Yes, that’s me hurtling to earth, circa 1992. I did this bungy jump in the Kuranda rainforest (Australia) on a dare. And because I bought a ticket for it off a bloke for $15, cuz I’m cheap that way.
The guy who dared me took the picture, and I just noticed on the date stamp that it was Halloween 1992.
In case you don’t believe me, that I might have just pinched any old silhouetted image off the web, I present Exhibit B:
I really did do it on a dare. I get major vertigo when I see the ground at close range. It’s not a fear of heights — that would make flight training impossible — but a fear of falling. A guy I met while travelling dared me to bungy jump, and to shut him up I bought the jump ticket from someone who was leaving Cairns and wouldn’t get a chance to use it but wanted some money for it. Sooner would I part with $15 than my pride, but you know what they say about pride… it goeth before a… yeah.
And fall I did, something I still remember very vividly, although it was so long ago. There were people bungy jumping naked — in those days jumping naked was free — but the girl jumping before me wouldn’t go at the count of three. I figure if you have the courage to take all your clothes off in front of a crowd of strangers, why would jumping off a platform 50 metres from the ground stop you cold? Hmmm. Anyway, I was a little spooked by the fact that she took forever to take her turn. When it was my turn, I did exactly what the operator told me to do: not look down, look at the horizon, and jump at the count of three.
One… two… three… I didn’t even hesitate, but I was well and truly scared. I think I stopped breathing. It was like I was in slow motion, the faces in the crowd rushing up towards me, the palm trees big again instead of little fronds. When my hands touched the water, I sprung back up and that’s when I started to breathe and look around and wish for more airtime. I would’ve done flips if I could figure out where my limbs were.
Next stop? Paragliding, I think.