As promised, here is the adrenaline filled blog post. We’ll go in chronological order: Zorbing Zorbing was first. Matt and I went zorbing at Zorb™, which is just north of Rotorua. New Zealand is the birthplace of zorbing so obviously it had to be done. In case you don’t know what Zorbing is (which, by the way, is really a crime), it basically getting into a blown-up ball with water in it by yourself or with your friends and being pushed down a hill so you can go really fast. Simple, really. At Zorb™, there are three tracks you can try. One that goes straight down the hill, one that winds its way down, and on that winds for a bit and then has a more steep, sudden drop. When you go with friends, the only option is to go on the straight one since it’s too dangerous to have limbs flying everywhere in the windy ones. After asking the attendant at the front desk about which one’s were the most fun, Matt and I decided to go down the straight one together and then each go by ourselves on the windy one without the steep drop (the attendant said that one was more fun than the other one). It was so fun. I could try to explain it to you, but really I’ll just let you watch the video. It’s way more fun. Bungy Now, before you go telling me that I’ve spelt bungy wrong (as in bungee) I’ll have you know that both are correct. Bungee was coined in 1979 in England, where the first jump happened. Then, in 1988, two kiwi guys founded bungy using an elastic cord that they had created with scientists from the University of Auckland. So since I was in New Zealand when I gave it a go, bungy it is. We went at Taupo Bungy™ which was right by the campground where we were staying. I was so nervous, but mostly excited. When you go in to say you want to jump, they make you pay beforehand so that if you decide not to jump you lose your money. Basically, they force you to jump. Which maybe is what some people need. Anyways, they take you out to the ledge and strap you in this big harness thing that keeps your ankles together and then straps to a body harness so all the pressure isn’t just on your legs. Then they make you walk to the end and take the leap. Matt and Sam went before I did and they hadn’t returned from their jump, which wasn’t the most comforting fact. When I was getting all geared up, I looked over the edge to find them and I immediately regretted it. It was rather high. I then instructed the guys that were preparing my harness to not let me look over the edge again. I shuffled up to the edge, took a deep breath, and went for it. For the first second, it felt just like diving off a diving board. But then I kept falling. And falling. It was such a strange feeling. Then I hit the bottom and started to spring back up. I honestly think the scariest and oddest feeling was reaching the first apex at the top of the climb back up. I felt like I was hovering for a split second before I began to fall again. That upside down feeling in my stomach was the “worst” part (none of it was that bad but that’s the only way I could think to describe it. Matt took a video of me on his gopro and you can hear me yell and hear Sam and Matt laugh at me as well! Skydiving And last, but certainly not least, skydiving. We went with Taupo Tandem Skydiving. When you book with them, they come to pick you up in a hummer stretch limousine and drive you to the airport. Which was a pretty cool way to start. They’re payment system worked a little bit differently to the bungy jumping: you pick what package you want (with video, pictures, etc.) and then you go up and jump. If you decide you’re too frightened, they’ll take you back down in the plane and you don’t have to pay anything. We decided on our packages and then the waiting began. We watched two planes full of people take off and saw them land safely, which was comforting. Finally, it was our turn. My tandem partner was Ian, who had moved to Taupo from the U.K 11 years ago in order to turn skydiving from a hobby into a career. He helped me into the plane and it took off! I was so excited, the kind of excited where you’re a little nervous but not scared. I asked him a bunch of questions on the way up and found out that, as a tandem skydiver, they do about 10 jumps per assigned day when they’re on. I also asked him if he had ever had someone not jump with him before and he said no, which of course had me respond with “that’s because you just pull them out of the plane with you, isn’t it?” And he said yes, of course. We were getting higher and higher and then Ian tapped me on the shoulder to tell me we were at 1000 feet (and we were jumping from 12000….!!!!), and I thought we were A LOT higher than that. We finally got up to the right height and I got to watch everyone else jump first because I was going second to last. That was a pretty cool experience, it made me even more excited for my turn! Right before Sam was about to go they had to stop jumping to get back to 12000 feet. The door was wide open while we were turning. I could see right the way out to the ground and I got a great view of Lake Taupo. I was so pumped when it was my turn. Ian swung us to the edge, I put my feet out and under the plane as instructed, and then all of a sudden we were out! I could try describing the sensation to you, but I can’t really do it justice. The wind was loud as we were falling but I never once felt unsafe. Which sounds kind of dumb. At 5000 feet, Ian pulled our parachute and we were gliding around and all the way down to the ground. I have a video of that as well, but you should skip to about the 3 minute mark because most of it is really boring. And they do a weird interview thing with you at the beginning and it makes me uncomfortable. I think the biggest question I’ve gotten is comparing skydiving to bungy. In all honesty, they don’t compare very well. There’s something more terrifying about bungy jumping because you are physically throwing yourself off a cliff, whereas in skydiving you’re attached to someone else and they’re controlling it. I was definitely less scared of skydiving than I was bungy jumping, but I was excited to do both. I want to do both again at some point, but if I had to choose just one to do again it would be skydiving.
So if I was to rank these, which I don’t think is truly fair because they were all unique in their own ways, I would have to rank them as follows:
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Meet AnyaHi, Hola, Bonjour, Ciao!
I’m Anya Phillips, a data analyst and travel enthusiast who is always on the lookout for the next adventure! Categories
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