Day 8: Another good day in Plett

It was good day.

After waking up and getting ready, we had a light breakfast and headed to the bridge.

When we got to the bridge, Kyle and I flipped a coin to see who would go first. Since Mark had already done it before, he was going to go last. Later, we found that we have no choice in the matter. Kyle was going first, Mark was going second, and I was going last.

We headed up to the bungee through a gated bridge and could see the ground below us. All of us were getting very anxious. My palms were sweaty and my hands were shaking. I began to wonder if I could actually get myself to jump off, but I knew that not jumping was not an option.

Kyle was the first of our group to go. I could barely stand to watch. I was getting very nervous. They strapped Kyle in and had him hop to the platform. We all started clapping and cheering for him. It was so intense. He gave a little "hang loose" or "chill vibes" sign and then they counted, "One, two, three, bungee!" and Kyle jumped with no hesitation. We watched him free fall for 6 seconds on the screen above the platform and then was caught by the cable. My body was shaking uncontrollably at this point. They brought him back up and we hugged.

Mark was next. Same process: strapped in, hopped to the edge, "1, 2, 3, bungee!" and Mark leaped out. He got a huge jump too. It looked awesome. Again, we watched the screen to see Mark free fall and again, we all hugged when he was brought back up.

Two more people went before me. A really funny German guy and a Danish girl named Louisa. The German guy was so pumped about the whole experience. He definitely showed the most excitement out of all of us and he had the funniest looking free fall. He was awesome.

It was now my turn. My heart was pounding and my body was shaking. I was taking deep breaths and fighting the thoughts of backing out. My fear of standing on the edge of the bridge had kicked in. The workers strapped my legs and had me hop to the platform (I'm feeling shaky as I'm writing all this). Kyle came over to the platform to try and comfort me by saying, "It's not even that high." I wasn't having it though. This jump was high...really high. I took a few more deep breaths and hopped to the edge. I was still fighting with myself about backing out, but it didn't even matter at this point. The workers were going to push me off even if I didn't jump. Before I knew it, the counting started. This was it. "1, 2, 3, bungee!" and I jumped.

The feeling is almost indescribable. Everything happened so quickly. 0-60mph in 4 seconds. The only way I can explain it is that my body thought it was going to die. My peripherals became foggy and I was focused on the river below. I began scrambling for something to grab so I could save my life. This caused me to have the second funniest looking free fall. The mixture of fear, excitement, and adrenaline was overwhelming. Then the bungee cord finally pulled and I hung upside down in relief.

The three of us could not stop smiling the rest of the day. We would talk about it and my heart would start to speed up again.

After the bungee, we went back to the hostel, went and got some lunch, and then did a little bit of shopping.

A little bit later, we went on our safari and saw tons of wildlife. We were incredibly close to some rhinoceros. That was my favorite part.

We ended the night with another braai at the hostel with a bunch of people. We ate, talked, and laughed. It was another good day in Plett.