Mokai Gravity Canyon is a centre for performing a trio of adrenaline sports - bungee jumping, canyon swinging and their world famous flying fox. It is located near Taihape, New Zealand, a couple of hours drive North of Wellington.

The Canyon itself

The canyon itself featured in some river scenes of Lord of the Rings, so you may recognise it. The walls of the canyon are sheer and mostly bare with a few lone plants clinging on in a few places. The narrow road leading from the main road to the centre winds back and forth and crosses the canyon by bridge several times. As we crossed each bridge, I noticed that the river was getting steadily further and further below the road, causing the knot in my stomach to grow a little more each time with trepidation at what lay ahead. By the time we got there, I felt like I had had a dozen cups of coffee.

The Centre

The adventure centre at gravity Canyon consists of a building clinging to the side of the canyon with a viewing platform from which you peek right out over the depths. This centre is the place that you pay for your activities and get weighed. The web pages specify a minimum age of 10 and minimum weight of 45kg for most of these activities and they're rated safe to extremely high weights.

Next to the building is the bridge across the canyon (from which you launch yourself for the bungee jump and the swing) and over which the intrepid voyagers of the Flying Fox must cross.

This centre has cafe facilities and a wide selection of T-shirts. I purchased one that reads in garish capitals "It's not a real sport unless you could die from massive internal injuries" - good taste, what's that? In terms of accessibility and support for people with medical conditions - speak to them in advance about your needs - the centre has disabled toilets, but you won't be able to do the flying fox very easily as it involves a steep climb up a hill with many steps. You do have to declare medical conditions, but unlike in the UK they don't automatically stop you from doing fun things.

The Cost

At $110 (about £45-50) per person for the first activity, it's definitely not cheap, but if you do more than one activity in a day, then prices drop to $65 (about £25-30) per person per subsequent activity. Why not try all three so you get your money's worth?

Bungee Jumping

This bungee jump is 80m and is the highest bridge jump in the North Island.
As all of us were old crocs with bad backs, we didn't do the bungee jumping here (though I have done this elsewhere before). But we watched several people doing so - this is a fantastic spectator sport and makes me laugh every single time. The willing victim gets attached to a giant elastic rope, shuffles out from the bridge on a narrow platform, a bit like walking the plank, then hurls themselves off into the void. At that point, they swear, scream or remain numb with terror as they drop like a stone. Some people carry on screaming the whole way through the activity. Then they are lowered down to the river, released from their rope and are winched back up again in a motorised chairlift.

The Fox

This is the main activity to do and by far the easiest and least scary, although it does involve crossing the canyon by bridge then a 20 minute steep trek up a path winding around the edge of the far side of the canyon (which really gets the heart going) until you get to the launch station, then a heart-pounding wait as everyone else in front of you screams their way to oblivion (though fortunately they do come back grinning).

The fox is a huge zip-line which you are harnessed to in a complicated rig to provide streamlining and stop you hitting anything. Then, when released, you "fly" down head first, reaching speeds of up to 100mph as you soar down through the canyon, swooping down close to the water, then up up up again! You can fly by yourself or with one or two friends. We elected to go down as a trio to provide moral support and reassurances to one another.

We were rigged up into the complicated harness which encased our bodies like a coccoon to keep our legs out of the way. Once we were winched up to launch position, only our heads and arms were free. We donned goggles, linked arms as instructed, then as they were taking us through what was going to happen, they sneakily released us when we were least expecting it and away we went hurtling downwards! This proved to be like going on a very fast rollercoaster ride - stupendous fun and very exhilarating but actually quite tame as these things go. We felt a little bit bored as we waited for the ride to stop and for the pulley to drag us (backwards) back up the cliff to the station at the top.

I felt very happy (which was the adrenaline talking) at this point but a little bit let down, so I asked about the other options. They recommended the swing to me as being a lot scarier than the fox. Since I was hundreds of feet above the bridge at this point, the bridge looked very low, so I figured "How bad can it be?" and decided to have a go.

The Swing

How bad can it be, indeed? Answer: Very, and then some.

I bravely strode out onto the bridge (quaking inside, but determined not to show it), got harnessed up in a contraption that went around my waist and legs and acts like a minimalist seat), my harness was attached to the swing ropes which in turn were was attached to the launch apparatus and then I was swung out over the side of the platform so that I was suspended by my harness in a seated position floating in mid air above the canyon. At this point, I was ready to go, but just had to wait for my photographer (who was being lowered into the canyon on the chair) to be ready to take pictures. I waved cheerily at the video camera above me that was recording my every move for posterity. Then, when they asked me if I was ready to go, I heartily lied through my teeth and said that I was. Then one yank from the operator, and I was falling.

All I had had to go on were that there were some ropes that led over to a pivot many tens of metres away. I could see from the fact that there was a fair bit of slack in the ropes that I'd fall a bit and then do a giant Tarzan-like swing through the canyon.

What I didn't know was that "a bit" was "50m". Now I'm sure you can imagine what 50m of freefall looks like, I hadn't seen it in action before I went on, so I (naively) thought that the rope would catch my weight almost immediately. Ho ho ho.

What actually happened was that there was more slack in the ropes than I had initially seen, so they visibly fell loosely away from me and I went plummeting downwards with the ropes falling away from me. I had time enough to think "OH NO, I'M NOT ATTACHED" before realising this wasn't very likely and discovering that PHEW, I was attached after all. Then *whoosh* through the canyon (missing the side by what felt like inches) forwards and backwards like a pendulum, before coming to a rest and being hauled back up again.

Then back to the centre to collect my certificate and buy a video of the experience. It's on youtube - search for AdventuresInNZ and you'll find my "bold" exploits as I try to pretend that I'm brave.

In conclusion

In conclusion, these sports are fantastic fun and really make a holiday complete. But don't underestimate just how scary they are. Similarly, though, don't underestimate what you are capable of - have a go if you can bear to - if I can do it then so can you! I'd like to pretend that I'd have another go next time I go back, but instead, I'll bravely say "Nah, I've done that before, time to try something new".

(Cross-posted from dooyoo)