraged to do it naked. I didn't. But hey, I can always be dared into coming back, clearly. ;-)

The Hot ***** and I had originally planned to do the easiest jump for our first one, the tandem cutaway. I thought it a good option as she hadn't jumped before. But as we were led out to the edge, our jump master convinced us to do a forward jump. Meaning we had to stare into the wild depths below and take the mighty leap under our own steam. And did we do it? Oh, you know we did. Complete with makeup, styled hair, sequins galore, nipple pasties and high heels, we were counted down 3-2-1 and over we went.

And we just kept going back for more. You might recall me saying I had multiple costumes. I did a whirlwind change of outfit and just like Superman ducking into the phone booth, all of a sudden, I was Wonder Woman. And as the video will prove, there is only one way for Wonder Woman to leave that platform. Even The Hot ***** went back for more, taking it all the way to a five underpants level jump and performing the Gimp Boy Goes To Hollywood. I won't bother explaining what that is, because I did it too in my final costume - the world's cheekiest and wildest cowgirl - and you can see it in the video. I've always said I can ride anything with hair and just to make sure I wouldn't be proven wrong, I took along my own stick pony to ride off the cliff. I didn't fall off, either. He stayed quite firmly between my thighs.

I could talk all day about this but I'm going to keep coming back to the same point. This is AWESOME fun, and if you can imagine it, it's made even better by such great staff. You guys are a class act and whatever it is you're doing, you're doing it right. Do more of it.

Without further word count, here is the short and sweet version of events today:

http://youtu.be/BcDRLrKHDNw