It has been a while since my last big adventure, so after a few years of thinking about it, on Nov 19th I finally got organised to do the Gordon Dam Abseil.
The Gordon Dam (also known as Gordon River Dam), is a double curvature arch dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia. The dam has a length of 192 m (630 ft), and a height of 140 m (459 ft), making it the tallest dam in Tasmania and the fifth-tallest in Australia. wikipedia
Together with some friends, Mark, Olli and Kristin, we headed up the South West coast of Tasmania to the Gordon Dam. After a night of rain, we were all very excited to see dry ground and blue skies!
At the top of the dam we met our guides Martin, Leigh and the new trainee Joe from Aardvark Adventures. The guys were all very friendly as they got us kitted up and gave us the safety talk.
The guides had set up two abseils for the day, a 50m and a 140m. The 50 metre abseil was great for playing around and also getting used to abseiling, and the 140 metre was all about the experience of doing something so big.
Kristin was keen as mustard and was the first one over the edge on the 50 metre. Down the 50, I got the chance to play around a bit, drop really quickly, bounce off the wall, and also run down face first!!
Down the 140 metre, its a bit high to mess around, so this one was all about the thrill and the view. Its quite scary when you first climb over the handrail, looking down to the ground 140metres below. From the curvature in the dam wall this meant that your feet only touch the wall for the first few metres and after that you are just hanging. When going down, its a little crazy looking up and thinking theres only two ropes preventing you from plummeting to your death. In saying this, its actually very safe. With no fear and in true ‘me’ style though, I did take the opportunity to dangle 140metres above the ground as a starfish (not holding the ropes – thanks Martin for not letting me fall!!) Pics of this yet to come.
Through chatting to one of the guides, I was surprised to learn that of all the groups that go out and abseil the dam, more often its the girls that give it a good go, and its more often the guys that chicken out. I think thats awesome!!!! Go Girlies!
The four of us had a fabulous day! The abseils were all fantastic fun!! The walk/climb back up was exhausting, but a small price to pay for such amazing adventures!
If you are considering doing this kind of adventure..stop thinking about it and just DO IT!!!!!! Its well worth it!
So we all know I have been obsessing over Kindles for the last little while, and I decided that I totally wanted the Kindle Touch…
So after all that the Kindle Touch I’m keen on won’t be released until November 21st!!So I have downloaded the free kindle app for my iPhone, and have started downloading free kindle books that sounds vaguely interesting, to see if I like the concept of reading on an electronic device (though a shiny small iPhone screen won’t really compare to the slick matt finish of a kindle).
