Extreme adventures for the thrill seeker in me
Skydiving, scuba and who the hell ziplines in their fifties?
For starters I didn't zipline in my fifties. I was 49. I was on a group trip, delayed four years due to the pandemic. I had walked to the top of the cliff with the rest of the group. I wasn't not going to do it. Although I thought they weren't going to get my weight right and I'd hang upside down the entire way. They eventually got it right but I had to hang on bloody tight and might have panicked at one point. But I did it. I probably won't do it again unless it was better managed and not in a third world country. Not at this age, not being past the ripe old age of 50 and on the downhill ride in life. But that won’t stop me enjoying other adventures, some new and some old. Adventures don’t always have to be extreme for you to experience a thrill.
Not all holidays I take have an extreme element to them, but sometimes it does pop up. In 2011, I headed to New Zealand for the wedding of one of my younger cousins. When the wedding was over, I took a flight to another part of New Zealand with the sole aim of skydiving over the water. I had pre-booked before I left Australia. I was lucky enough to stay with friends who were also in that part of New Zealand for a different wedding, but none of them were keen to get up at sparrow’s fart to watch me take to the sky. This was by far one of the most exhilarating experiences I’ve ever had and I would 100% do it again at any age.
The plane that took us to 12 000m above sea level was tiny. Apart from the pilot, there was only enough room for me and my instructor/tandem guy to sit side by side. I faced the rear of the plane next to the door we were jumping out of and he faced the front behind the pilot. We sat on the floor with our legs outstretched. Facing forward out of the plane door to jump while placing all my trust in that guy to strap us in correctly was wild. We jumped head first over the ocean, tumbling a few times until he straightened us out and told me to raise my arms. While you can’t tell by the photo above, I was grinning, and laughing, and screaming, and fuck-yeahing all the way down. To this day it is THE best thing I have ever done. I felt alive. I felt strength. I felt invincible. I immediately wanted to do it again and would have done so if the cost wasn’t so prohibitive and there wasn’t already another group booked after me.
What I do do most places I go is snorkel, weather and conditions permitting. While snorkelling is fun and I’ve seen some incredible underwater scenes over the years from Direction Island in Cocos (Keeling) Islands to Phi Phi Island in Thailand, the Cook Islands and Australia’s own Great Barrier Reef, I had never tried scuba diving. So on my last trip to Port Douglas in Far North Queensland in 2021 (in between lockdowns), I took the option of using one of my snorkel times for a scuba lesson and dive.
I wish I had been given the first dive and not the second as I just grew more anxious as time went on. When my turn came, everyone else in my group had already had their first dive and opted for a second. I got in my own head and couldn’t go down the first time. I resurfaced and they say that most people will not go down again if they don’t make it that first time. I went back down. I was scared as anything and refused to let go of my instructors hand, even though I’m a good swimmer. I just didn’t want to get too far away from him. I gradually gained a little confidence but my breathing was by no means calm. I’m not sure I enjoyed my time under the water but I am happy to have experienced it. I guess I conquered a fear I never realised I had. It’s not something I will ever do again. Perhaps if I had learnt to dive when I was younger it might have been something I could thoroughly enjoy all over the world. I am proud of myself for giving it a shot but I will definitely stick to snorkelling for the remainder of my days.
Another thrilling adventure I’ve experienced in my years of travel include a jet boat ride on very shallow glacial waters in New Zealand. This was around the year 2000, perhaps 2001, when I was in Christchurch at Lincoln University for work, most likely a conference. My boyfriend at the time came with me and we stayed at a little motel out on a farm between Christchurch and the university. It was his idea to do the jet boat ride and we were lucky enough to be the only people on the boat. The driver took us for at least an hour longer than we had paid for and when we got up to the top of the river there was a jet boating congregation. My poor memory recalls it being a competition/regatta of sorts and they had stopped for lunch. Of course our driver knew everybody so we received a free BBQ lunch and watched the competition for a bit before we headed back down the river. This was a lot of fun, we both got quite wet and I lost my sunglasses! Surely this sets a precedent that nothing is extreme enough until you lose your sunglasses!
Although I’m by no means a hiker, I’ve climbed many fire towers, lighthouses and mountains (yes I consider this extreme, extreme for me). Climbing through the jungle for about 1.5 km to reach the Big Buddha statue in Phuket was an extreme experience up there with the best of them. I’m glad I went early at 7am before the heat of the day and took several extra bottles of water with me. The climb was straight up through mud and jungle and I was literally stopping every 10 steps or so to catch my breath. The hikers I know probably would have done it quicker. They would have left me behind because I had to stop so much just to breathe, look how red my face is in the photo below not to mention how sweaty I am. But it was well worth it just for the sense of accomplishment I felt when I got to the top, even if I did think I was going to have a heart attack and die on that mountain the day before my 49th birthday.
In other adventures, I’ve learned to surf, quad-biked, snowboarded, skied downhill and cross country, taken a hot air balloon ride, treetop walks, helicopter and light seaplane flights, 4WD safari’s and one very lucky time was driven in a rally car around the forests of Imbil, Queensland (I was actually working with the Forest Service when this happened). While not all of these are extreme, they have all been thrilling adventures for me personally and satisfied that thrill seeker urge deep inside of me. On the flip side, like the scuba dive, there have been some things I really don’t want to do again, but am grateful to have experienced them, such as surfing. Stand-up paddleboarding is more my style, having done it twice with a guide on the Haleiwa River on the North Shore of Oahu. After the first time, I bought my own inflatable board when I was back in Australia and have taken it all around the world with me to some amazing places perfect for stand-up paddleboarding.
Of all the extreme things I haven’t done, there are some I will never do, they just don’t appeal to me like canyoning or white water rafting. However, I would really love to experience what it’s like to fly a light plane, I’ve been up in so many I’ve lost count of the number of times. Or bunjy jumping, but I imagine it to be a similar feeling to skydiving and I get to go in a plane to skydive and not have something tied to my feet. So there’s still plenty of adventures out there just waiting for me to experience them and I can’t imagine a life where I would not seek out some sort of thrill!
I hope you get your thrills on your next adventure.
What I’m watching: High Potential only because my app said I’d watched it and I hadn’t. Either someone hacked my account or it played in the background one day unbeknownst to me. One episode only, not sure if I’ll watch more.
