If you have never heard of Rap Jumping, you are not alone, neither had I! It is described by Tourism Victoria as ‘forward abseiling with a pulse’, so definitely not for the faint-hearted! Essentially you jump off the side of a 25 metre high building and walk, run or Tarzan-swing down the side of it. Rap Jumping takes place in Melbourne on the Urban Central building in the city centre. It was originally started by Peter Mackail, an ex-SAS soldier, in 1989 after developing the technique in the Army. It costs $65 for 3 jumps and is open everyday (weather permitting). Now as much as I would love to have a go, I’m scared of heights so I’ll let you guys try it out first!
Beiträge getagged ‘Australia’
Rap Jumping?
30 April 2009New giant solar energy system
19 Februar 2009Yesterday at the Crowne Plaza Alice Springs hotel in Australia, the largest building-mounted solar energy system in the southern hemisphere was switched on. The new energy system costs $3.3 million but will hopefully reduce the hotels energy consumption by 40 to 80 percent, depending on the time of year. Their energy efficiency programme also hopes to cut energy consumption by a further 18 percent. 3110 light bulbs will be replaced with energy efficient options as part of the energy efficiency programme, as well as the replacement of shower heads with new energy efficient ones to save water and gas. The amount of water saved is enough to fill over 30 Olympic swimming pools. The rooftop solar panel system will save the most amount of energy, reducing the hotels annual carbon footprint by 420 tonnes of CO2. I find it commendable that such a high profile hotel chain is doing something to save energy and the planet.
Tunarama Festival
19 November 2008If you’re looking for something unusual to do next January, how about a tuna festival in Port Lincoln, Australia? Between January 24th and 26th, the Tunarama Festival will be celebrating the tuna fish with stalls, sideshows and rides. The main event of the festival is the John West Tuna Toss where members of the public are invited to see how far they can throw a tuna which weighs between 8 and 10 kilos. Participants come from all over the world to have the chance to win AU$7,000 (£3,000) for the longest throw. The current record holder is Sean Carlin, ex-Olympic hammer thrower, who managed a throw of 37.23 metres in 1998. The event is planned around Australia Day every year, so there’s double the reason to celebrate!
Skydive over Uluru banned
15 Januar 2008Two skydivers from Australia have been banned from their world record attempt by Parks Australia. Heather Swan and Glenn Singleman wanted to dive from a hot air balloon 12,000 metres above Uluru (more commonly known as Ayers Rock) and then fly for 30 kilometres using special wingsuits. However, Parks Australia, which looks after Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, has denied their request because “disembarking and landing in a Commonwealth reserve is not allowed”. In an interview with ABC, Ms. Swan said that their world record attempt would be good for tourism in the area because “the footage is going to be shown on television screens around the world, so it would be great to have that sort of image going out to international audiences”. In my opinion, if they’re not touching Uluru, what’s the harm in diving from a hot air balloon above it? And it probably would boost tourism!
