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| Mike's Photos From The Road #70 |
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| a gallery dedicated to the canyon swing in queenstown, new zealand, which provided the greatest thrill of my life |
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we made our way to queenstown, the adrenaline junkie's mecca. sounded good, and then i saw it... wait...i'm not jumping off that am i? did i really sign myself up to do that? indeed i did. i signed sharon and i up to leap off the shotover canyon on the canyon swing, plummetting 109 meters (360 feet) to the river below where a swing was to rocket us to the other side in a 200 meter (660 foot) arc at well over 130 km/hr (81 mph.) this was my first view of it and the exact moment when i questioned my sanity. |
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| kitted up and about ready to go. the sunglasses are hiding the wimpy tears in my eyes. |
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| i got to the edge and, unfortunately, looked over it. bad, bad idea. i paused for one full minute (it felt like an hour), while the two guys whispered soothing encouragement into my ear. they had to resort to the countdown: 3....2....1....JUMP MOTHERFUCKER! i found all the sisu i had inside me, backed up a few paces, and leapt... |
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| ...gravity took me.... |
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| ...i began to plummet towards the snaking river... |
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| i had my camera taped to my hand and caught my reaction towards the bottom - looks like i was enjoying it... |
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| this photo captures the bellow of excitement you expel when you realize you've lived through something absolutely ridiculous like the canyon swing. |
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| going up. look at the top right of the picture at the tiny platform dangling on the lip of the canyon. that's where i fell from. |
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pulled back onto the platform by the guy, huge smile on my face. i have never felt that way in my life, the electricity shooting through my forearms is something i will never forget. about five minutes after this photo was taken i flung myself off it again - it's addictive. three weeks later i did three bungy jumps on the same day, which is documented in a following gallery. do the canyon swing if you go to new zealand |
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| i purchased this photo afterwards. the guys reacting with mock fright to my leap was so hilarious i had to have it. |
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