A flying leap of faith. Really!
Posted by Ruth Atherley on June 1, 2009 at 7:48 am
There is something fascinating, exciting and horrifying about standing at the edge of a little plank on a bungy platform. Your heart is beating so fast you can hardly speak and your legs are starting to tremble. People are watching you and you have told a bunch of friends and colleagues that you are going to do this, but your mind is SCREAMING at you not to do this. And I almost didn’t. I really didn’t want to let go of the steel handle on the platform.
The team at AJ Hackett Bungy is exceptional. Professional, kind, compassionate and quite hilarious (in that, oh no, I think she might snap but maybe she’ll jump, kind of way). I think in the two or three minutes I stood up there paralyzed with fear, they provided some crazy kind of therapy that is going to positively impact the rest of my life. I can’t emphasize enough about the professional, safety conscious approach that the people here take. They are exceptional. I was incredibly impressed. And I am very grateful that they encouraged me not to chicken out.
AJ Hackett is where bungy began, and the Kawarau Bridge Bungy centre was the first place that average folks like you and I could…well, jump off a platform 43 metres above a river safely. It’s worth checking out some of the crazy things the people that started this company have done.
AJ Hackett has three spots here in Queenstown and each one gives you a different experience. And believe me, it’s an experience. One of the interesting things that I learned while out at the Kawarau Bridge Bungy is that more than 500,000 visitors come to that particular spot a year and about 35,000 jump. Those are pretty amazing numbers! And—for those chickens out there—in more than 20 years of business, there has not been a serious injury or death. I am proof that you don’t have to be a youngster to do this.
It might sound silly, but finding the courage to jump off that platform shifts something inside of you…it makes you feel like you can do anything. And, even in mid-life (or a bit older), I think it’s good to remind ourselves that we’ve still got it in us. Sometimes you just need to take that flying leap of faith.
See Flickr photos at AJ Hackett Bungy.
