"It was my mom's birthday but even she couldn't have predicted - me receiving the news of almost losing my job & then jumping off a bridge later that day!". No, don't worry. I am alive. And kicking. And writing this post. In this blog, I will be narrating to you my memorable adventure in Queenstown, New Zealand.
23rd September 2017. I clearly remember the day. We were to spend an action-packed day in Queenstown, New Zealand. I was on a 13-day vacation in New Zealand with my family, the occasion for the family trip being - my adorable munchkin mum's 49th birthday celebration.
Oh and here's a random image of a child-like her admiring the beauty of New Zealand.
ADVENTURE IN QUEENSTOWN - THE SKYDIVE CHAPTER
PLANNING THE NZONE TANDEM SKYDIVE
Since we were in the adventure sports capital of the world, it'd be a shame if we didn't indulge in any. I'd booked three tandem skydiving (where a student skydiver is connected to a harness attached to a tandem instructor) tickets, the previous night from my hotel as I thought this would be the perfect way to ring in my mother's birthday - by jumping off a plane!
So, we started our adventure in Queenstown by visiting the NZone Skydive office at 35 Shotover Street at 8 am. I had earlier booked the 7:30 am skydive slot on phone from the reception of the stunning Copthorne hotel where we were staying (a hotel with the best views you'll ever see). But I changed it to the 8 am slot, thinking it'd be too early & that booking a 30-minute later slot won't make much of a difference.
The NZone team carried out it's standard procedure by introducing us to the concept of skydiving -
- telling us the dos & don'ts during skydiving,
- showing us a demo video of a tandem skydive jump,
- making us sign the waiver form,
- inquiring what sort of photo & video package we wanted so that they could capture our jump accordingly and collect the total payment for the same.
EXCITEMENT FOR THE SKYDIVE AND REACHING THE CENTRE
My parents & I were absolutely stoked. The excitement was palpable in our voices. To do a skydive is one thing but to do it with your family just makes the occasion memorable. I had always been an adrenaline junkie and a skydive overlooking the picturesque terrain of New Zealand ranked first in my bucket list.
We left for the NZone Skydive centre in their bus with our thrill-o-meter ready to break all limits anticipating a one-of-a-kind adventure in Queenstown. We reached the Skydive centre and were waiting for the proceedings to start.
There was a huge open grassy area with a runway bordered by fences which I was assuming was the launchpad for the aircraft to take-off and then for the tandem skydiver to land with his parachute on.
We were clicking pictures of the scenic location till then & waiting for our batch to be called. We saw the 7:30 batch of skydivers landing with their parachutes and screaming in delight. Seeing them so thrilled after the experience got me even more restless in anticipation of our turn.
WEATHER PLAYING SPOILSPORT
However, then we received bad news from the NZone team that the weather was risky for skydiving as it'd become cloudy and the winds were too strong for a jump to happen safely.
We were told to wait for 45 minutes before the next weather update so we decided to wait it out. After 45 minutes, the team told us that all jump slots had been delayed by 2 hours owing to bad weather.
I wasn't getting a good feeling about it and the news had dampened the spirits of my parents as well. We couldn't have risked wasting the entire day on the hunch that the weather will get better & I didn't want my mum to just wait & not do anything fun on her birthday.
We'd rather go back to Queenstown city & book some other adventure sport not governed by the weather.
Disappointed by the further delay, we took the tough call of cancelling the skydive. The team at NZone was really supportive & apologised for the inconvenience. It was kind on their part because the delay was due to reasons not under anyone's control.
They gave us our refund receipt which we could show at the NZone skydive office and collect our refund money - which was a substantial amount coupled with the photo & video package as skydiving is pretty expensive.
THE INITIAL REGRET AND MY FATHER'S DREAM
We were returning to the city & all through the route I was wondering - if only I had not changed my booking from the 7:30 am slot to the 8:00 am slot, we'd all be returning with the feeling of elation & achievement after completing the skydive.
I felt responsible somewhere for the skydive not happening and letting my parents down. My mom, being the amazing person that she is, noticed that my chips were down & constantly kept telling me that it's okay and it's not a big deal as we'd do it later.
She also told me about this weird dream my dad had the previous night which he, out of fear of diffusing my enthusiasm and spoiling the plan, didn't share with me. So my dad dreamt of diving from a plane and just as the freefall was happening, his heart wasn't able to handle the tension mid-air due to the pressure dip & height and he died of a heart attack.
