a flying end to the year

Happy New Year!!!!!!

I hope you all had a great Hogmanny. I had a fantastic end to the year. It was absolutely pouring in Roxburgh (what a surprise!) so a few of us went to Queenstown. It was my first time there. The scenery in Queenstown in gorgeous there is a slight feeling of the Canadian Rockies with the Remarkable Mountains circling around it and the lake in the middle. As Queenstown is the party capital here then everyone was down for the New Year perty! We spent half an hour looking for a parking space and we weren't the only ones about 1000 other cars as well! We had coffee - saw the lake and some clouded mountains. Not much! Then went shopping at the food place here and I had to tear myself away from the chocolate flavour soy ice cream as I still have vanilla at home and Alex doesn't do chocolate. That took a lotta lotta effort! But the views outside the supermarket were fantastic. Lord of the rings Rohan ideas and a lot more besides - got a few piccies. Then on our way back we stopped to watch some people doing the bridge Bunjy jump. It looked really good fun and some of us were agreeing that we may like to do it - I definetly wanted to do it SOOOO I DID IT!!!! I jumped 34metres off a bridge with a rope attached to my feet!!!! It was blooming amazing -I soooooo want to do it again!

I had no bother signing up to do it it only cost $140 with the t-shirt. I didn't pay for the photos nor the cd of me diving off the bridge but I did get a friend to film it on my camera and he did a fantastic job!! I didn't have to wait in a queue as there was none. I paid, went to the toilet (cos you just HAVE to), showed Steven how to work my film, and went to the bridge. Paul (another Irish guy) came with me cos I can't jump with my glasses on and I couldn't judge my nerves on the stairs without glasses. [I've got more jumpy nerves writing this than I had before doing the jump] I then got tied up and talked slightly nervous chatter to the safety people - you just do, Thank God you never see them again otherwise I'd be soo embarrassed. Then jumped to the edge of the platform as my feet are tied together. I got the countdown to jump ......wave to the camera, wave to the people watching .........3.....2.....1...and a slight nudge in my back! I din't jump - I just wasn't ready! Fixed my belt (just a wee bit tighter) prepared to fly and jumped. OOOOOOOHHHHHHH MMMMMMMYYYYYYYYY GGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing! I felt so heavy as I floated out horizontally and then total weightlessness as I began plumetting towards the river below. I lasted a few seconds then the fear grabbed me and I screamed, screamed and screamed. I felt the pull of the rope - ever so slight at first, getting stronger and stronger and your still heading to the water. Then up, up and away getting very, very near the bridge again, twisting and twisting in the air. Down again YYYIIIIIIPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! WWWWWOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!! Down, down and up again. Very elegant backflips, twisting turning never any control! THEN I realised that the jeans I was wearing had slipped the wrong way and were heading ever closer down (or up the way I was hanging) and my t-shirt, tucked in for the jump, had come loose and was drifting further up (down). More and more flesh, Damn so in between swings I had to try tucking it in again. But everytime I reached the bottom and swung up again the t-shirt came loose again. I was laughing so much! I saw the boat come closer to get me in and then I heard them tell me to grab the pole as I went past. I got a hold of it but swung round and round and round before I got a good enough hold of it to grab someone else's hands to be pulled into the raft. Lie down and get untied, while trying to fix my trous and t-shirt. Let's just say I was ever so slightly unsuccessful till I stopped shaking a wee bit! When I got to the shore and climbed out of the raft and started walking up the stairs I was still giggling, giggling and giggling away. I DID IT!!!!!!!!! I Ann Miller actually jumped off that bridge and have done a bungy jump and enjoyed every minute of it! I met Paul halfway up and he gave me my glasses back but not before a hug cos I was still shaking and laughing. I met the rest of my friends at the top and got a few more hugs and congrats. Thankfully I did jump cos you don't get your money back but it was damn well worth it and the video of my jump is brilliant, 30secs of fun!

I couldn't stop smiling the whole way home I was so happy and so nervous!

I'm going to have to go and get some lunch and when I come back (possibly another day) I'll tell you of my Christmas day and New Year - yes I know it's out of sequence but ..... tough! One thing I know is that was the best way I could ever think of to the end of 2004 - the year of dream endings!