As I white knuckle clasped the right hand rail and stared down all 192 meters to the city below, someone clicked something on my back and off my front and said "Turn to the left, put your toes on the edge and when I say 321Jump. You Jump. OK?" As the wind whistled though the metal and concrete structure around me, I yet again found myself thinking, 'why do you do this to yourself Kingsnorth?'
I woke up having had about 2 hours sleep. I don't know why I've got such bad jet lag? Its almost as though bigger time differences are easier to get over than small ones. Maybe I was Mulling over the Matrix storyline. Maybe I was a little bit nervous.
At 10am, I met up with Rose and Zoe from the trip around town the day before. We met in reception to book the jump for that morning. "You're looking a bit red eyed!" Rose said cheerfully. I just hoped I was gonna wake up a bit before I got up to the top of that tower.
We booked in for 11am and wandered over there. Waking up slightly I started to feel a bit hungry. Then figured I'd better leave breakfast. Just in case.
We kitted up on the 1st floor foyer of the tower. As if watching us pretend not to be petrified wasn't fun enough, they proceeded to dress us up in sexy 80's neon shell suits to add to the embarrassment.
We caught the lift to the top deck of the observation tower and followed the SkyJump signs out onto a glass room overlooking the jump platform. Someone was already connected and on and the guy behind him gave the 'Go' signal and he jumped. To the left of us, a custom made winch whirled into action, lowering him down. As it increased in speed, it increased in volume. As it approached its maximum speed/volume, the three of us all looked at each other with that same 'Uh-oh' look on our faces.
Soon enough it was my turn. I wished I was more awake. The guy manning the winch introduced himself and checked my kit, as did the guy who connected my 'anti-suicide' rope as he led me out into the wind, onto the platform overlooking Auckland.
In the glass waiting room I'd been bouncing around and gibbering with fear and excitement. Now I was on the platform looking out for miles and miles over the bays and hills and all that fun stuff drained away and I was just left with fear. I really wished I was more awake. This kind of stuff is so much better when you're fully with it. Clunk. Click. Following orders. "...and when I say 321Jump. You Jump. OK?" "OK." I said. "But just make sure i'm all connected OK?" I felt a tug-tug on my back which I took to mean I was alright.
"OK then Matt. 3 - 2 - 1...." Then everything happened in microseconds "JUMP!" My whole brain and body said NO as I started at my feet and the hundreds of meters below them, I felt a nudge on my back as he tried to coax me off. I resisted only until he eased up. At which point I knew it was me jumping not him pushing me. I leapt...
Dropping. I heard the winch start to spit the cable out. Then STOP. I hung there, a couple of meters below the platform, still roughly 190 meters in the air, with people staring at me with fear and glee through the window of the observation deck. "MATT" I heard. "LOOK UP"
"SMIIIILE"
And then I was off, all the way to the floor this time. The journey takes about 10 seconds, top to bottom. It was fast. But not that fast. It wasn't the freefall I was expecting. More a sensation of speed (I was traveling at 75km/h) but it felt more controlled than falling. It wasn't so much AAAAAARRRGGGGHHHH as Wweeeeeeee!! I think at one point I actually said to myself in mid-air, "This isn't so bad."
You land on a bullseye at the bottom and get unhooked. I held my hand out and it was still shaking slightly. Not from the fall, but from the fear at the top. Even now I still wished I was more awake...
I watched the other two come down and we went back up again. It was pay for one jump, get the second one free! At the top, any lingering vertigo I had seemed to have disappeared which was interesting. (Have vertigo? Cure it by throwing yourself off a building!) We didn't stop on the way down this time so we picked up more speed which was fun. I also remembered to look up instead of down as I dropped. It was cool dropping to the level of, then below all the skyscrapers in the city. I got to the bottom and tried to hit the bull. I missed. Ah well. I get a discount if I ever come back here again!
The Verdict: Scary (of course) but satisfying. You can see the tower from just about anywhere in Auckland. Before I jumped I kept looking at it with apprehension 'That'll be scary' I thought. Now I've done though, I look at it, and its more 'Dunnya Bitch.'
