Woman's Day - The Most Magical Day: Women's Weekend Part 2

Women’s Day – The Most Magical Day
Friday August 9, 2013 –

August 9^th in South Africa is National Women’s Day. (Reason #3490 why South Africa is awesome). On this day in 1956 there was a march of over 50,000 women on Pretoria to petition against legislation amendments that required people to carry “passes” . Passes were identification documents that basically told other people how to discriminate against you in the apartheid era.

So 50,000 South African women in the 1950’s were total badasses. What do 3 American women do to celebrate? BUNGEE JUMPING! Duh

Bright and early Friday morning, I woke up in Jes’ house and needed a full 5 minutes to remember where I was. We took a bit to get started and ready for the day. Gillian was actually shaking with tired excitement.  Looking out the window, I couldn’t believe the landscape that gazed back at me. Gigantic mountains I was unable to see in the dark the night before were suddenly all around Jes’ log house, framed with a fine fog. It was still drizzling a bit and I was a bit worried out bungee appointment would be cancelled. We still had some time for the weather to make up its mind.  Before we headed out for the day, Jes’ dad, bless his fuzzy heart, made us some more coffee with his fancy espresso machine.

Note to self: Get an espresso machine. Caitie will go halvsies with you.

We drove a ways further down the road to Plettenburg Bay for breakfast at a cozy French café called La Fornil. Plet looks as if it’s photoshopped and none of my photos do it justice. It’s a perfect little seaside town, built cascading down a big hill that overlooks the clear blue bay. I felt as if we were the only ones who knew about it, tucked away in the mountains. I’m convinced that someday I have to leave next to water and mountains.

It was chilly and rainy outside, but inside La Fornil it was heartwarming and spirit lifting. Oh. And it had WiFi. Many a snapchat was taken and many an email was checked throughout our meal. I had more cappuccino than is probably advisable for someone who is nervous about jumping of a bridge in the near future.

Me, Gillian, Jes, and very grumpy old guy in the background at La Fornil

The time had come. We left breakfast and piled back into the VW to head off to Bloukrans Bridge to meet our maker. We screamed again as we drove over the bridge. While I never officially panicked about the jump, I remember I started to feel more anxious as we followed signs to the parking area. Mostly I didn’t let myself think about it too much.

As we were parking, we saw Patrick, Moritz, Jake, Danielle, and Karen walking out to their car. They had all just jumped (except Danielle who was an enthusiastic spectator). It was good to know that the event was indeed survivable.

first thing we saw when we arrived

we have no idea what we are in for

Some facts about the site:

• The commercial name is Face Adrenalin. (epic right?)
• Bloukrans Bridge is the highest bungee bridge in THE WORLD! 
• They were established in 1990 (they’re barely older than I am!). 
• There are a couple of world records associated with the bridge. 
• One maniac did 19 jumps in an hour. 
• Another maniac did 107 jumps in a 24 hour period. 
• An episode of the Amazing Race has been filmed there. 
• The Bloukrans bridge stands 216 meters (709 feet) above the Bloukrans River. 
• This is their website: http://www.faceadrenalin.com/

Gillian and I scampered to go sign in and get harnessed up. Jes bought a ticket to walk out on the bridge with us, but not to jump. Caitie, goddess that she is, volunteered to be our photographer. Armed with 3 cameras and 2 iphones she would document the jump from afar. After getting harnessed (by a group of guys who had clearly worked there long enough that adrenaline soaked girls plummeting +200 meters was no longer terribly impressive) we still had about an hour to wait for our appointment and contemplate our stupidity. We had fun doing a prejump photoshoot and watching a few jumpers from the safety of the viewing area. The surrounding area was gorgeous and the rain had magically disappeared, making way for a beautiful sunny day.  

we've just been harnessed

let the badassery begin. Happy Women's Day

If you didn't notice, Gillian changed her coat. She and Caitie traded so it would be easier for Caitie to spot her later

Practicing our jump faces

Wish you were here

Bloukrans Bridge 216 meters above the river....

Once the longest/shortest wait of my life was over, it was time to walk to the jump site. About five other people joined us to walk over. We started the trek on a gravel path through some trees and reached a rest spot where our guide, Elrado, briefed us how the process worked. Next we marched single file up a set of metal stairs to a cage like tunnel that ran parallel to the bridge. You could see all the way to the red/brown water of the river below us through the bars of the walkway. That was a little nerve racking, causally walking that high up.

Next thing we knew we had arrived at the middle of the bridge. You could hear the cars roaring past above you, mixed with the loud pump-up music blasting from speakers all around. A couple guys welcomed us and congratulated us on deciding to jump. One of them announced that I would be going first. Ha ha okay.

We were gathered in giant square area surrounded by caution tape. I was seated on a box, where my feet were strapped together  with bright red truck straps and ankle braces reminiscent of 80’s work out video leg weights/leg warmers. My harness had a dozen carabiner clips attached, detached, and reattached to it in a flurry of activity I don’t fully remember.

One of the guys helped me stand up and hobble over to a gate similar to the terminals in the queue for a roller coaster ride. I was reconnected to another strap and then permitted to hobble a little closer to the edge. Until that point I hadn’t had the full view of where I was about to recklessly throw my body. I felt my jaw actually drop away from the rest of my face. I could feel the blood rushing out of my face and pounding in my ears at the same time.

Now there were two guys, one on either side of me. They held my arms away from my side, holding me at the armpits and the wrists while I inched my way to the very edge until my toes hung over. They shouted: 5…4…3…2…1……BUNGEEEEEEE!

