We used to be a conservative family – level headed, feet firmly on the ground, sitting pretty in our comfort zone. Until, that is, Chasing the Rainbow entered our lives and shook things up a bit. In our quest to change our focus from the stresses and strains of daily life in South Africa, and concentrate rather on family, happy times and spreading positivity about our beautiful rainbow nation, we have managed to catapult ourselves head first out of our everyday routine – laughing all the way.

Here are some of our most extreme moments from our first year of blogging:

Ralph’s Plunge off Soweto’s Orlando Towers

Ralph is terrified of heights. The mere thought of walking across a rickety rope bridge between two industrial cooling towers with only a fine layer of steel mesh between him and the ground far, far below is enough to make his legs go numb. So we were gobsmacked when he agreed to leap off that bridge at Soweto’s distinctive Orlando Towers, “for the sake of the blog”.
And it was definitely worth it for the colourful footage we got – check out the short video clip below.

Facing your fear head on is supposed to help cure you of your phobia. For Ralph, it seems to have had the opposite effect, as he is now a trembling wreck when it comes to exploring high places. “I now know what it feels like if you fall off” he explains.

(If the video does not display properly on your device, click here to watch on YouTube.)

Sarah’s Epic Mountain Bike Trail

Okay so it’s not nearly as impressive as Ralph’s bungee jump, but for someone who had not ridden a bike since my teenage years, it was a mighty big challenge for me to tackle a 30km mountain bike trail through a game reserve with professional cyclists. Not something that I would have ordinarily chosen to do. Nope, you got it – I did it “for the sake of the blog”. In fact, to be quite honest, I didn’t actually expect to have to ride a whopping 30 K’s. I was being all girly and focusing on looking the part and being able to stay upright on my bike, and was quite taken by surprise with the length of the ride. But, I reached very deep inside and managed to make it out the other end stiff but unscathed. And with a fabulous blog post! Check it out here (A Boat, a Bicycle and a Bolt of Lightning)

Jacob’s First Surf

Jacob is right up there as THE most conservative member of our family. Extreme does not form part of his vocabulary, so we were super impressed when he agreed to don a wet suit, grab a long board and dive into the waves at King’s Beach “for the sake of the blog”. All of us (including him) were taken completely by surprise by how much he loved it. After a few wobbly pop-ups, he got the hang of it pretty quickly and is now nagging us to take him back again. Thanks to Chasing the Rainbow, Jacob is at risk of becoming totally rad, dude.

Luke’s Downhill Dive

Our very first blog video was of the Sunday’s River Ferry – a slow, sublime cruise along the lazy river towards the mouth. With an adrenalin rush in wait! When we reached the estuary and scrambled right up to the top of the towering dune mountain, marvelling at the view, but quaking at the steep decline, it was Luke who agreed to go first, “for the sake of the blog”. He was nervous, but bravely followed the instructions and promptly tore down the dune, sand flying and hair streaming behind him. He managed most of the way on the board, but ended up in a head over heels over head over heels tumbleweed run at the bottom. Epically extraordinary – well done Luke! (Check out his wipe out on YouTube by clicking here)

Cian’s Flight Through Space

Cian is the most extreme of all of us. He is our Yes Man, our Eager Explorer and Avid Adventurer. Throughout all our blogging adventures, he has been the first to volunteer for everything. As he is still so little, we have been very protective of him and most often, the answer is “no”. It goes something like this…

Me: ”It would be awesome to have one of us jumping off the Soweto Towers in our Jo’burg video!”

Deafening silence…

Cian: “I’ll do it Mom!”

Me: “You don’t weigh enough Cian, anyhow no way would we let you dive off a building.”

Cian: “I’ll put stones in my pockets when they weigh me, PLEASE Mom?”

Mom: “Over my dead body. Dad will do it, for the sake of the blog”

Dad turns green…

So that explains why Cian had such a huge grin as he zoomed down the longest double zipline in Africa at Adrenalin Addo. Woohoo, he was allowed to do something “for the sake of the blog”!

What Next?

The more we have stepped away from our ordinary, the further we are prepared to push ourselves. Although bungee jumping is now a swear word in our home, Ralph and Jacob want to swim with sharks, I rather fancy paragliding off Signal Hill, and Luke and Cian want to go skydiving.

Hmmm, skydiving – now THAT would be awesome footage! But aren’t our kids too young?

Ralph turns green…