I did it! I jumped off the Skipper's Canyon Bridge. What a rush… It's like committing suicide and living.

We drove out in this mini-van on a hellish road that was plenty scary in itself. Up and down and right and left and NARROW. We saw old gold mining sites, sluice mining which really trashed the valley. When we finally got there, it's just this little, one-lane bridge over the Shotover [river] - but it's 250' above the water...

[The jump was done from an old railway trestle. So imagine this narrow bridge waaaay up over this rocky canyon with a tiny, little river all the way at the bottom.]

The crew had the Woodentops playing, great stuff. We got the towel, the webbing and then we were told how to dive, "What do you Americans call it? A 'swallow' dive?" They count you down from 5 pretty fast - not much time to think about backing out - and then, it's amazing how little I thought about it. I just put my trust in their hands and jumped.

My body [felt like it] went numb; you feel nothing because you're free falling and trying to maintain a swan. I knew I was accelerating but it was more knowledge than feeling. I was staring at the trees across the canyon when all of a sudden I'm looking at the river and the bungee is gently tugging at my ankles.

The river is getting very close and everything is moving towards my head: my shirt, my shorts, my heart, my breakfast. Then it's like someone pushed rewind - I shoot up and almost end up upright. By now the initial shock has worn off and as I go bounce, bounce, bounce, it's "I can't believe I did it, I can't believe I did it."

Then they lower you down, boat you out, drive you home and you get your shirt. [To burn off the massive quantity of adrenaline flowing through my veins] I went hiking UP Ben Lomond & to the top of the gondola and rode it down. Six hours of hard, un-exciting fun.

Training Diary Comments: Mild. Hiked 5-6 hours, pretty hard. I've got a very runny nose & I'm sneezing a lot.

the bridge	the plank
jumping off	Martin (I'm smiling, but I'm really soiling my shorts)
Martin coming back up (that's 250' below me)