The experience of Hooley Dooley & Figjam.
Our initial plan of canyoning on day 4 was swapped to the afternoon after our skydive. We were okay with the change since we had nothing planned out. The weather was great and the skydiving process was smooth, so we ended quite on time. The only thing was we started our second adventure without food! Our lighter-breakfast was almost fully digested. As we took the bus towards Crystal Cascades, I could feel my stomach being a little empty. Nevertheless, when you are going to have fun, the hunger will be forgotten!
About a 20 - 30 minutes ride inclusive of picking up another 3 people, we were at the carpark of Crystal Cascades, right after the previous group who were already done. We signed off the forms, wore their outfits on and put on the harness. We were with 3 instructors, with 1 being the photographer (Marcio, Branden & Cam). As it was a considerably long walk up the starting point, we were told to wear our long sleeved yellow top on my waist first. My mood was great! I just had a skydive achievement and I was going to do something that I thought would be extremely fun!
[I did skydive with and for my bf, but this canyoning was purely my choice.]
After some walking and perspiring, we reached this super-duper steep upslope. We were warned that it will be difficult and we should take our time. It was the steepest I have ever walked. Just had to keep moving with the body leaning forward. It feels like the moment you stop, you will fall back. Breathless is the word to describe my feeling after I completed that slope. I realised that I was quite unfit! Oh my goodness, despite all my efforts of regular exercising. We sat by the side and rested while our instructors explained about the procedures and how to use the special carabiners. The rule is always to be hooked with one carabiners to the rope, removing only one at a time to move along.
We practised hooking the carabiners before we conquered yet another steepy slope! This one felt slightly longer. Gosh, I was struggling and breathing really hard near the top, but you really must keep moving up no matter what. By the time I was done, I was in need of water badly as my throat was freaking dry. Unfortunately, there was no water fountain but Branden said that we will be brought to the start of the river for a drink.
One of our group members, Aaron, placed his head under the water. So when it was my turn, I did the exact same thing LOL. Apparently, that was just Aaron doing it for fun, and I was there thinking I should be drinking like that. I put my head in twice somemore. The helmet was stopping the water from flowing into my mouth, so I barely drank much water. Hahah I am crazy, but I really had some slight problem understanding the Australian accent. They might find it difficult to understand my Singaporean accent cum singlish as well.
Abseil, Slides, Jumps, Zip-line -
The whole adventure started with an abseil! Honestly, I was so excited and thought I would enjoy everything about canyoning. I ended up being really scared when it happened. The first abseil height was 10m, thankfully. The thing about abseil is to have a relaxed body while straightening the legs to walk 90 degrees down the cliff. But it was impossible to relax and I was just gripping the rope tightly. I managed to lean back but the rock is super slippery with the water and algae. I fell off at least 3 times, scratched and bruised myself in the process. When you become vertical against the rock, it is so difficult to stand back up again. Weak muscles I have, like I mentioned in my skydive post. I was struggling to move on the slippery rock, and my pace was slower than the pace that the rope was released, so I kept falling.
When I finally was done with the first obstacle, I felt so relieved to have finished it. My bf was checking on me and I was okay. But I was feeling shitty and I did not want to continue! The activity I was looking forward to turned out to be such a scary experience for me. I felt like hiding and going into my comfort zone. But this activity course has no turning back! You just have to keep moving. Life is as such.😖
The instructors has warned about the wet rocks and advised us to walk with smaller steps, but I still seemed to be too slow. It was so darn hard to walk because my sense of balance is quite horrible. My poor feet are too small. After the abseil was a short slide, a small little waterfall. We kept our body straight, and with our hands raised, we slid down. It was definitely not as fun as a waterpark slide lol. We then practised jumping 1m. If we did not manage to jump with a proper form, we will not be allowed to try the 10m jump.
The next one was an abseil again, a longer one. I remembered it as the 35 m one but it does not feel like it is that high. Once again, I fell several times and banged against the rock. I had to push myself hard outwards to stand back up again. I just kept taking damage! When I reached the ground, it was like I was momentarily confused. I did not know what to do and there was no one around. I looked up at Branden and he was signalling me, but I was clueless, so he asked me to stay put. Then Marcio came from the left and led me. I recalled something like if you choose 10m, go to the right. If you are less brave, turn left for the 4m jump. My mind, however, seemed to have to stop working at that moment.
So as I was at the edge of the cliff, preparing to jump that 4m, I really hesitated. I told Marcio that I was scared, and he said "no you are not" in quite a serious tone. I think he was not intending to entertain my whimpers. That moment, I was truly alone and afraid. I can't not jump since it is the only way down. So I just counted to 3 and jumped! I think I was quite brave and quick. The "just do it" motto has been put to use. I must be so thirsty because I drank a mouthful of water with the impact of the jump.
[After that, I was told by our rafting friends that they were in the group right before us. One girl accidentally fell and landed flat on her face. Cried all the way throughout. Gosh. And then I heard from a friend how a person jumped wrongly, broke the face O.O and needed surgery. This can be quite dangerous, so you got to really jump bravely and properly. Most insurance probably does not cover extreme sports as well.]
The next is a longer slide and this one looks more vertical. There is rope work involved and we were slowly let down. With my hands raised again, after posing for a photo, down I went again. However, it was so horrible and painful! I think the strap of the harness or the rope was pressing into the groin area. The slide down was also very slow and water just keeps gushing on my face and mouth.