On “bungee” I pushed off from the solid concrete beneath my feet.  I heard Gillian and Jes scream behind me. My body was in a free fall through the air. And boy did I fall. I didn’t expect to really feel myself plummeting through the sky like that. I had imagined more the romantic feeling of soaring off of the swings at the playground. This was very different.

It all happened so fast and the adrenalin rush had clouded my memory somewhat. In my memory, it was so unbelievably quiet. Almost silent aside from the whoosh of the air and my frantic mumblings of “oh god oh god oh god oh god”. It was beautiful too. The upside down view was incredible. Even when I felt tension on the bungee cord I was still really really high above the ground and could see for miles in either direction. The air felt amazing blowing through my clothes and across my face as I bounced comically up and down gradually slowing to a halt, all the blood pooling in my head.

If you look very very carefully you can see me. Yup. That tiny white dot

Never for a second had I entertained the horrific thought of the bungee cord snapping and letting me fall to the rocks below. Now, slowly bobbing upside down, I felt the tension around my ankles and became irrationally panicked that I would slip through my Jane Fonda workout leg warmers and fall and die. I remember feeling like, “Ok…I’m done now. Thanks!”. Each boing of the bungee made me more and more anxious about my feet slipping through.

All of a sudden I felt movement further up the cord. I contorted my body to look up towards the bridge and saw a man making his way down to collect me. Never in my life have I been so happy to see another person. I babbled like an idiot to him as he cradled me with a bunch of new ropes and pulled me into a seated position. We were then reeled back to the bridge. They unstrapped me and high fived me. We took post jump pictures and jammed out to the music.

Apparently, just as they had lowered me onto the solid ground again, Gillian had jumped. I was so mad I didn’t get to see her go. I did get to see the video later, though.

That's Gillian! Picture provided by Face Adrenalin

I talked to Jes until Gillian reappeared on the other side of the bridge. We hugged and danced and screamed. We were just so proud of each other. I still couldn’t believe what we’d just done. We watched the rest of the members of our group jump one by one. One of the guys in our group went backwards! I would totally do that. Now that I know more about the whole experience, I would definitely go again, even backwards.

We reunited with Caitie, deharnessed, took so post-jump photos and watched our jumping videos. It was pretty ridiculous to watch. I'm not entirely sure how to load the video onto here so y'all will just have to sit tight and imagine it 'til I get home. 

#postjumpswagger

Beginning to feel hungry, we made our way back to Jes’ house, where we were greeted by….PUPPIES! The three dogs that had greeted us the night before apparently had apparently each had litters sometime in the weeks preceding our arrival, which meant there upwards of 20 puppies of various ages to play with! All hunger and badassery was forgotten while we played with the rollie pollie masses of puppy cuteness.

At some point we had to tear ourselves away from the puppies and go in search of food. Sadly this also meant it was time to say goodbye to Jes and her dad. I wish we could have stayed longer. Hopefully we’ll get another chance to visit.

Caitie, Gillian and I made our way back to Plettenberg Bay where we had lunch at a restaurant called Europa. The portions were small and the food was expensive, but we were all too tired and hungry to care. Feeling somewhat refreshed after lunch we drove back down the hill to the beach.

Just look at it… I mean….just….just…..AAAAAAH! ….I can’t even…. INDIAN OCEAN!!! 

My feets are in da indian ocean!

It was devastating.

We stayed until we just couldn’t stand how pretty it was anymore. Also we had to start driving to Port Elizabeth if we wanted to keep our hostel reservation.

It was a long long drive from Plet to PE. I lied when I said it was about 1.5 hours before. It was closer to…3? Not entirely sure. It was easy driving with a great view though so who cares?

Along the way I caught a glimpse of the tail of a rainbow and freaked out. It just summed up the day so beautifully. I had a goofy smile on my face thinking about it as we turned a corner and saw the beginnings of another rainbow. #DOUBLERAINBOW!!!

can't even begin to do it justice. I didn't get pics of the full bow. I was driving. Like a responsible adult

The magic of the day was increasing exponentially. Caitie and Gillian were snapping pictures and freaking out with me. All of a sudden the entire band of the rainbow burst through the clouds all the way across the sky. I had never seen a rainbow like this in my life. Every single color was vividly visible and you could see where each side of the box landed on the ground on either side of us. I was driving directly under it, losing my mind! I seriously thought Skittles were gonna fall out of it.

The clouds eventually swallowed it up again and we continued on our way. I know I keep saying we passed the time talking, but that’s really what we did. I love these girls. We can talk about anything and everything all day long, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

We refilled our petrol (gas) a few km outside PE.

Travel tip: In South Africa, they pump the gas for you. It’s like New Jersey!

Determined to reach the Hippos Backpackers Hostel we decided to tough it out and get dinner after we arrived. By now it was dark, but we were entering the city where there were ample street lights. We followed the directions carefully but couldn’t for the life of us find Glen Street, where the Hippo was supposedly hiding. After about 30 min of driving up and down Cape Road, end to end, and pulling countless illegal U turns, we pulled into a gas station and called the front desk for some help.

The woman who picked up decided to make things fun by telling us we didn’t have a room booked for that night and that there were no rooms available. Um…what?  We asked for directions so we could come and talk to her in person. To keep everything interesting, she said she didn’t know street names and gave us vague landmarks. Her accent over the phone made it really hard to even understand. A million more illegal U turns and phone calls later we FINALLY arrived and sorted everything else.

She had mistakenly booked us with the other group of exchange students that were meant to arrive the next night. Because we were already there she graciously let us have her room. We ordered pizza and vegged out on WiFi for a bit, before finally going to bed.

The ending of the day was less magical than the day had been, but everything worked out.  All in all, it was a very successful day.  We had made it to PE and things are always better in the morning.