MY MOST DREADFUL THOUGHT AS A SINGLE CHILD
I heard all of it and before I even realised I had a tear rolling down my cheek. I got conscious & didn't want to be seen crying so I wiped my eyes & turned to have a look at my dad sitting behind.
He was looking out of the window like an inquisitive innocent kid enjoying the views and I was relieved somewhere that the dive didn't happen & just wished he shared his fear with me if it troubled him.
No adventure sport or anything in this world was more precious to me than my dad's life. At the end of the day, all that a single child in a family of three has is his parents to fall back on and to lose even one of them is an extremely dreadful thought.
I was initially disappointed with myself for booking a later slot & missing out, but now I felt grateful for the weather gods intervening and patted my back on what a masterstroke of a decision I'd made. How perspectives change in a matter of a few seconds!
NEXT ADVENTURE IN QUEENSTOWN - THE SHOTOVER JET CHAPTER
We reached the NZone office in Queenstown, collected our refund and headed to the station building at Shotover street where all the bookings for the remaining activities take place. Now my parents & I decided we'd do the Shotover JET ride.
The Shotover JET was apparently mentioned by CNN in 2014 as the only NZ activity in the list of 19 greatest vacation experiences in the world and the world's most exciting jet boat ride. The company shuttle picked us from the booking office and took us to the Shotover River Canyons.
It was a beautiful sight with a jet boat whizzing past turquoise blue waters under a bridge between 2 mountains. We put on our jackets, buckled up, wore our helmets and sat in the jet boat ready for a thrill-a-minute ride.
Our driver was a 59-year-old youngster who's only instruction to us was to hold the metal bar in front of us tightly when he raises his index finger and does the helicopter-blade spinning movement with it. It was high tide in the canyon as the water stream had gone wild. The ride started and we took off!
THRILL-A-MINUTE RIDE WITH OUR DAREDEVIL RIDER
What followed was absolute adrenaline-pumping mayhem as our rider rode the jet making swift but sudden turns & cuts almost giving the people sitting at the corners the impression that they'd bang their heads into the canyon rocks. He manoeuvred the jet like a skilful artist and as soon as he made the helicopter-blade gesture, our minds were blown.
The boat spun 360° almost mid-air like a bike doing a wheelie.
We were all screaming our lungs out and having a blast. We sped past rocky outcrops, skimmed through boulders and travelled through dramatic & narrow canyons at the speed of a 100-120km/hr with the boat performing breathtaking stunts. It was a fantastic feeling to see my parents having a good time.
Picture courtesy - TripAdvisor @Thaddeus B
Our driver had set fire to the waters as we were vrooming across the canyon with the sight of beautiful mountains ahead of us. We did eight or nine such spins and after the cuts, breaks, wheelies, our driver even stopped at a point showing us a fighting monkey couple emphasizing on the fact that no matter what the species, a married couple always fights.
He had skill & humour in just the right proportion. After half an hour of spectacular action, the ride ended and we were dropped at the boarding point. With a beaming smile and partially wet clothes, we travelled back to the Shotover street to plan our next activity.
FINAL ADVENTURE IN QUEENSTOWN - THE KAWARAU BRIDGE BUNGY CHAPTER
We were leaving Queenstown the next day and with just half a day at our disposal, we could only do one more activity. Mum & dad decided to go parasailing and since they knew I'd already done it in Dubai, they told me to choose whatever I wanted to do.
I chose to do the Kawarau Bridge Bungy by AJ Hackett as bungy jumping was second in my bucket list of adventure sports after skydiving.
New Zealand is considered the World's Home of Bungy & Kawarau was the place where it all started. Kawarau Bridge Bungy wears the badge of being the world's first Bungy, with the pioneers - AJ Hackett & Henry van Asch starting the culture of commercial Bungy jumping from this site in 1988.
The history associated with the place made it all the more imperative for me to jump from there & be a part of the legacy.
REACHING THE KAWARAU BUNGY CENTRE AND SOAKING THE VIBE
So I set out for my 142 feet (43 metres) epic jump by boarding the AJ Hackett Coach which had several other daring jumpers- some doing the Kawarau Bridge Bungy while others doing the Nevis Swing Bungy (70 metres).
