Queenstown

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AJ Hackett

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TLM2008
First Reviewer
5 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
2
Reviews
4
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Editor Pick

The Highest Bungy in Queenstown

  • February 23, 2009
  • Rated 5 of 5 by lo7la from Elmhurst, Illinois
The Highest Bungy in Queenstown

The Nevis Highwire Bungy is 134 metres (440 feet) above the Nevis River. You free fall for about 8 seconds. It is the longest jump you can do in New Zealand. This is not for the those with a fear of heart.
But I say if you are going to do it, then do it big. You won't get dipped in the water here, you won't come anywhere near the water.
You meet at the office in Queenstown. They call your name and you file into a small bus with several other nervous passengers. It's a 40 minute ride through high country surrounded by sheep. Once you get up the bumpy road to the station you are weighed and kitted out in your jumpsuit. You then go in groups into the cable car and are transfered halfway across the gorge the the "bungy pod". This is where you will jump from. If you weren't nervous enough already the bottom of the pod is glass, so you can see the river far below. One by one they call your name and you shuffle forward.
Faces peer gingerly down into the canyon and eveyone holds their breath as the first jumper goes. The staff counts backwards from 3. On 1, you jump. Or dive really. Put your hands above your head and dive off into the abyss.
The sension is unreal. One moment you are on solid ground, the next you are hurling towards the ground at an unimageable speed. Then the bungy hooked round your feet catches. You bounce back up, then down again, and back up. This repeats for a while and you swing until it settles and they lower another rope down for you to upright yourself. They haul you back up to the pod, help you out of the ropes as they tie in someone else.
You heart hasn't gone back down to the normal beats yet. You doubt it will all day.
Photos are for sale of your jump. If you are out there with a friend they can take a few snaps, however the quality won't be the best, you'll be a tiny spec against the river below. But at least you can say you are that tiny spec and you've done it.
The Nevis experience costs around $230 NZD.

From journal The Adventure Queen

Editor Pick

AJ Hackett Bungee Jumping

  • February 12, 2008
  • Rated 4 of 5 by TLM2008 from Toronto, Ontario
AJ Hackett Bungee Jumping

There are several surfaces of height from which you can launch yourself off of in Queenstown, New Zealand but I opted for the Kawarau Bridge. At 43 metres it's not the tallest of the structures offering bungee excursions but as the first commercial bungee opperation in the world (since 1988), the purist in me wanted to visit where it all began. I'm a sucker for historical significance.

Bungy jumping anywhere will cost you a pretty penny and New Zealand is no different but it's one of those things that I felt I just *had* to do and from my perspective it was definitely money well spent. AJ Hackett charges $160 to bungy from the Kawarau bridge and this includes transport to the bridge and a not-so-stylish souvenir t-shirt at the end of your trip. The staff are friendly but it is evident that you are just one small part of their day as you get swept through the various steps in the well-oiled tourist operation. I was there in off-season so it was a fairly swift operation. Supposedly in the summer months it is more of a party atmosphere. If you are travelling with friends or family who are not planning to jump, you may want to look into other options to get to the site. They charge for additional passengers in the bus and though I don't remember the exact cost, I remember being surprised by the fee charged to my husband, who was not jumping.

Worried about the fear factor? I can tell you that I am not the biggest fan of heights and it was much less scary than I anticipated it would be. I opted for the foot-tie method of bungy (you have a choice between foot and harness - foot is sooo much cooler - you really have to go that route)It is more thrilling than scary and it's all very surreal which probably detracts from the scary-ness of it all. This is not to say that you won't have a moment of slight terror when you first leap from the platform and your body recognizes it is falling through space but that feeling is quickly replaced by thrill and exhiliration. If you ask me, the more horrifying part of the day was that the people running the show write your weight on your hand in magic marker for the whole world to see. Now *that* is scary! :)

Expect to shell out additional funds at the end of your jump for the photos and video of your experience...it's highway robbery, but really, you just can't not buy these. A nice feature is that included in your photos is a code which allows you to go online and download your pictures to email to friends. The files are miniscule in size, so don't get too excited thinking you will make prints from them, but it is a nice touch. For copyright reasons, I can't upload my photos to this site, but I can offer that the quality of the photos were quite good and they have definitely mastered the art of taking the 3 most important shots.

From journal Queenstown, New Zealand

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