No, not me! My son, Clinton, did it. This is his story. You all know that I’m a fitness freak and an adrenaline junkie. This is my passion, my chosen field of study, my hobby and will ultimately be my career. I believe every person has a list, written, or unwritten, of goals to be accomplished. Most of these need to be done, while still young and free. Once settled in marriage, relationships, children, employment and ultimately growing older, these unaccomplished goals tend to fade into obscurity. Other things become more important and the list gets forgotten.

I wrote a post on my blog, a while ago, telling of my desire to scale Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. If you never saw that post, or if you are particularly interested, or if you can help with sponsorship, you can read that post here: http://dersalsites.com/clintstrainingblog/2007/10/05/mount-kilimanjaro-challenge-and-new-fitness-website/

Well, I haven’t yet managed that, but I have crossed another challenge off my list. That challenge was to do the highest bunjee jump in the world.

The bridge at Bloukrans, in the Eastern Cape in South Africa, stands nearly 260 Metres (667 feet) above the River. This is the world acclaimed and well known highest bunjee jump in the world. After jumping off the specially constructed platform, you fall for 216 Metres ((554 feet). Once you come to rest, you are winched up again. I can’t tell you what a rush I got from this jump! I now have a certificate saying I fell 216 Metres and of course, the T-shirt. I can honestly say “Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.”

Well, between Christmas and New Year, I got a couple of days off work and decided to do it. You see, I had recently had to attend a wedding in Cape Town. My girlfriend’s sister was getting married and Laura was bridesmaid. Her father arranged for us to fly down and back again. I tried to change the tickets, so that I could stop off at Port Elizabeth, take a taxi to BlouKrans, and do the jump, but it didn’t work out for me. I was upset and even more determined to do the jump.

I had a week off work, between Christmas and New Year and decided that I just had to get there. Laura and I set off at 5am on 26th December 2007, to drive to Port Elizabeth. It was our intention to stay over somewhere, possibly at Plettenburg Bay and do a little site seeing, before returning home. You know what it’s like… just hang out and spend a little quality time with the girlfriend, before getting back into work mode and following the strict training routines.

I love adventure, as much as any other adrenalin junkie out there and Bloukrans Bridge, in the Eastern Cape, is where people like me converge. The bridge literally joins two mountain ranges and is actually part of a national highway, joining Cape Town to the interior of Southern Africa.

If you live life on the edge, this is definitely where you will find your inner self. You find yourself on the edge of a drop, of about 260 metres. Although the jump itself is actually 216 metres, you don’t tend to rationalise this, while standing there. On the day I went, they were offering a bridge slide, to the main arch of the bridge, for an extra 100 bucks, so I had to go for that as well. In my mind, it prepared me more, for the impending jump, as it helps to acclimatise you to the massive depth below. You literally arrive, pay up, and sign an indemnity form. There is no dawdling here. They are very busy and there are lots of other people. You are then fitted into a jump harness, given a briefing and taken out to the bridge entrance. Those that opted for the bridge slide, were hooked in and slid about 200 metres, to the bridge centre and those that remained had to walk across the bridge, on the narrow catwalk.

Once there, you re-assemble and find any friend you can and talk absolute rubbish, to take your mind off where you are! They call your name randomly and once called, in about one minute, you’re on the edge, being counted down. You literally have to stand there, with you toes over the edge. The river below you, looks like a small snake, in size. There is always a sense of resistance to jump and always a sense of exhilaration, once you have. Some cry, some scream, and some just jump silently.

Once you jump and get over the rush of the fall itself, you bounce around for what seems like eternity and then you get winched up the other side, by a guy that gets lowered down and hooks you up to a cable. It’s all over so soon, but the feeling lasts all day, the sense of accomplishment, achievement and the pure thrill of it.

The walk back is quite daunting, to say the least. It’s a 200-metre walk and it’s on a steel webbing, that looks like a barbecue grid! You can see through it! Your legs feel like jelly. Let’s just say, you make your way hastily. The rest of the day, I was in a state of awe and you wear your new T-shirt with pride.

Oh yes, they film every jump and you get a short DVD to prove you have done it. Every time I watch my DVD, I tend to get goose bumps and smile. It’s an amazing feeling and I can’t wait to do it again one day.

Clinton Robson is a fitness fanatic and is a qualified Personal Trainer. He is busy doing a special higher level course, to qualify as an Exercise Specialist, or Conditioning Coach. At present, he works in 2 gyms, assisting the staff with clients and training plans. He has been working out regularly, for the last 10 years. After completing the higher course, he will seek employment on the cruise ships, to gain more experience and then will open his own gym. He thrives on extreme sports such as canoe marathons, tri-athlons, iron-man, skydiving, bunjee jumping, martial arts etc. He has decided to use blogging, as a medium to share articles on fitness, exercise, bodybuilding, gym, training and more with other interested people..

Clint has also put together a website, full of articles on fitness, nutrition, weightloss and bodybuilding and has amassed hundreds them, on various topics of fitness. Check his site at: http://dersalsites.com/clintstraining/  and his new blogsite at http://dersalsites.com/clintstrainingblog/

Both his parents are South African internet marketers.  Derek Robson is an up and coming, South African, internet marketer, with a vision of empowering all fellow South Africans and non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success, on the internet. He is a syndicated article writer. He and his wife Sally, have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. For daily postings and articles, on internet marketing, South African business, list building, affiliate marketing, the law of attraction, rugby and general topics, check his blogsite, at: http://dersalsites.com/southafricanbusiness  

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