The Adrenaline

Are you a fan of ‘the buzz’? There’s nothing like it, in my book.

Back in 1982 I remember sitting on the arm of the lounge (too tense to sit on the cushion part) as Allan Border and Jeff Thomson edged closer and closer to the target in the Boxing Day test against the Poms. They couldn’t get there? Could they? Could they? They were whittling it down, run by run, putting on a massive 70 partnership and needing just 4 more to win. I couldn’t breathe watching it. I was only 16 at that time and had never even heard of an adrenaline rush, but that’s what was going on inside my body as I tried to ‘will’ them home to unlikely victory. Then, Thommo got out, and we lost. Not only did my heart sink, but that strange feeling I’d had inside me disappeared as the fast as the catch was swallowed in the slips.

Since that moment when I recognised it, the search for the adrenaline buzz has been with me. Abseiling and rock-climbing still remain a go-to for me, and snow skiing (even though my style is closer to Eddie the Eagle than it is to Zali Steggall) has proven more than adequate when in search of the buzz. Scuba Diving, the Tough Mudder challenge and the 2nd tallest water slide in the world in Florida have also succeeded in getting the adrenaline flowing. When we go off touring somewhere, searching for tall buildings with observation decks has become a must. How good is that tingly feeling you get when you go up to the top floor and then stick your face right against the glass? More please.

7 years ago we took a road trip up to the ‘Worlds’ at the Gold Coast. You buy what they call a superpass for unlimited access and you’re on an adrenaline mission for a whole week. There’s a ride at Dreamworld called ‘The Tower of Terror’ which not only punches huge g-forces through you, but gets to over 100 mph (160k’s) as the little tram car hurtles down the track. Our youngest (who will feature in the next paragraph) had been ‘doing the math’ while we stood in the line and excitedly announced “we gonna be in the front row of the carriage!” Much excitement from father, child 2 and child 3, but no joy for child 1, who it appears didn’t get as much of the adrenaline gene as the other two (wife is watching from sidelines with almost all of these activities, by the way).

Jump to November 2019, and child number three, all grown up now and a recent high school graduate, was finally able to put into action his 18th birthday gift. Along with 2 of his best buds, they ventured on their own road trip to Wollongong to jump out of a perfectly good plane. Safe to say he’s had the adrenaline bug passed down to him. For those who don’t know, when you are freefalling from a plane, you will reach a ‘terminal velocity’, which will be somewhere between 200 and 300km/h in a tandem jump. Whoosh. Awesome. I believe the adrenaline was still pumping through his veins for a significant amount of time after hitting terra firma. More value in that than a drunken week at schoolies, say the ol’ timer at the keyboard.

This begs the question, where do you go next for a buzz after jumping out of a plane? Now that HSC is finished and he’s a free man for a little while, I wonder if the ‘buzz’ of mowing lawns, fixing fences, weeding vege gardens and cleaning gutters will be enough for him??