What would we do without the Internet? I almost forget about this experience until I was surfing through YouTube on my virtual surfboard and remembered that I posted my death-defying jump while in Cairns, Australia in 2008. After spending a day in Port Douglas, petting a koala and feeding kangaroos by hand (checking out crocs from behind steel barriers, admiring black cockatoos, and listening to the most hilarious bird in the world, the Kookaburra, do its thing), I was driving back to my hotel when I thought, Hey! Today’s as good a day as ever to jump 164 feet into a shallow body of water.
After signing over my life to AJ Hackett, donating all my useable organs for research (i.e. none) and climbing the tower one frightening step at a time, which in itself is a full workout, I reached the top of the wooden structure, the Great Barrier Reef stretched out before me, lush jungle flanking me on both sides, the temperature a balmy 31 degrees C and HUMID. They tied a “harness” to me. They told me not to “worry.” They said it was “fun.”
I said, “How many people back out at the last minute?”
“Ahhhhh, right about, oh, I don’t know, maybe…one in ten?”
“Is that a question?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing. Guys or girls mostly?”
“Always the guys. Unless they’re Asian. Then it’s the girls and the guys.”
Anyway, I made the jump (to AC/DC, no less!) and survived the experience. If you haven’t tried it, I’d highly recommend doing it. Unlike other popular vacation sports like parasailing, rock climbing, and scuba diving, you’ll probably never feel your heart come through your chest like you do when edging towards the jump point – and that’s worth something at the end of the day!
Watch the video here, though be forewarned those of you who are faint of heart….
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Richard H. Harris 