| At A Glance | |
| Author | Dina |
| Contact | Dina@bme.anon |
| IAM | bean |
| When | A year ago |
| Artist | Karl (IAM: JedandSeth's Dad) + Rob (IS Newtown) |
| Location | Royal National Park, Sydney, Australia |
This day had been minimally planned – it was going to be a simple, fun day, the way things should be! Karl told me that he was coming down to Sydney for a weekend, and I wanted to suspend again. It was up to me to find a location, and to hustle up any others wanting to suspend, and then Karl would hook and hang us.
I had first picked Centennial Park as the suspension location, but after wandering around the woodlands for a long while I decided it was going to be too busy and too risky. Certainly not calm enough for the kind of experience I was after. I then thought of the Royal National Park, my favourite 'local' escape from (most of) civilisation. One fine Wednesday I picked Sandra up, and we trekked down to the park together. We headed straight to Wattamolla Beach and parked in the parking lot. From there it was a 10 minute walk across board-walk, rocks, stream, and sand. It was a decent sized beach, and the access wasn't too difficult. The beach faded into bushland towards the back, and was flanked by cliff faces. On the Northern end, there were a few trees, one in particular looked muscular and friendly. In a bout of happy coincidence, a large white fish hook was painted on the rock face just behind the tree. We decided to declare that The Spot.
Skip forward a few days to Saturday the 13th August. I arrived at the National Park quite early, and slowly other people dribbled onto the beach. As I had hardly planned the day, I had no idea how many people would come. It didn't really matter: I was there to suspend and as many friendly faces as could find the location were welcome to come along.
If I remember correctly, I was the second suspension of the day. The table was moved to beneath the rigging. I sat on the table, knees pointing to Pluto, and Karl and Rob (From Industrial Strength, Newtown) each pierced two of my hooks. I had decided to go for a 4-point knee suspension this time, as it was one of the extra, upper hooks which had ripped during my 6- point knee suspension, and I didn't feel that the extra hooks were necessary. They were 6ga this time, and I definitely felt the difference. The piercings were A LOT more intense than the 8ga hooks were. However there were only four of them and with two piercers working simultaneously it was over very quickly. I was able to bring myself to watch them piercing me, which I couldn't have done previously.
Either I, or someone else hooked me up to the rigging, and I wanted to pull myself up completely this time. I found it incredibly easy. As I started applying tension to the hooks, I knew that it was going to be a good suspension. I was relaxed, among loads of good company, and in the most stunning location over-looking the ocean. I think I lifted myself up pretty quickly – I couldn't wait to dangle again! Once up, someone else took the rope, and I was so pleased. It was all just so RIGHT. There was no doubt as to my ability to see the suspension through, no pressure at all. I felt really free, and to reflect this, I took my top off. It just seemed to make sense! It was fantastic to feel so relaxed. I was loving it. I was chatting to my friends intermittently and I think a couple of people made dodgy tit-jokes but that was fine. EVERYTHING was fine! I was swung, spun, pushed... Everything was relaxing.
I don't remember much else that happened while I was up. Again I was suspending for about 15-20 minutes. I could just feel the hooks, but they felt decidedly comfortable. Being of larger thickness than the previous hooks I'd used, they spread my weight over a larger surface area which meant less stress on any particular part of my knee.
I finally had to come down because my stomach was feeling a little churney. I'd eaten three or four bananas before hand, and I felt them all having little boxing matches within my guts. I wasn't upset to come down (as I had been last time I'd suspended) because I knew I could keep doing it, there was no hurry to 'suspend myself out' any time soon. After being de- rigged, technicare was squirted onto my hooks, gloves were donned, and I slid the hooks out myself. They were tied up in a couple of gloves, and I later had them autoclaved for safe-keeping. I massaged my knees and tried to get any air out but there wasn't much, only a few satisfying bubbles and a few dribbly blood-streams down my legs.
The aftermath was quite easy. I didn't notice the holes so much in the days after my suspension, and picked at the scabs a little but not as religiously as I had last time. I had realised that I'll be doing many more suspensions, and didn't need to aggravate the holes in order to retain the scarring. In fact, I now understood that in order to have many comfortable future knee suspensions I should actually try to heal the holes as best I could. But picking the scabs was just so much fun! The holes closed up within one-two weeks, and the scars are still prominent over a year later.