We went under one area and there was this mini cave with frogs around. My group seems to consist of all the fearless people, and it seemed odd for me to feel slightly terrified of the frogs. There was a part whereby we had to jump into a waterfall from the back, and then swim out to the right side. The instructor said that if anyone is not confident in swimming, he/she may not want to try. But I tried. I jumped into the gushing waterfall, tried my best to swim to the right, but I arrived right back to the left 3 seconds later. It does not seem like my strength had any use because I did not swim in freestyle. I felt so embarrassed about the fact that I ticked "good" to the question of our swimming skills. My bf lost one side of his shoes at this point due to the current. But luckily, it was already near the end when we did this.
Yet another slide came along, and my face was just submerged into the water. There was another 4m jump! For this, we have to carefully stand at the edge and aim further out when we jump. It was slightly less scary since I have tried it once. Then we just walked and walked on the slippery rocks, until we come to yet another slightly shorter jump. Finally, I jumped without screaming! There are some parts where you have to step across or go the edges kind. Even though I was secured with the harness, I did not dare to let go and the step seemed too big to take.
Branden said to me "You are making it difficult for yourself". I find this quite funny. It is as if the other people who were going through this already had experience or training and there was zero fear. I did not choose to make it difficult for myself. I just did not know how to get past the fear yet. It was my first time after all right? Frankly speaking, this might be a challenge for those faint hearted ones. I felt I was already progressing great.
There was also a zipline in which we land in the water. We slowly step out on the metal bars and let go gradually. The speed is slower than the normal zipline but it was a nice experience. There was this part in which we were supposed to run sideways across the canyon to the other side. Cam demonstrated it with a quick run over and I was really dumbfounded. How was I supposed to do that man! It seemed like it was easy for everybody else?? But I had to do it so I tried to run as well, but after my second step, I fell and just arrived at the other side. LOL.
I knew my head hit the rock, so I was very thankful for my helmet. Cam was right beside me, and his face just looked really stunned and worried for me. I was fine though, slightly happy I was already at the other side! Aaron consoled me and said that I came over in such a cool way, while everyone did it normally. According to my bf, I tumbled over because I tripped on my leg. See, my leg froze and it did not move. He was so worried and was prepared to jump down into the water to save me if the need arises 😅. This could actually lead to serious injuries, so I was relieved I was okay.
The final abseil was a high one as well. As it was at the area where other visitors can enter. We were there waiting for people to jump down the cliff before we can proceed safely. It was quite dangerous to jump at that area as the water level was not as deep. Anyway, I performed the best at this last abseil. I still fell twice near the top. I chanted "1, 2, 1, 2" as I went down step by step. I was hanging there waiting for my bf to come down to take a photo together, and my neck was so tired and strained. They asked us to take a kiss shot but I rejected it due to being so tired already. Anyway, I don't think the angle was good enough to see our kiss.
As I reached the ground, I was so happy! I have conquered it and it was over. I was so drained. I found that even walking was a challenge for me because I could not seem to balance on the wet and slippery rocks. Marcio asked me which activity did I enjoy the most, I said I like it best now because everything is over! During the process, I was very sure I would not do this again HAHA. But I think with a few more of such experiences, I would be coping better.
Regardless, really thankful for the team members who were really helpful towards me along the way! The instructors might find me irritating and funny to laugh at at the same time. I think Branden found my worried-going-to-cry face quite hilarious haha. Although I may not have 100% enjoyed it, this first experience was worth it! At least, my bf enjoyed it totally :).
The second acheivement of the day! A lot more effort was put in for this one.
They drove us back to our hotels and we had a chicken and ham wrap on the way (light lunch inclusive in package). We were starving! I have used so much physical and mental energy to complete this activity! And look at the bruises and cuts just on my hands and legs, in addition to bruises on my body.
Dinner at Golden Boat Chinese Restaurant -
We decided to go for dinner quickly and head back to hotel for an early night. However, our food plan was affected because Tokyo Dumpling was supposed to be for today. We were supposed to go dinner somewhere further the day before because we intended to drive for one day initially. We looked at two other options on my schedule but both were closed on that day as well. In the end, we decided on the Golden Boat Chinese Restaurant near our hotel.
We have passed by several times so it was time to see if their food is good. The price range is quite expensive for Chinese food by the way. We asked for a recommendation of food and the staff said abalone lol. It was good that we did not go for the pricey atas dishes because the food sucks.
The fish seafood fried rice (A$28.80) tastes okay, but it was quite oily. The fish is tasteless and does not seem fresh. The staff reccomended the broccolini with prawn paste cake, so we tried. It is freaking A$38.80 for that plate of oily vegetable. The vegetable taste like Kai Lan and can be tasty if it was not that every strand we ate was soaked with salt and oil. I find the prawn paste cake acceptable but because it was oily, it gets jelat. Even the tea is not worthy of being served in a Chinese restaurant. It is bland and taste very weird. A$72.80 on this dinner was an absolute waste of money.
We asked for the bill without finishing half of the food on the plates. All of them could not hide the surprise on their face and asked us if we wanted to takeaway. I hope they know their food is really not up to standard. We went back to finish the chicken and potato convenience dish we bought at the supermarket. While microwaving, it smells really good. The taste is okay okay only la. It was supposedly for the next day's breakfast because it was an early day if our canyoning was in the morning.
Now that I think about it, it was definitely better to go for canyoning in the afternoon. It would have been such a shock to my body in the early morning!
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