Quote: 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 journals Queenstown, New Zealand