Abseiling

“Man Kate,” my mates muttered to me. “It’s soooo scary. I bet you won’t do it.”
“Oh yeah,” I replied. “We’ll see about that.

It was team 2’s turn for abseiling and we were extremely excited. Well at least I was.
The boys had told me that it was hard but I’m a girl, I can do anything.

“HARNESS TIGHT?” Ben our guide asked.
“CHECK!”
“HELMET TIGHT?”
“CHECK!”
We were good to go.

First we went to the practise hill (which wasn’t even steep.) He taught us how to lock part of our harness to the rope and how to go down slowly with our hand by our side.

Then Ben took us up to the 10metre high, steep rock-face. I could see the boys shaking on the bench, meanwhile the girls were bouncing with excitement. Rachel had called dibs on first so I went second.
I watched Rachel disappear out of sight from my seat. And that’s when the butterflies came, my nerves kicked in.

After what seemed like ages of silence a small voice called “I’m at the bottom.”
I let out a sigh of relief.

“Next.” Ben called.
I got geared up and stood hanging off the edge of a 10metre high cliff. I felt as light as a feather, like I was dreaming. Then, reality kicked in.
“Good to go.” Ben said with a grin on his face.

I hesitated, then my hand slid to the side and my legs started walking like I wasn’t controlling myself.
At about half way there was a bit of a dip in the wall. My foot slipped off the rock and I was hanging just hanging like a fly dangling from a web. Somehow I managed to get my feet back on and abseil for 5 more metres.

I could hear my mates yelling words of encouragement to me but they sounded like faint voices to me because all I could hear was my heart beating.

After about 30 more seconds I thought ‘Where on earth is the bottom?’ Then my foot reached something that wasn’t rock. It was moist and kind of soft.
‘Ground.’


Finally I had reached the ground.
“Good job.” I heard faintly from the top. “Now unhook yourself.”

I struggled to unhook myself because my hands were shaking with excitement.
I walked down the rough pathway like I was walking on pillows. I was obviously still a bit dizzy.

When I was up the top I watched everyone anxiously. Some of the boys didn’t want to go but they faced their fears and went. I was dying for another turn but unfortunately we ran out of time.

When we all assembled back I told the boys that I had done it. They just smiled and said whatever but I knew they were thinking ‘She really did do it!’

Abseiling was a great experience and I loved it. I would love to do it again someday but I don’t know if my parents would like the idea of watching me disappear down a rock-face only being held up by a piece of rope. Maybe I’ll convince them someday.

by Kate Jones