Wheely high

Ever been on a ferris wheel? I haven't been on one since I was a kid, because they used to scare the crap outta me. They still do.

I have a weird fear of heights, but not all heights. It depends very much what it is. Being held 100m up above the water (I really need to post those photos), by a thin, red rope, is not an issue. Sitting in a cage that goes up and round and round, is.

The Giant Sky Wheel has been on the river's edge for a couple of months now.

Last night, I went out with some friends to an event for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, which is a very big deal in this city. We'd been looking forward to going for about a month. To say we were disappointed in the show would be an understatement. People walked out. The comedy festival has some big names and everyone who's been to shows has had a lot of fun. We waited for the fun to happen. Never mind.

We arrived early (well, late, coz the show started at 11pm) and couldn't go inside, so we asked if we had time to go on the ferris wheel. The guy at the door said yes and proceeded to hand out free tickets to ride. Little did we know, of the 6 of us, 3 of us were all feeling ill at the thought of getting on the damn thing. Of course, none of us said anything until we were getting in the cages.
We sat in two cages, three people each. The sides of the cage were hung onto before we even started moving. Yes, we're lame. Actually, going around wasn't so bad. It was late at night, so we could see lights and movement, but it was easy to pretend we weren't so high up, dangling by a thread of metal, unless we looked down. The second worst was in the beginning, as we kept stopping to allow people to get on. The worst was waiting to get off. When it stopped, we were at the top (why's it always work out that way?). Because of the stop/start motion, the cage rocked slightly, and did so each time it moved one space, to let people off.

In between comments about not being able to feel legs, and stomachs turning, we discussed fun stuff like all the movies we'd seen about ferris wheels getting stuck, or breaking and people having to clamber down themselves, through the workings. Or the thin metal floor falling out, so there'd be nothing underneath us. Music was being piped into speakers in the cage. Classic comment of the night was, "I don't want to die listening to Silverchair!". No, it wasn't me, but I was thinking it, too.

I do have to say, sitting backwards on the thing was much better than sitting forwards. I had to pry my hand from the cage when I got out, but I survived. Did I conquer a fear? I'm not so sure. I don't think so. If I'm able to plan my next ferris wheel ride (and frankly, why would you?), I'll remember to take abseiling gear with me, just in case.