Lewis the Lion kept dreaming he was falling; falling fast and hard but strangely he never quite hit the ground. His mind must have been going into overdrive in preparation for one of the most daring things he’d done on his adventure so far. He was going to do the world’s biggest canyon swing just outside of Queenstown, the self-proclaimed adventure capital of the world.
In this place, if you could think of something daring, then you could probably do it. It was here that the world’s first bungy jump was carried out by a New Zealand entrepreneur, Anthony J Hackett.
He and his business partner, fellow New Zealander, Henry van Asch had been given the idea when they discovered the Pacific Vanuatu tribe who engaged in a similar practice. They then came up with the ideal latex cord and attachment systems to make it work and thus sprung-up the worldwide phenomena.
Lewis the Lion had already watched some of his brave Swedish friends, Lina and Jessica do a tandem bungy jump just a few days before off the Kawarau Suspension Bridge (the place of the world’s first commercially run bungy operation).
He therefore didn’t want to feel like he’d chickened out whilst he had the chance in New Zealand. ‘Life is about grabbing opportunities after all,’ he tried to rationalise.
Nonetheless, he still felt very, very nervous as the bus wound them around the beautiful lakeside of Queenstown.
It was a wondrously sunny day and the white peaks of the Remarkables cut sharp against the crisp blue sky. ‘Whoever named those mountains, chose the perfect name,’ Lewis the Lion thought to himself. They really were quite remarkable! Looking at the picturesque scenery helped to take his mind off the madness that he was about to embark upon.
Thankfully, he had not only his trusty travel companion Helen but also another very brave friend called Laura who tried to reassure him that everything would be OK and that he would have a great time.
Laura was a top trampolinist and had already done a bungy jump in the past so she wasn’t quite as nervous as the first-timers, Lewis and Helen. Luckily though, the three of them would do this jump together which was a bit of a comfort to Lewis the Lion.
The canyon swing wasn’t cheap; even with a discount and in tandem, Helen and Laura still had to pay NZ $150 each. However, Lewis the Lion couldn’t imagine where else in the world he would be able to experience such a thing and he couldn’t be sure of when he’d next be back in New Zealand? Furthermore, this company had a hundred percent safety record so he felt like he was in safe hands.
At first, both Helen, Lewis and Laura had to be weighed so that the technicians manning the station knew which ropes and tensions to use.
They then had some bright blue writing on the back of their hands with a special code for the technicians.
The minibus twisted and turned up a track that led them high up into the mountains and Lewis the Lion was just grateful that he didn’t have to walk it. On arriving at the top of a deep gorge, Lewis could see the bungy station and the canyon swing station.
However, first there was a toilet stop before being harnessed up. Lewis the Lion thought that the icons on the toilet doors were very creative!
Before their own canyon swing, the friends were given the option to go across to the Nevis Bungy jumping ledge to see people jumping from the highest jump in Australasia.
They got into what appeared to be a tin box (a cable-car really!) and were wired across to the jump pod. Lewis the Lion was slightly reassured that there were crazier people in this world than him as this looked perhaps ten times more daring than what he was about to embark upon.
The Nevis Bungy was very high indeed measuring a drop of 134 metres and with an 8.5 second freefall. Lewis the Lion tentatively looked over the edge. ‘Whoooaahhhh!’ he exclaimed, relieved that he was fully harnessed up. That was some drop. Furthermore, high up, the wind was very strong and it whipped dangerously around the platform.
However, he also noticed that the safety precautions in place were immensely high too. There were posters explaining the dos and don’ts and instructions about how to do a safe bungy jump. Practically you just had to throw yourself over the edge as if you were a top diver with your arms outstretched in front of you. There seemed to be no place for fear here!
The technicians making sure that people were properly harnessed up and ready to go had a radio control with the folk back on the ground and were waiting for an opportunity for the wind to die down. They were also checking the monitors above their heads very carefully to make sure that it was the right time for the bungy jumper to jump.
