A ticket to euphoria

ELATED: Julie and India Haines feel elated returning to solid ground after surviving the terrifying Swoop. Picture supplied by Velocity Valley

My body shook uncontrollably and I started dripping sweat. But there was no terrible malady sweeping through me, just a severe dose of adrenalin coursing through my veins.

I was at Velocity Valley, home to seven heart racing adventure rides. The slogan splashed across their website, “Where speed, adrenaline and fear collide”, is definitely not off the mark.

I hung up my thrill-seeking jacket years ago, but I brought it out of metaphorical retirement when my nine-year-old daughter India announced she wanted to fly in a wind tunnel. Velocity Valley is home to the Freefall Xtreme, an oversized blow dryer that blasts you with wind at speeds of up to 220kmh, replicating the sensation of jumping out of a plane.

Dressed in specially designed flying suits we participated in a brief training drill, learning how to arch our backs and position our arms and legs so we wouldn't spin out of control in the wind machine. Even so it was a little nerve-wracking lying on the base of the open-air tunnel waiting for the wind to start.

Once it began the roar of the wind was deafening; in fact, it was so powerful the whole building vibrated. Our faces were battered into unflattering expressions, our cheeks stretched and distorted, which provoked endless giggles when we looked back on photos afterwards. The sensation of flying was utterly exhilarating.

We each flew for one minute 30 seconds, longer than a 12,000 ft (3660m)skydive freefall. One of the instructors stayed in the tunnel with the flyer, gently pushing our bodies downwards when we floated up too high, although reassuringly there is a safety net at the top so you can't drift off into the sky. The other instructor stood at the entrance using hand signals to indicate when we needed to adjust our position. It was definitely a trip highlight.

With our feet planted on firm ground again, we headed for the Shweeb Racer, the only pedal-powered monorail race track in the world.

In 2010 the Shweeb Racer was selected by Google as the most innovative future eco-friendly form of public transportation. Google granted US$1m towards development of an urban transport model.

We squeezed into the two pods suspended two metres above the ground from the dual monorail tracks, and prepared to race.

I was surprised by how quickly the Shweeb Racer gained speed without putting much effort into cycling. We hurtled around the 200m track at epic speeds, feeling like our three laps were over in the blink of an eyelid (though in reality I don't think we came close to the 50kmh maximum speed).

Carefully unfurling our bodies out of the pods, we somewhat tentatively headed in the direction from which loud screams had been emanating throughout our visit, the Rotorua Bungy and the Swoop.

We watched two girls do a spine tinglingly scary tandem leap, one of them screaming desperately loudly in the other's ear the whole way down, tears rolling down their faces at the bottom. The 43-metre bungy has a minimum participation age of 10, so regretfully I couldn't do it with India (that's the excuse I'm sticking with anyway; the truth might have something to do with me being a wimp, but you didn't hear that from me).

We did, however, decide to do the Swoop, a bungy swing which looked slightly less daunting from the ground. Strapped into a body bag (and hoping not to leave the adventure park in one) we were hoisted 40 metres into the sky. I imagine the views over the surrounding countryside from the height of an 11-storey building were quite spectacular, but I couldn't tell you for sure because all of my attention was on the long drop immediately below and our thoughts of imminent death. With my heart stuck in my throat, and India looking like she wanted to vomit from fear, we made the decision to call it off, despite the fact there was a growing audience below us and we knew we would humiliate ourselves.

“Can we change our minds?” we screamed down to the staff.

“No, the release cord is the only way down. If you don't pull it, you'll be up there all day!” they yelled back.

This is when we truly discovered the Swoop is more like a bungy than a swing in a playground. I hesitantly pulled the rip-cord and immediately we nose-dived towards the ground, accelerating from 0 to 130kmh in one second. Our screams took about one second to start as well, but they continued for much longer. When we avoided hitting the ground and then swooped forwards, my screams turned to manic sounding nervous laughter. Then the Swoop swung backwards and forwards at high-speed multiple times, until we gradually slowed enough to be hauled back onto the platform.

I was still shaking 15 minutes later. But the sense of accomplishment was huge.

My final ride for the day was the Agrojet, advertised as New Zealand's fastest jet sprint. Travelling at 100kmh with 3Gs of force, the speed took me by surprise. After an initial scream of terror, I sat back and enjoyed the high-speed twists and 360 degree turns.

There are other rides at Velocity Valley that we didn't try — the Freestyle Airbag (bring your own bike), and the V-Force reverse bungy cage. As we prepared to depart, our legs knocking less ferociously by that stage, a stag party arrived at the adventure hub. I overheard the stag, dressed in a pink leotard and tutu, mention that they were going to do every single ride. They were way braver than me, but without a doubt they would have had a high speed, white-knuckle, adrenalin-filled celebration.

For more information see: www.velocityvalley.co.nz

© Copyright Julie Haines 2022