THEY say stepping over the edge is the hardest part.
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It's hard, but the adrenaline rush doesn't stop there.
Halfway through abseiling the Gordon Dam is when your heart really starts racing.
You are hanging in the middle of the wilderness.
Seventy metres from the top of the dam wall, 70 metres from the ground.
Your feet can't touch the wall as it's concave - meaning after the first few steps you are left hanging by the rope attached to your harness - and it doesn't seem like you are getting any closer to the bottom.
It's a mind-spin, but one that leaves you grinning like a Cheshire cat afterwards.
GETTING THERE:
It takes about four hours to drive from Launceston to the Gordon Dam, taking the turn off to the right once you get over the Bridgewater Bridge.
From Hobart, it is a two-and-a-half-hour drive south-west.
Maydena is the last fuel stop on the road to Strathgordon, so don't get caught out like we almost did.
However, the Lake Pedder Chalet does have a petrol bowser if you are really stuck.
Once you get to the chalet, you have 12 kilometres left to drive.
The dam is open to anyone. It's worth the trip just to see the beauty of the region.
It's untouched wilderness, but the wall, which at capacity can hold back 12,359,040 megalitres of water, adds a great contrast.
Just looking at the drop off from Lake Gordon to the gorge 140 metres below gets your heart racing.
It takes courage to peer over the edge, let alone think about stepping over it.
THE ABSEIL:
While anyone can visit Gordon Dam, it is Aardvark Adventures that offers the highest commercial abseil in the world.
The company, which has offered abseiling at Gordon Dam since 1997, usually spends 90 days of the year at the dam, with summer being the busiest period.
Our abseil guide Macca Green congratulates us as soon as we get to the visitor centre, which is above the dam wall.
"You've finished one of the hardest parts of the day . . . the drive," he says.
Macca is cool, calm and collected, which helps ease your nerves.
Being a first-time abseiler, my nerves are sky high.
I like extreme sports. I've been paragliding in Austria before, but this is a different adrenaline rush.
I can't even look over the edge standing on top of the wall.
Cynthia Goodier, of Perth, is also tackling the 140-metre drop.
It's her 40th birthday and doing the abseil is a present from her husband Darren.
"I'm pretty nervous but I reckon it will be great," Mrs Goodier said on the walk from the visitor centre down a few flights of stairs to the top of the dam wall.
"I just wanted to do something different (for my birthday)."
Before we take the leap over the edge, Macca tightens our harnesses (which were put on in the visitor centre) and gives us a quick safety briefing.
Safety is extremely important for this kind of activity.
"We're using industrial descenders," Macca says.
"Being such a big abseil you have to use big hefty devices."
He tells us we will be attached to twin ropes.
The main line will be what we use to lower ourselves at our own speed.
"We've also got clients backed up on a second line, which the guide will control," Macca says.
"That we can take over and slow people down or stop them if needs be.
"It's a fully releasable system so if anything goes wrong, we have the ability to lower them all the way to the ground.
"We haven't had to do that yet and fingers crossed, we'll never have to."
After a quick practice with our feet on the ground at the top of the dam wall, Mrs Goodier is first to go over.
Without hesitation she's off, slowly lowering herself to the bottom.
Once she reaches the ground, she packs her ropes into the rope bag and Macca pulls it back to the top.
It's my turn.
"Get up on to the railing and put one leg on either side, like you're getting on a horse," Macca instructs.
This is what they say is the hardest part.
Imagine being 140 metres up and stepping on to the other side of the railing with nothing but a giant fall behind you.
That's exactly what this is.
And to put it into perceptive, from the harbour to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is 134 metres. So you are up higher than that and it's solid ground below, not water.
Over the edge, I shuffle to the middle of the abseil structure.
Macca attaches the rope bag, which hangs straight between my legs.
"I'll get you to put your right hand behind and put your left hand onto the rope above you," Macca says.
This is the part I've been petrified about - taking your hands off and letting go of a perfectly good railing seems ridiculous.
But slowly I take my right hand off, take hold of the rope behind me and slowly lean back to test the tension.
It's strong.
Gritting my teeth and hoping for the best, I let go of the railing and hold my hand on the rope.
I think my heart stops for a second, but it doesn't take long for it to start going a hundred miles an hour.
My feet feel like they are stuck in mud as I try and walk the first few steps down the wall.
Before long, my feet can't touch and I'm left hanging from the rope facing the gigantic wall.
There's no going back.
You're in charge of your own speed by slowly releasing the rope from your right hand.
The slower you release it, the slower you go.
It doesn't take long for the rope to start twisting and rather than looking at the wall, I'm looking straight out to the magical gorge.
It's raining, but even with the rain falling on my face, it feels like I'm dreaming.
You can hardly hear anyone talking as you're too far away and instead I can just hear water rushing off the cliffs like waterfalls from the rain.
Halfway down the nerves kick in again. It doesn't feel like the ground is getting closer.
It often feels like I've stopped completely - that could be because I'm too scared to release my grip from the rope.
About six minutes later my feet are back on the ground.
They're like jelly and I fall before being able to stand up.
What an experience.
Mrs Goodier is waiting at the bottom.
"Once you were over the edge, it was an awesome experience," she said.
"It was a very memorable 40th."
I have to agree. It's awesome and memorable and something I'm already keen to do again.
THE CLIMB BACK UP:
The only problem about being safely on the ground, is the car park and the visitor centre is back up more than 150 metres.
A ladder, split into sections and with cages around it is what you have to climb to get back to the top.
There are approximately 470 ladder rails to get back to the top.
The quickest anyone has climbed up is about 4 minutes 50 seconds, and that's only to the top of the wall.
About six minutes is the record to the very top.
We are lucky and workers, who have been surveying the wall, are actually operating the lift, which runs right beside the ladder.
They give us a lift back to the top, although most people are normally not that lucky.
Macca said abseilers could do the drop as many times as they wanted on the day, but 80 per cent only did it once because of the climb back up.
"The most a single person has done it is five times and that has only happened once," Macca said.
INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION:
Macca said he was at the dam a few weeks ago when Australian trick group How Ridiculous sunk a basketball from the top of the dam wall to a hoop at the bottom.
It took three days for the group to make the 126-metre shot, but it is now the world record for the highest basketball shot.
Aardvark Adventures founder Phil Harris said the basketball footage, which aired on Channel 7 program Sunday Night and is on YouTube, had been viewed more than five million times.
He said the dam had had a lot of national attention including starring on Sunrise, Getaway, The Mole, in travel magazines and on international programs, which was great publicity for Tasmania.
Mr Harris started the dam abseil in 1997 and said he still got excited every time he went out there.
"More people need to go out there because it is one of those stunning places people have to visit," he said.
"Every trip is magic."
Aardvark Adventures also offer abseiling at Blackmans Bay near Hobart, whitewater rafting, Amazing Race style activities and school and group events.
Gordon Dam abseilers can also try the 30-metre or 50-metre descents.
The 140-metre dam abseil costs $210.
The Sunday Examiner was a guest of Aardvark Adventures.