If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?

And the answer is YES!  Friday, April 22 was a day that will go down in history for Becka Gross, who is, shall we say, extremely scared of heights.  If it took me 16 years to ride my first roller coaster, how was I ever able to jump off the highest commercial bungy bridge in the world?  Standing tall at 216 meters (that’s 708 feet), Bloukrans Bridge was about to eat me alive.

Bloukrans (pronounced Blue-Kranz) Bridge

Ever since I made it into the South Africa study abroad program back in February 2010, the bungy jump has been on my mind.  Bloukrans Bridge was just two hours away from Port Elizabeth.  Every group in the past has done the jump.  I’ve seen the pictures and heard the stories.  It was evident that I was probably going to have to face my fears.

Land and sea behind Bloukrans Bridge

Before I left, I told my mom and dad about the possibility of me bungy jumping.  Mrs. Jenny Gross did not want to hear it.  Her baby girl should definitely not be jumping off a bridge 9,000 miles away from home.  So we dropped it and didn’t talk about it again until after the deed was done.  

I was so scared.  I didn’t even know if I would be able to go through with it.  So, my bungy preparation was much different than everyone else.  I did not want to talk about it.  Not for one second.  No research online, no YouTube videos, no Google images.  Anytime anyone ever brought it up at Langerry, I left the room.  I literally did not talk about it until the bus ride to Bloukrans.

When we pulled up and got out, I started jumping up and down.  I was so excited.  We registered (and by register I mean sign our lives away) and split up into two groups, 15 in the first, 10 in the second.  I was in group #2.  While the first group suited up, we found our spots on a lookout.  Watching the first person jump was when it hit me.  When that first person flew through the air we all started screaming.  A chorus of “OH MY GOD!,” and “THIS IS SO DUMB!” rang through the air.  Every bounce came with another gasp.  I just couldn’t believe what was happening.  About half way through I still had the same reactions every time. 

Going to register and sign our lives away.

 We found out there was a live video stream in the restaurant and headed over.  The video showed each person’s face right before they were about to jump.  It was really funny.  Each of my friends reacted differently.  Some were happy, some looked terrified, one girl was even almost crying.  I was getting more and more nervous.  But when some of the jumpers came back early, they changed my mind.  I had never seen people so excited!  They were all still on an adrenalin rush and said it was the coolest thing they have ever done.  Well, now I knew I had to do it for sure.

Group #2 all harnessed up and ready to go!

The long walk on the bouncy bridge.

After 2 ½ hours of waiting around, group #2 finally got to suit up in the harness area, take pictures and head off into the unknown.  This is when the ‘freaking out’ began.  ‘Freaking out’: a collective term for the continuous stream of yelling, screaming, panicking and shouting (by me) that my fellow group members had to endure.  I apologized multiple times throughout the day for this.  We headed through some the trees on a dirt path before coming up to the bridge.  This bridge was bad news bears.  It was a see-through grate and was bouncy under our feet.  I looked down a couple times.  That was a very bad idea.  Insert ‘freaking out.’ 

Looking down the grated bridge.

Jumper 32, 13:00 hours (1:00 pm)

They gave us a short debrief when we got to the cement part of the bridge.  Music was blasting, wind was howling and I was freaking out.  Took a quick picture of our group and did a little roll call.  I was J32 – Jumper 32.  Time to go!  So glad I wasn’t first.  That would have been disastrous.  Megan was chosen.  She jumped and disappeared into the abyss.  It was crazy and I freaked out.  Anders was next.  I was beginning to think that I needed to just go and get it over with, because otherwise I would psych myself out and not do it. 

Strapping me in!

Luckily, I was third in line!  They sat me down and began strapping me in.  The man was trying to explain how the strap worked, etc.  It was so loud that I couldn’t understand him very well.  I got nervous that I was missing something important so asked him to repeat himself multiple times.  Finally he just goes, “You don’t have to do anything.  The rope will do all the work.” I felt much better.  He also said the rope can hold up to 3 tons – crazy!!  I looked at Hannah for a quick second and began tearing up.  She yelled “NO!” and I snapped right back to excited Becka.  Since my feet were tied together, I had to hop up to the edge.  Thankfully, there was a worker on each side of me holding my arms and making me do it. 

Can hold up to 3 tons!

The whole time I was freaking out, saying “I’m not gonna do it, I’m not gonna do it.”  Everyone was cheering behind me, some Enrique Iglesias song was blaring in the background.  One shot to look in the camera and say something “I LOVE YOU MOM, DAD & KYLE!!”  Next, a worker told me to put my toes over the edge, so I had to look down for a brief moment…such a bad idea.  I kept trying to look out as far as I could.  All of the sudden I heard “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BUNGY!”  I think they started pushing me on 4 and I attempted to bend my knees and jump, but I think they just mainly pushed me.

 

Me 'freaking out' right before the jump and screaming into the camera.

Free Fallin'

The first four seconds were pure free fall.  It was the craziest feeling in the world.  I opened my eyes and caught a glimpse of what I was headed for.  The small black river looked so far away.  It was surrounded by rocks and greenery.  All I kept thinking was ‘oh my gosh, what did I just do?’  Coming down on the first bounce was when it all changed.  The adrenalin was there, I was unbelievably excited.  I started fist pumping and did the ‘Waka Waka’ dance.  Fun Fact: the freefall after the second bounce is still higher up than the second highest bungy bridge in the world! 

The view on the way down!

Suddenly, I realized how peaceful the moment was.  It was just me and the world.  Wow, what an incredible feeling.  I loved looking around at the beautiful South African scenery.  After the bouncing stopped I hung upside down in the air for awhile.  A few happy tears fell silently as I reflected on my life.  I thought about my family, God and how blessed I was to be able to have this experience in South Africa.  It wouldn’t have been possible without the support and encouragement from my family. 

So small!

A man started coming down to bring me back to the bridge.  On his way down, I could feel the rope move a little bit, so that was weird.  “How was it?” was this first thing I heard.  The only way to describe the experience was ‘unreal.’  He asked me what my name was and introduced himself as Raino.  It was kind of funny that we met while hanging upside down off of a bridge.  Slowly but surely I sat up straight and we made our way up.  The total time I was upside down was about 90 seconds. 

 

With Raino, almost to the top.

At the top they sat me down and about four guys came to help unharness me.  I grabbed on to the nearest pole since I was still close to the edge and was nervous.  After a quick pic, I screamed in happiness and ran to my friends.  We all hugged in excitement.  I continued happy crying for awhile.

 

Back up on the platform and so ecstatic.

Now it was my turn to be the encourager.  We cheered on everyone who went after me.  Bri was one of them – she was even more scared then me.  Afterward, she said it was the coolest thing she’d ever done too.  It was really neat to be able to experience all of our jumps together.  Our whole group has become my second family, my home away from home.  Looking back, the whole thing felt like a dream.  The best way to describe it is still saying it was just ‘unreal.’

I ran back to group #1.  They said my video was absolutely hilarious and I had to buy it.  So I did.  And the pictures too.  And a t-shirt that says ‘Face Fear’ on the front.  The back says ‘Fear is temporary, Regret is forever.’  I thought that summed it up quite nicely.  The rest of the day I was just so happy.  We all talked about it forever.  It was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.  So, if your friend ever told you to jump off a bridge, I would highly recommend it.