14 November 2011

Are you a lake jumper?

| johnboy
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There’s some media rumblings around jumping into Lake Burley Griffin as a drunken rite of passage.

If it’s something you’ve done we’d love to hear from you in the comments.

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Beserk Keyboard Warrior12:24 pm 15 Nov 11

Why is it illegal to swim under the bridge?

peturbed_but_pretty12:12 pm 15 Nov 11

does it count if you’re not pisht? I went swimming in the lake a few weeks ago for the sri chinmoy triathlon…..

I was once pissed on at a drunken party in my younger days. I’d take that any day over a dip in LBG.

justin heywood8:24 pm 14 Nov 11

I love the lake, but as a regular user (kayak), I would rather take a dip in my old man’s septic tank than voluntarily immerse myself in that evil-smelling swill.

Okwhatever said :

Yep, over 25 years ago I was jumping off the bridge into the lake with my brother and cousin until the police came and stopped us, they didn’t say they had a problem with us jumping off but they said it was illegal to swim under the bridge. Good times….good times.

Me and a few mates jumped off that bridge after our graduation in ’85- still remember how foul that water tasted back then. Got the same lecture off Police when we were wandering back to city sopping wet,- its illegal to swim under the bridge.

shadow boxer4:04 pm 14 Nov 11

We used to ride pushies off the wharf at the old hospital, wouldn’t go near that water now though.

I do remember a Norths rugby club do many years ago where they tried to start an icebergs thing in Lake Ginninderra, middle of winter and the bouy was about 20 metres out.

One of the first competitors made it to the bouy and was heading back when you could see the eyes roll back in his head as he started to pass out and sink.

Everyoner retired back to the club pretty quickly after that.

It’s like lots of things young blokes do – stupid and a bit dangerous, meaning a few people end up getting hurt and occasionally someone gets killed. People also die in many other ways. Ultimately, I think it’s up to the individual to manage risk for themself, and to consider others.

If people want to do stuff like this, it’s on their head if it goes wrong.

Yep, over 25 years ago I was jumping off the bridge into the lake with my brother and cousin until the police came and stopped us, they didn’t say they had a problem with us jumping off but they said it was illegal to swim under the bridge. Good times….good times.

After standing down wind of someone who swam in that lake, i’ll give it a pass

The morning after our official graduation event in Civic, a fair squad of ex-students decided to walk from Civic into Woden at sunrise (cabs are expensive, we were poor, and allegedly there would be a breakfast waiting for us).

Jumping off Commonwealth Bridge into LBG was one of the many stupid things done that morning, and there were surprisingly few arrests despite the eventual police escort.

Felix the Cat1:36 pm 14 Nov 11

Many years ago my school friends and I used to jump into the “spillway” at Lake Ginninderra (near the corner of Ginninderra Drive and William Webb Dr). Not sure how we missed hitting the submerged shopping trollies.

In year 12 a few mates and I would often go down to the rope swing in yarralumla and drink beers while having a swing. The water never seemed that dirty, even when it was closed for algae (the swing juts out a bit so we reasoned it was safe because there was good water movement and a bit of depth)

Darwin wins again.

I am not sure I could get that pissed.

enrique said :

Yeah, did it once or twice when I was about 15. We used to get bored doing flips off top tower at civic pool so we’d wander over to the lake and do them off Commonwealth Ave. bridge. The water was so filthy – as soon as you got out flies would swarm all over you. If the water police saw you they would tell you off big time. We decided it was more trouble than the adrenalin it provided so we gave up doing it pretty quickly.

On a related point – I would think there would be quite a few people that had the joy of jumping into the lake from great heights in the late 70s and 80s… Anyone remember the Canberra Birdman Rally?

http://the-riotact.com/what-happened-to-the-birdman-rally/7789

Yeah, did it once or twice when I was about 15. We used to get bored doing flips off top tower at civic pool so we’d wander over to the lake and do them off Commonwealth Ave. bridge. The water was so filthy – as soon as you got out flies would swarm all over you. If the water police saw you they would tell you off big time. We decided it was more trouble than the adrenalin it provided so we gave up doing it pretty quickly.

On a related point – I would think there would be quite a few people that had the joy of jumping into the lake from great heights in the late 70s and 80s… Anyone remember the Canberra Birdman Rally?

Yeah we did this a few years ago after graduation.

Probably not the smartest thing I’ve done (not the dumbest either), but I don’t know how you are going

to control young males, particularly when drunk, from taking risks.

Lets just say it’s not the warmest, nor cleanest of lakes either.

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