Reaching the Bungy centre (which was a two-hour journey), we had to sign the waiver form at the help-desk as usual so that we could free the company from any liability if we ended up dying or breaking our bones (kidding, they have the record of more than a million safe jumps).
The help-desk was also the place where the cultural-gap came to the fore as I had the herculean task of making them pronounce my name correctly. My name's Vaibhav but they had pronounced all the stripper variants of the name. Infact later on, I even had to correct my video guy, as he'd wrongly pronounced my name right before I jumped off the bridge.
After successfully hearing all the members shout my name correctly (sigh) and giving each one a hi-five, I chose the photo & video package of my choice and went to the jump site -The Kawarau Suspension Freaking Bridge!
The music was thumping loud and the bridge was buzzing with energy. I saw the dudes ahead of me jump but strangely, I felt extremely calm on the inside. It's almost like I felt I wouldn't break a sweat doing it.
WHEN I WAS ABOUT TO LOSE MY JOB BUT WHAT THE HECK
Just as I was about to keep my phone inside my bag, I received a text on WhatsApp from my bestie Avafrin & the text reads - "About to go in a meeting. Things are not looking good. We might be losing our jobs. The musical is going to shut down".
It was my mom's birthday but even she couldn't have predicted - me receiving the news of almost losing my job & then jumping off a bridge later that day.
Not exactly the kind of motivation I needed before such a big event in my life but for some strange reason, the news did nothing to me. I was still optimistic & all ready to go.
LAST MINUTE PREP AND ZONING OUT JUST BEFORE THE JUMP
I stepped down to the jumping point & the person handling the cord asked me if I wanted a river touchdown. He told me that no one had opted to jump in the water that day as the water temperature was - 5°C. I removed my tee without a second thought & replied: "Let's do this".
I was almost confident to the extent of being possessed. He tied my feet with the Bungy rope & I hopped to the edge of the wooden slab like a victim tied by his kidnappers. On the left side of the bridge, I observed about 200 people waiting with bated breath to see me jump into the river & my video guy signalling from below that the video had started.
I looked down and experienced a sinking feeling in my stomach. My heart missed a beat. The dream I used to have of falling into the unknown and waking up to realise I'm alive and on the bed was soon going to be a reality except that there was no bed & I was paying to experience a near-death feeling. Everything around me got muted in the cold breeze. It was just me standing on top of a bridge with a freezing river below me.
ON YOUR MARK - GET SET - JUMP
I winked pointing my arm into the camera of the video guy, took a deep breath, as my instructor said " 3.......2.......1........GO", I jumped!
I felt an absolute emptiness, a feeling of being so light that maybe I'd exited my body as I saw the land and the river below approaching me at the rate of knots.
And then for a second, I saw absolute endless blue in the coldest of waters.
I was pulled up from the river as I sprung & swung like a pendulum oscillating from one end of the cliff to another till I reached a stable resting position on the Bungee cord upside down. Then two guys arrived on a rafting boat, untied the rope around my feet and sat me down.
I looked up to the heavens and screamed in absolute exhilaration. I had conquered my fear and done my first ever Bungy jump from the place where the adventure sport had actually started. I felt euphoric & brave, like an all-conquering Legend!
I finally understood the quote by Nelson Mandela that - "Courage was not the absence of fear but the triumph over it".
THE PERFECT RETURN GIFTS FROM MY ADVENTURE IN QUEENSTOWN
I collected my free-Kawarau Bungy t-shirt along with my photos & video but a sense of achievement hit me when I received my Kawarau Bungy Jumper certificate with my name printed on it & a signature by the Co-founder Henry Van Asch.
I also received a discount certificate that gave me 20% discount on AJ Hackett Bungy jumps throughout the world as an exclusive member of the prestigious AJ Hackett Bungy club.
Experiencing what I did, I'll just say - "Be crazy enough to do it because you'd be crazy not to!"
Post the Bungy jump, I also did a zip line ride at Kawarau since I felt like completing my quota of all activities possible at the bridge. I returned to my hotel with the best return gifts that I could have received on my mom's birthday - a memorable adventure in Queenstown & bragging rights for life!
CONCLUSION
That was my adventure in Queenstown which didn't quite go according to plan initially but in the end, turned out to be the best experience ever.
Feel free to share any of your memorable adventures with me where something you planned didn't materialize but instead something even better happened.
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