The Thrill Of It All
Sun Herald
Sunday September 5, 1999
From abseiling to public whipping, there is something in Sydney to cater for the daredevil in us all, reports Helen Hawkes.
BORED with the mundaneness of your nine to five routine? Wondering where all the thrill in life has gone?
Why sit in a trendy cafe, drinking espresso in an attempt to raise your adrenalin levels, when you could get your pulse racing in more exciting ways?
Here is the real thrill seekers' guide to Sydney.
Abseiling
Adrenalin rating: 5-10/10, depending on whether you are afraid of heights.
Suitable for: Anyone from seven to 70.
"Those somersaults are terrific. But try to bring your eyes level with your feet this time to avoid your feet going over your head," Australian Mountaineering School instructor John McCracken told a first-timer tackling a 15m drop on a cliff in the Blue Mountains.
The problem seemed to be an overhang that has to be carefully negotiated halfway down the descent. The novice tried again and, to her obvious delight, succeeded.
"Abseiling is about mental as well as physical control," McCracken, who is ex-Navy, told me. "You are pushing your own limitations in the wilderness. Going down a cliff, most people's heart rate increases."
His own skipped a couple of beats when I attempted to peer, ropeless, over the edge at those working their way slowly down the rockface, their sporty footwear pressed firmly up against it.
"Procedure makes abseiling safe, as does safety equipment such as the helmets that everyone must wear," he emphasised. "And everyone goes through procedure before they start. The only real danger besides ignoring procedure is a rockfall, but we tell you how to deal with that, too."
He attached me to a harness so I could get a view of the drop more safely and, even at this moderate height, it made my stomach flip. McCracken offered to take me down a few gentle slopes after lunch, if I could overcome my fear of heights. Some people actually do the course to get over their squeamishness about vertical drops, he said.
I asked computer programmer Helene Olderoy what the attraction was for her.
"I do horse riding, Rollerblading and touch football and I just wanted to have a go at something different," she said.
Westpac employee Darren Sinclair said abseiling was about being "outdoorsy and daring".
Certainly the 20- and 30-somethings on this course, which included a barbecue lunch and complimentary post-abseiling drinks, seemed to have had a good time "pushing their limitations". Maybe later I'll push mine.
Cost: From $89 a person for a one-day course. The Australian School of Mountaineering also runs courses in rock climbing, canyoning, mountaineering, bushcraft and trekking.
Contact: Australian School of Mountaineering, 166B Katoomba Street, Katoomba, phone 02 4782 2014.
Parachuting
Adrenalin rating: 10/10
Suitable for: Daredevils, Nicole Kidman wannabes, the terminally bored.
"I use it as therapy," said parachutist James Terrie, 35. "It clears your head. And, of course, there's the thrill of knowing you're doing something a lot of other people wouldn't."
I can see how jumping out of a plane from around 3,300 metres would straighten things out for you. In fact, it does something else as well.
"Most clubs use overalls for first-time jumpers, so they don't mess up the jumpsuits," said Terrie, who is a member of the Newcastle Sport Parachute Club, the oldest skydiving club in Australia.
If you are a beginner, and brave or foolhardy enough to leap from a plane, the choices are these: the tandem jump where you're harnessed to an experienced instructor and, after 40 seconds of freefall, the instructor deploys the parachute; or the Accelerated Freefall Course, where two experienced instructors hold you from the time you leave the aircraft, until your parachute deploys and you then land your canopy, directed by an instructor on the ground.
(I chose option three: you stay on the ground and watch someone else throw themselves out of a perfectly good Cessna.)
"You learn body positioning and safety measures before you even step into a plane - first-timers usually spend a whole weekend training," Terrie said. "Then it will be one, two, three, drop and away in the arch position, with your chest forward and your arms back so you become aerodynamically stable and your face is down - not up, which really wouldn't do.
"While you might feel excited or frightened initially, once you jump, the sensory overload is so extreme you probably won't feel much at all. Learning to overcome sensory deprivation when air is rushing past you at 180-200km/h, as well as developing height awareness, is all part of the skills."
You can even organise to have a your first skydive video-taped so you have a lasting memory of that bladder-stimulating moment. Good luck.
Cost: Tandem $245; AFF (Stage 1) $345; optional video $70.
Contact: NSPC, Moores Lane, Elderslie, about 9km from Branxton in the Hunter Valley, Phone 02 4938 1040.
Paintball
Adrenalin rating: 8/10
Suitable for: The thick-skinned, team players, females, would-be commandos.
"The great thing about this game is you just can't die," said Heartbreak Ridge's managing director Manny Kargas as he gave me a tour of Australia's first paintball facility - 24ha of man-made and natural bush playing fields including jungle, swamps, creeks, bridges, barricades and bunkers.
And it is true that, unlike motor racing or parachuting, the risk of actually injuring yourself is fairly minimal - unless you count being hit by jaffa-sized paintballs.
"Yes, they do sting a bit," said Kargas. "But you've got to have a little bit of realism. It's not like a fake laser game."
It certainly isn't. For a start, there are the outfits. Two teams of about 20 people or more are suited up in camouflage overalls, vests, protective headgear and colour-coded masks, as well as chestplates if they are female.
Then there are the weapons: pump action marker guns with each player issued with about 400 paintballs to "shoot" members of the other team. (Once you're hit, you have to leave the field.)
Kargas said players can choose from a series of games but a popular one is Cambodia: "Your pilot has crash-landed deep in enemy territory. Your mission - to get out alive."
"It's not just about being able to aim a gun and fire, it's also about strategy," he said. "Those people who can work as a team make the better players because they protect each other. Women usually last longer, because they're a bit more cautious about getting hit."
Cost: Around $120 a person.
