Bungee Jumping at Bloukrans Bridge

Anyone that knows me well knows that I love taking risks, enjoy trying extreme sports, am a major adrenaline junky, and that "afraid" is not in my vocabulary.

Ahem. Hardly.

Actually, it's all quite the opposite. I tried kitesurfing for a while because friends like Maya make it look so easy, but I couldn't get over the feeling of panic in the water. It takes a lot of coaxing before I'll jump out of a boat to wakeboard among friends. And now that I'm thinking about it, going for runs down Esterley Tibbetts Highway in the dark is probably the riskiest thing I do.

So with all that as context, it may surprise you to know that this past summer, while traveling in South Africa with Nate and four friends, I agreed to jump off the world's highest bridge bungee.

image courtesy of Face Adrenalin

You'll want proof of this ultimate contradiction - the conservative blogging accountant who jumps off bridges because all her friends are doing it. This is why I took all the footage and photos shot by Face Adrenalin at Bloukrans Bridge, mixed in a few photos shot by Rich and Maya (on documentation duty that day), added in one of my favorite songs (with lyrics that I want to live by), and used it as an excuse to tinker in Final Cut Pro.

Are you ready for this?

Thank goodness for video evidence or no one would have given me credit for 7 seconds of free-falling bravado. 

I surprised my very own self with the realization that bungee jumping is exhilarating! I loved the thrill of the fall, similar to being on a roller coaster but without all the jolting and rattling of the machine and the screams of other passengers. Before jumping, the Face Adrenalin team had us fist pumping to upbeat music along with the friendly operators. But as soon as I leaned over the edge and started falling, all noise dropped away, and all I heard was the sound of the "whoosh" going past my ears. It was the most peaceful moment of the trip.

Maybe I am an adrenaline junky. Or at least a closet adrenaline junky. I do scary stuff sometimes.

Like that one time in Oudtshoorn, SA when I rode an ostrich.

Proof.

South Africa, you redefined me. At least for 7 seconds.