"Three!..." The countdown begins. I hold my breath and clench my hands together."Two!..." My eyes alternate between open - glancing at the ground 40 metres below - and closed, waiting to fall.
"One!..."
Nothing happens...
There's three of us nestled into individual cocoons, arms linked, lying parallel to the ground. Joined by a giant harness we swing lightly in the breeze. Below, people have become tiny figurines, looking up at us, waiting...
The guy on my right is trying repeatedly to pull the rip cord that will drop us towards the ground at 130 kph. But there's a problem. It won't pull. Each time he tries I hear a blunt 'snag' followed by my sharp intake of breath.
"Come on!" his colleagues cajole from far below. "Three, two, one!"
'Snag'...
'Snag'... "It's not working!" he calls back as we dangle precariously in the air.
'Snag'...
'Snag'...
A long, terrified scream bursts out of me. My stomach lurches upwards. We're plunging at full speed toward the ground. The crisp air fills my gaping eyes with water and my ears with a deafening 'whoosh!' The surrounding fields blur into a green smudge. We fly forward into a smooth, swinging arc. Gravity suspends us for a second then we're swooping back the way we've come. My companions cackle and whoop in glee. I scream, again and again. We spin slowly from our harness, gaining a three-sixty view as we swoosh back and forth in ever-slower arcs.
Part flying, part swinging, part pure unbridled terror, the aptly named Swoop is one of five activities that make up Rotorua's Agroventures complex. Opened in 1999, the Swoop was Agroventures' third instalment, following the Rotorua Bungy and the Agrojet in 1998. Nearly a decade on, Agroventures has grown into a frenetic, terrifying and utterly enjoyable one-stop adrenaline shop, perfect for frantic first-timers and insatiable thrill-seekers alike.My petrified screams have turned to laughs by the time I wriggle backwards out of my cocoon and unsteadily walk towards the Agrojet. Touted as New Zealand's fastest jet boat experience, the Agrojet looks innocuous enough sitting quietly in the water. But once my helmet and safety buckles are in place and the 450 horsepower engine is revving, all thoughts of a leisurely cruise round the custom made course are jolted from my mind by the boat's vibrations. Reaching 100kph in just 4.5 seconds, I'm held flat against my seat, the air and spray shrieking past my face. We race around rocky corners, hurtle towards the bank and zip through tiny passageways. Driver Adam's face is a picture of calm concentration. After the first lap he stops, "That was just a warm up," he announces. "This one's gonna be faster!" I hardly have time to digest this possibility before we begin careering through the course again, whizzing through short cuts and coming within centimetres of the man-made islands. The ride lasts just three minutes, but we've covered the entire course at least six times. Adam finishes in a spectacular, spray-inducing spin.
Idling back across the water I can see Agroventures' swish reception area complete with leather couches and BBQ area. From above, the 43m high bungy tower and the Swoop pylons loom down. Hidden by the reception buildings are Agroventures' two newest additions: the Freefall Xtreme - a type of skydiving simulation established in 2003; and The Shweeb - a world-first human-powered monorail track due to open in September 2007.
The five attractions are planted - remarkably unobtrusively - amongst paddocks of cows, alpacas and ostriches. Ducks and swans swim past on the babbling Ngongotaha Stream, undeterred by the humans Bungying and Swooping from the sky. The rural setting is part of Agroventures' connection to the nearby Agrodome - Rotorua's world famous sheep farm experience.
From here in the Freefall Xtreme building I can see the cows happily grazing in their fields below and an Agrodome tractor towing visitors on a farm tour. The relaxed trundle of their trailer seats seems a world away from the bizarre activity for which I've just donned a full-body flight suit. I'm now learning the correct freefall position: "Lie here, face down," says my instructor, pointing to a padded bench seat. "Now, knees bent, feet in the air; shoulders back, elbows bent, palms down; bum down, head up and back." I contort myself into this ungainly stance and hold it as he works on perfecting me: "Feet a bit higher, yip. Tuck your elbows in like this, great. Head up, perfect! So, you think you can hold that when you're out there?"
He points out the window to our flight zone: a circular area surrounded by high fences and topped with a giant net. The floor of the circle comprises another central net - this one pulled taught - surrounded by a brightly coloured inflatable catch mat. Beneath the floor net is a DC3 aircraft propeller, powered by a 940 horse power diesel engine. Together they create a column of wind which bursts up through the net at up to 180kph and - hopefully - will take me with it.
The catch mat is soft and bouncy under my bare feet as I wobble out to the centre. The noise of the propeller is overwhelming. My instructor has to shout: "Just crawl out on to the net and assume your position. We're here to help you out!" Fixing my goggles in place I crouch down and crawl, hesitantly, over the net. My flight suit balloons out and flaps above me as the warm blast of air hits my body. The deafening rush of wind fills my ears. Slowly I manoeuvre into the flying position, trying desperately to remember the pose; what should be up, flat, down or back. Suddenly I'm being lifted from the net, blown upwards. One instructor is guiding my hands and another, my feet as I rise slowly and hover metres above the blasting air. My face is pulled taught with the pressure.
In front of me the instructor is miming something: bring my arms down lower, by my sides. I start to mimic his movements but in my concentration relax the rest of my body. The air flow whips me to the side and I bounce, laughing, onto the soft, deep landing mat. During my three minute freefall I'm thrown to the side many, many times, and at one point even begin to float towards the overhead net. But I also experience exhilarating seconds where I'm hovering, unaided, in mid air - flying! By the end I'm exhausted, my hair is in wind-whipped knots, my cheeks are flushed with exertion and my eyes are wide with excitement.Back on steady ground, I peruse my image CD - proof of the ridiculousness of what I've just done. Falling from the Swoop my face contorts with a look of outright terror. In the Agrojet I sit stunned, eyes wide with nerves. And above the wind current of the Freefall Xtreme my face is unrecognisable: wrinkled folds of loose skin look to be flapping about in the air, strands of long hair have been whipped into a spire, standing straight up from my head. I have never been so terrified, moved so fast nor looked more ridiculous - I can't wait to do it all again!
Amelia Norman visited Agroventures courtesy of Destination Rotorua Tourism Marketing.