When the coast was clear, they rang out the instructions, “One, two, three, go!” At which point there was no hesitation on behalf of the bungy jumper; they just had to go!
Lewis the Lion thought that that was probably the best way for people to jump over the edge because as he watched on, he really doubted if he would have had the nerve to do what they were doing? He was in full admiration of just how brave these people were.
However, it was now Lewis the Lion’s turn to go to do his highest swing in the world. To say he had butterflies in his stomach is an understatement, as he padded hesitantly across the 70 metre suspension bridge towards the launch pad. All he knew was that that the canyon swing had an initial 70 metre drop followed by a 300 metre arc (that’s the size of three rugby fields)!
Once on the other side, he knew that there was no turning back and especially as Helen had paid so much money. He just had to go through with it, however terrified he might feel. But first of all, he and his friends had to decide in what way they wanted to do their jump?
Lewis the Lion looked to see what the options were had he been on his own, (which he was so glad that he wasn’t!).
He then studied the options for the tandem jumpers. Laura was keen for them to do the tandem jump backwards as she thought that sounded more daring. Lewis the Lion wasn’t so sure…he only knew that it all sounded terrifying to him!
On this ‘the World’s Highest Swing’ platform, Tao made sure that Lewis the Lion and Helen were fully harnessed up. Lewis the Lion only hoped that he knew what he was doing. The standard joke was that it was there first day on the job! He was starting to get really scared and yet he knew that he should feel brave; he was a lion after all.
He doesn’t know whether his nerves were being rubbing off on Helen too as she was also feeling very scared at this point. When the technician on the platform told her to bend her knees and lean back, she suddenly wanted an extra moment to gather her strength, her legs becoming rigid. The technician and Laura gave her some final words of encouragement whilst photos were taken of them leaving the platform.
The technician told the girls to wave to the camera, then wave to their friends taking a video and then…
You can see what happened next in this video of Lewis the Lion’s daring swing!
What happened next, happened in a blink as far as Lewis the Lion is concerned. Helen had barely had time to take hold of the rope again when suddenly they were dropping like a stone. Plummeting. Plummeting. Seeing the platform moving away from them at a terrific speed. It took a while for Lewis the Lion to even comprehend what was happening. He could hear the wind whipping past his mane or was that Helen screaming? He couldn’t be sure.
As the platform at the top of the cliff face moved rapidly further and further away from them, in a fraction of a second, there seemed to be a tug on the stretch of rope and a sudden jerk. Helen hit her ear on something but she doesn’t know what and then they were being propelled backwards, suspended across the canyon in a ginormous swinging motion.
“Weeeeeeeeee! Yeeeeeaaaahhhhh! Now this is the part I like!” cried an ecstatic Lewis the Lion. What an adrenalin rush! This swing was simply brilliant as it swung gracefully from one side of the canyon to the other. This felt really relaxing and went on for about six or seven times before it gradually started to lose momentum. The next thing that Lewis knew they were being hoisted vertically back up the rope to the platform. What a thrill it had been!
When he arrived back onto the platform, he could barely believe what he had just had the guts to do and what a buzz it had given him. However, he didn’t feel in any rush to do it again in a hurry.
Just when Lewis the Lion was feeling rather pleased with himself, along came a girl who he was in true admiration of. He felt like a positive wimp in comparison to her next exploits. Check out these photos of a fearlessly, brave Kerry:
What an afternoon of excitement and he was really happy to have shared the experience with Helen and Laura. If he was honest though, even though Lewis the Lion felt very proud of himself, he did still feel a little bit scared by it all!
As he returned to Queenstown with Helen, Laura and Kerry, he could really appreciate why this place attracted thrill-seekers in search of adventure and now he could class himself as one of them!
What’s the most daring thing that you’ve ever done in your life?
What made it risky?
Would you recommend to anyone else? Why or why not?