When
discussing trip activities for New Zealand back in February, Kathryn & I
booked bungee jumping for our first full day in the Queenstown area. I had seen
beautiful photos of both bungee jumping and skydiving in New Zealand, but we
decided to do bungee because it was founded in New Zealand.
A few days
before, both of us forgot why we thought this was a good idea and had no idea what
drove us to jump in the first place, but the deposit was down so we were headed
its way.
Spelled
“bungy” in NZ, AJ Hackett Bungy is a renowned location, specifically the
Kuwarau Bridge where we booked our jump. It’s the first commercial bungy
location in the world, so tourists from just about everywhere stop by, even if
they are not jumping. Upon arrival, we were weighed, received numbers for
photos & times written on our hand, and filled out a quick form. The
conversation then went as follows:
Receptionist:
Here’s your receipt. Take it to the bridge and then jump!”
Us:
“There is no information or security video…?”
Receptionist:
Nope!
We were
terrified. How were we about to trust our lives with the random employees on
this bridge? Since the line wasn’t very long, we decided to take turns jumping
so we could watch and photograph each other jumping.
Bungee
jumping was similar to skydiving in that when it’s happening, you are in such
shock you can’t even scream or vocally react. The scariest part for me was not
the first drop, but rather the first swing back up when the guys on the bridge
are controlling how much you move back and forth. The whole experience is less
than two minutes, but it feels like a long two minutes as you swing over a
river.
Watching
other jumpers, we would laugh at the largest moment of scare when the jumper is
waiting on the bridge platform. Once I was in that position, I realized that
this is because your harness is not a typical waist harness - but a foot/lower
leg harness. Your feet and lower legs are wrapped in towels and sealed with
Velcro straps, with a harness underneath there. When you swing back and forth,
all of the blood rushes to your head since you are inverted. The rest of the
pressure is on your lower legs, which is a lot since they are tied together in
the tightest position possible for nearly five minutes.
Coming out
of it, the experience was actually pretty thrilling and I would do it again.
Despite the lack of instructional video, AJ Hackett is super safe and was worth
every penny. Check out the pictures here:
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| The Kawarau Bridge that we jumped from |
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| Upon landing, you grab the pole from the staff in the raft who then take your harness off and release you |
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| We did it! |
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