My friend and I make deals.
“If you bungy swing with me, I will river board with you” type of deals.
We recently went to Queenstown NZ together, and the deal above was made. I am the bungy swing fan, she really wanted to do the river boarding. So we made our deal.
After my first helicopter ride (not out of my comfort zone at all – it was amazing!), next on our agenda was the bungy swing. I was excited, I had done both a bungy jump (at Victoria Falls) and a swing (Cairns) before and loved them. Cilla was terrified.
To get to the jumping point we went up the mountain in a gondola, which made her physically ill. At this stage I was telling her she was free from our deal. But her response was that me getting out of my comfort zone so often was inspiring and she wanted to do it. I felt I had to point out that I did not make myself sick doing it, but she was determined to go ahead!
She wanted to get it done ASAP, so we took a seat at the entrance gate, 15 mins before they opened, to ensure we were first in line. She was so terrified. Which to be honest helped my nerves, looking after someone else always distracts me. The staff took pity on us sitting on the bottom step like children and opened up a few minutes early.
To cut a long (and amusing!) story short, Cilla did the bungy swing. She pulled the cord on 3 (counting down from 5) and screamed the entire swing. And kept her eyes closed. The staff were supportive, funny and helpful. And she is glad she did it, but has zero desire to do it ever again. Unlike me who would have done it again right away.
Which leads us to my part of the deal. 10km down a river on a boogie board, including multiple sets of rapids (including one called ‘man eater’). I can swim, but lack experience with boogie boards, flippers and rapids.
After safety instructions, being fitted with wetsuits, booties and helmets, and being driven to the starting point, we climbed down to the river. I was already out of my comfort zone!
A quick demo of the key skills we needed and in we clambered – some of us (me!) less than elegantly.
Next we had to practice these new skills. I was terrible! I could do the turns, but the kicking technique needed to fight the current was pretty much beyond me. So when we were offered a ‘ride’ (aka the guide holding onto our boogie board) out of the first eddy, I took the offer.
“Sweetheart” (as he asked to be called) held on to both our boards and kicked for both of us to get into the centre of the river. He briefly let go after that, and then for my own safety decided he would keep hanging on through the rapids. I was very grateful!
You may be wondering how having the guide help me through the rapids was out of my comfort zone? Aside from the physical discomfort of holding onto the boogie board so tight I had cramps in my hands, and the icy cold river, I felt totally out of control the whole time! I had faceful after faceful of water. I was disoriented and confused through most of the rapids. I didn’t know which way I was meant to head. I also had the knowledge that I had signed up to do something I was physically unable to do, and felt bad that the guide had to assist me so much.
Sweetheart reassured me that I was not the worst. And I found out later that the others had also had assistance at times. But still. I had underestimated the skill required to river board. And I was very uncomfortable accepting the help I required. Probably a good lesson for me there!
The good news was that the rapids are all in the first 5km of the 10km stretch of river we surfed. And I only needed a small amount of help in the second half of the trip – an occasional pull out of an eddy. The second half I would happily do again.
Like Cilla and the bungy swing – I am really glad I did it, but am happy not to do it again!
We have decided to return to Queenstown, we had such a great time, and I didn’t get to paraglide, parasail or do a bungy jump!