FactualNew
Jack Osbourne is back for adrenaline filled adventures, but this time he’s accompanied by the rest of his family. Jack is joined by sister Kelly and parents Sharon and Ozzy as the Osbournes take part in a family adventure Adrenaline Junkie style.
He’s joined by his parents in Las Vegas and Jack’s aware of the challenges they all face. “My parents are out here and they’re both really old….but I’m looking forward to trying to get them stuck in.”
Unfortunately Ozzy comes down with the flu but Sharon has a plan. She calls daughter Kelly and gets her to fly from New York to take part in the first event – rock crawling.
Rock crawling involves attempting to drive highly modified four wheel drive vehicles up near vertical rock faces, down terrifying drops and over obstacles that would be impossible to tackle in a normal vehicle. After checking if her mother has remembered to wear a sports bra, Kelly, although jet lagged, dives straight in and is the first to practice manoeuvring the vehicle.
After Jack and Sharon also have a try, they test their skills out on a course which involves driving over twenty or so steep tricky rocks, round bollards and through a series of mini crevasses all without rolling the vehicle. Each Osbourne will be timed and the fastest one round the course wins.
Sharon is the first to tackle the course after feeling confident in her practice. While driving through a gulley, Sharon deviates slightly from the precise path and terrifyingly the vehicle flips over and leaves her and her instructor hanging upside down. Jack admits he’s worried “I thought she was going to get her hand crushed” but Kelly is visibly upset despite Sharon’s assertions that she’s ok.
Once the right way up, Sharon gets the car in gear and out of the gulley. After getting out of the vehicle, she laughs off her first attempt at rock crawling. “Two minutes on it and I f**k the whole thing up!”
Kelly decides she doesn’t want to attempt the course after her mum but Jack manoeuvres his way round brilliantly.
Jack organises one last adrenaline fuelled adventure in the desert. The Osbournes board a specially converted plane to experience zero gravity. A converted 747 passenger jet, the plane has had most of its seats ripped out and has reinforced wings. It will climb to 34,000 feet to begin manoeuvres.
After take off Jack goes to investigate the part of the plane where the family will experience weightlessness. After his indoor skydiving earlier in the week, Jack jokes that it’s the “second time this week I’ve found myself in a padded cell. Haven’t experienced that in a while.”
At 34,000 feet the pilot tips the nose of the plane over and the passengers experience what it feels like to be weightless. Sharon describes it as “like being an angel”.
While floating, Ozzy says “I’ve been high before but not like this!”
After coming back down to earth with a bump the Osbournes all agree it was a brilliant experience.
The Osbournes then head off to Patagonia, the Southern most tip of Argentina, where temperatures can reach -40 degrees and the wind whips in from the Antarctic. The family are going to try dog sledding and, as dog lovers, Sharon and Ozzy are looking forward to it. But Jack advises them that these dogs aren’t "fluffy, sit-on-your-lap type dogs."
Ozzy isn’t sure his wife will cope with not treating the working dogs like pets, saying "She’ll like taking them for walks and getting them manicures and things!"
The first day starts with dog sledding training accompanied by a local expert. The four dogs pulling the sleds can reach speeds up to 25 miles per hour so the Osbournes take some time to get used to the sled’s controls without the dogs. Pushing the sled through the snow, Ozzy likens it to a much less adrenaline fuelled experience saying, "I feel like I’m in Tesco!"
The family set off on a run with the dogs through the trees. Under the crisp snow there are fallen logs and branches which could prove a real risk. Both Sharon and Ozzy take a tumble so Jack gets his team to help them out until they get the hang of things again.
They throw themselves into it and get the dogs going faster and faster but Ozzy misjudges a corner and falls into the trees. Having suffered a near fatal quad bike accident a few years ago Ozzy has metal plates in his shoulder and is worried he could have done further damage. In the remote frozen landscape, the nearest specialist medical advice is more than a five hour flight away. The team’s doctor checks him out and, although he isn’t seriously injured, advises that he doesn’t continue.
Once back on his feet Ozzy says, "It was fun until I came off…it’s not like when you take your poodle round Central Park!"
The next day, the Osbourne family put their new found dog sledding skills to the test and are expected to rough it in a log cabin with no running water or electricity. Before they set off for their trek, Jack gives his parents some reassurance. "The further we go the more tired the dogs will get and the slower they’ll go."
Ozzy starts out on a snowmobile in the hope that Jack and Sharon will have tired the dogs out before he has another go. There’s the ever present danger of a heavy snow fall but Jack storms ahead and Sharon finds her feet. A big dog lover, Sharon says, "These dogs are not pets, they’re working dogs. They’re still warm and fuzzy and look like you want to hug them but they’re working dogs, they just want to run."
After four hours, and with the sun setting over the mountains, the team near their accommodation for the night; a basic log cabin without heating or electricity. As Ozzy puts it, "it’s not quite the Hilton."
The family settle around a campfire and Ozzy and Sharon look back on their experiences with their son. Sharon says, "It’s great to get a big taste of Jack’s world…I really admire him."
Looking back on his time as an Adrenaline Junkie Ozzy comments, "We’ve all been around the world so many times but this is a different way to go around and it’s great."
After surviving a night in the icy wilderness it’s time for the Osbourne family to pack up their things and head back to civilisation. Ozzy offers his final thoughts on his time in Patagonia; "We came, we saw, we froze our asses off!"
Last edited: Thursday, 5 November 2009
