Travelling at 70mph, hanging by a thread?
That's what (it felt like) happened to me this week.
The reality is, whenever you take part in a zipline, there are a huge number of safety features and actions that have to be adhered to before you can go.
Still, I'm not hugely confident with the prospect of hanging by nothing but a line of metal cable.
All copyright attributed to Skyline Rotorua for this picture.
Visiting New Zealand at Rotorua's 'Skyline' park, having first tried my hand on the luge (see my previous post here), my girlfriend and I prepared for the 400 metre zipwire.
The first port of call is the very trendy-looking safety harness they put you in. You can see here that I'm rocking it with confidence (sort of).
Note the GoPro 7 Silver strapped to my chest, to film it all.
Next came the walk down to the zipwire launch, and the safety talk. You can see below that for this zipwire experience, riders are able to go side by side on two neighbouring zip wires in an attempt to race each other.
Once the safety demo was complete, the first few sets of people hopped on and sped down the line to the other end.
The zipwire is around 400 metres in length, with riders reaching speeds of up to 70 miles per hour, so it takes only a matter of seconds to complete.
It wasn't long before it was time for my girlfriend Sarah and I to experience it for ourselves.
After a moment's hesitation, I lifted myself up so that I was hanging entirely by the support of the cable, and before long I hear the '3, 2, 1, GO!' of the team running it.
Before I knew it, I was speeding down the mountain at real pace, though Sarah seemed to have sped off at a pace I simply couldnt match.
This is what it looks like when you have a slow start vs your zipline competition, as they leave you behind:
Needless to say the view of Rotorua and the water was just incredible - not that you have much time to admire it!
Despite weight and the effects of gravity being on my side, I simply couldn't muster the speed of my competition:
Any previous nerves were brushed to one side and the adrenaline rush was indescribable, as is the fact that it all happens so quickly.
Putting feet down back on the ground provided a mild sense of relief but a greater dose of reality, as you looked back at the last few seconds and asked yourself what on earth had just happened.
As with the luge experience, I'll try and upload the video when I get the chance to do so.
Peace
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