Contact: Heartbreak Ridge, 799 Richmond Road, Marsden Park, phone 02 9716 9205 or check it out on www.paintball.net.au
Motor Racing
Adrenalin rating: 10/10
Suitable for: Petrolheads, Tom Cruise wannabes, type A personalities.
I gripped the side of the seat with one hand and held on to my helmet with the other as racing driver Chris Hones, who had been recruited to give me a "feel" of what it's like to do a circuit, burned around a corner at heart-in-the-throat speed.
"Don't worry," Eastern Creek's PR Jane Croslin had assured me, "you're safer on the track than on the highway."
Still, as advertising signs for Coca-Cola and Goodyear blurred past and the 3.5-litre twin-spark RSR motor in the purpose-built Porsche reached more than 250km/h, it was a bit difficult to relax. The feeling was one of being pushed through time and space. The pull of G-force indicated how a facelift must feel.
Watching from the sidelines, racing driver Rob Porter, previously a champion yachtsman, gave me the thumbs up.
"Watch the feet," was his tip. "It's all in the dexterity of the feet. If all the action's happening on the steering wheel, you know you're in trouble."
Porter's other tip - take a lucky charm.
Driver Alan Jones insists on wearing red underpants. I didn't have red knickers on, but looking at Hones's fireproof booties and the tiny adjustments they made as we negotiated the circuit's hairpin, I thought we would be OK, even if we didn't complete the 3.8km circuit in his record time of one minute and 36 seconds.
I gave him a hand signal that said: "Fantastic. Now can I get out of the car?" On land again, my grateful body felt like shaken jelly.
Still, given the chance I'd happily volunteer to be in the driver's seat.
Cost: The cheapest way to get into the driver's seat at Eastern Creek International Raceway - used by Mick Doohan, Peter Brock, Geoff Brabham and Dick Johnson - is to do a driving school class. It costs from $200 and you learn defensive car skills, through to performance driving, in your own car. If you want to go further, into the field of motor racing, you'll need to get a Confederation of Australian Motor Sports licence. Then it's time to think about a race car and the $6,500 it costs to hire the main circuit on a weekend.
Contact: The Australian Racing Drivers Club, Eastern Creek Raceway, Brabham Drive, Eastern Creek, phone 02 9672 1000; or Oran Park Raceway, Oran Park Road, Narellan, 02 4646 1004.
Whipping
Adrenalin rating: 8/10
Suitable for: Exhibitionists, fetishists, ex-Catholics.
It was a Friday night and, with the impossibly voluptuous Mistress Sabine and Mistress Alexis, Master Tom was about to put some sado-masochistic thrills into the lives of jaded clubgoers. Some had come along just to watch the action at the Blackmarket's Hellfire Club but others were here to volunteer for a good thrashing.
"We have a cultural history of flagellation," said Master Tom - who was wearing leather chaps, a metal codpiece, some studded wrist cuffs and leather chest straps - by way of explanation for the club's popularity.
Hellfire is where actor Richard Roxburgh came to prepare for his role as composer Percy Grainger in Passion.
Master Tom and his mistresses, all of whom have completed apprenticeships in the art, are true professionals.
Called upon to whip an endless parade of bottoms, drip candle wax on metres of flesh, and clamp folds and folds of skin and fat with clothes pegs, they treat each candidate - leant up against an A-frame in full audience view - with fresh dominance and enthusiasm.
Those being whipped, all of whom are stripped to knickers only, squirm in what appears to be delight. That said, I declined the offer of disciplinary action in favour of voyeurism.
In the background, televisions suspended from the ceiling showed fetish lifestyle videos, including footage of a woman in S&M gear leading a man around on a dog lead.
One of the first to be flogged was Danielle, 23, a tele sales manager who has been coming back every week for two months. She's an ex-Catholic.
"You get a lot of them here," she said, something Mistress Alexis confirmed.
She was followed by Huon, 28, who works in hospitality and said he likes being part of the S&M scene. He's dressed in a lots of leather but Mistress Alexis assured me that all participants really have to worry about is being sober, drug-free and sane and having on good underwear.
Cost: $15 at the door.
Contact: Hellfire at The Blackmarket, 111 Regent Street, Chippendale, phone 9698 8863. Open from 11pm to 4am and whipping starts at midnight.
THE WUSS'S GUIDE TO DAREDEVIL ACTIVITIES
* The Bridge Climb. If a 100-year-old woman can do it, so can you. The cost: $120 for a three-hour, weekend climb. Phone 02 9252 0077.
* Boogie boarding. Stay between the flags for gentle thrills in Sydney's famous surf.
* IMAX theatre. Get as close to danger sports as you can without doing them by watching Extreme, 45 minutes of snowboarding, rockclimbing and more on an eight-storey-high screen. $14.95 for adults, $9.95 for children. Phone 02 9281 3300.
* The Bronte to Bondi cliff walk. See the ocean pound against the rocks from a safe vantage point.
* Wonderland Sydney. Be a devil and try the Demon roller-coaster, or take it easy in the kiddies' section where gentle rides are designed not to frighten anyone. $26 for 4-12s, $37 for adults. Wallgrove Road, Eastern Creek. Phone 02 9830 9100.
10 OTHER WAYS TO LIVE DANGEROUSLY
* Queue jump in a bank during lunch hour.
* Weave through the CBD's construction zone.
* Eat from a hotdog stand by a pub after closing hour.
* Drink tap water.
* Miss the last train at Cabramatta.
* Buy year 2000 season tickets for Norths, Souths, Manly or Penrith league teams.
* Go on a camping weekend with Robert Bogucki.
* Body surf with Alex, the whale.
* Volunteer as javelin catcher at next year's Olympics.
* Know any member of the Kennedy family.
© 1999 Sun Herald
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