The Nevis! (again)

So in the interests of keeping up with Slepak (see here), I too decided to take a rickety tram out to a tin shed suspended precariously over an impossibly deep chasm and hurl myself in. On the drive out they played "Learning to Fly" and "Free Fallin'," they tried to scare us with the 3x comparison to the little bungee we passed. We also passed a bunch of vineyards and sheep grazing in valleys covered with brilliant yellow aspens. When the van finally wheezed to the top of an incredibly steep hill we piled out and got the last minute jitters out of our system in the bathrooms:

Kind of reminds me of my trip to Thailand’s beach playground, Phuket:


So we were standing around for a while and heard there were "mechanical problems" and they weren't joking. After you jump, they lower an electro magnet down that clamps by your feet hauls you back up. But there was a short in the system and it wasn't connecting, so some poor bloke had to be lowered to the bottom and walk up the hill! This put a bit of delay in the process so we got a free pre-jump sausage, note the jump pod in the background:


The jump itself was amazing. The first second you go from heavy pump up music to silence and exhilarating acceleration. The next second you get over the oh-shit-ness of the moment and see the ground rushing up to you. And then all too soon you feel the cords take hold, slow you down, and bounce you back up. At the top of bounce you get a split second of weightlessness. And then it's just a nice hang in a beautiful river valley until they haul you up. I'll totally do it again - if someone else is paying! Look how small I look through the glass floor of the jump pod:

The weather is looking good for the next couple of days (and my bag finally arrived) so I'm headed off to the Routeburn Tramp for (hopefully) some spectacular views!