Kawarau Bridge Bungy

We woke in Cromwell with the intent to make it to Queenstown and check into our last hotel. The drive is only 1 1/2 hours, so it could have been a short day, but we stopped at Kawarau Bridge on the way. This is the location of the world’s first commercialized bungy jumping, run by the AJ Hackett company. It opened in 1988 and operates from a bridge over the Kawarau River.

Since we were on a Lord of the Rings tour, we were happy to learn that just around the bend in the river from the suspension bridge is the location of the Argonauth on the Anduin River, in the movie The Fellowship of the Rings.

You may recall that Pedro is a big fan of bungy jumping, and has jumped so many times in his life he can’t count them all. He had signed up for this jump a month before the trip. One thing this site offers that he has never had a chance to do before is to dunk into the water. If the bungy cord is just right, it will stretch out enough for your head to actually get wet before you bounce back up. It sounds nuts to me, but Pedro is a thrill-seeker!

Even though only a few people considered jumping, the bus parked and everyone went inside. We were all going to offer moral support.

AJ Hackett told Pedro that there were not many people jumping first thing in the morning, so he could go early if he wanted to. He did. A couple other men from the group had decided to jump, and had signed up in the previous day or two, one signed up that morning. But once we were there, the bug hit one more guy so we had a respectable group of jumpers. They all planned what they would yell as they leaped. The ideas were Lord of the Rings themed, like “For Frodo!” and “Fly, you fools!”

Josh told us the best place to watch from, so most of us headed down the hill to an overlook spot where we could look up at the jumpers.

The suspension bridge was built in 1880 to cross the river to get to gold. The new bridge was built in 1963 and is currently in use as highway 6.

Click through the following slideshow and watch him dive!

Look at the colour of that water! I was consistently mesmerized by the bright blue. The weather was amazing. The scenery was amazing. My Pedro got to jump off a bridge. It was shaping up to be an excellent day.

Then whoosh! Over our heads zoomed Midori! We had not even realized we could take a zipline, but she had and had quickly taken advantage of the opportunity. By that time, it was too late for the rest of us to do the zipline.

Our Red Carpet Tours group happily climbed back onto the bus and made our way to Queenstown. This would be our last city of the tour, and our last hotel room. It was a bit hard to believe we were talking about lasts, as the routine of waking up and having adventures with these new friends was becoming a way of life at this point.

Josh got keys to everyone and asked us to drop our bags and meet downstairs again. Then we went on a short walking tour of the tourist center of Queenstown, which seems to be particularly designed for revelers, partiers, vacationers, and tourists. Josh took us to a jewelry shop that had just received a new collection of jewelry in conjuntion with the newly released animated movie War of the Rohirrim (which Pedro and I have not yet seen).

The shop was small and thus crowded when our big tour group went in there. To kill time and wait for people to clear out, we walked down to the waterfront and were truly impressed.

We did go back to the jewelry store because Pedro wanted to purchase some New Zealand greenstone. He found a pendant that he liked for a good price and then we left to go find some food. After eating, we wandered Queenstown and stumbled across – I kid you not – the AJ Hackett office. We walked in to make some inquiries.

In minutes, we had purchased another bungy jump! Pedro had been looking forward to the water dunk for a month, and was truly disappointed that it had not happened that morning. When we told the story inside, and said we wanted to go back and try again, the people behind the counter told us three important things: first, how to dive to make sure you submerge, and second that another jump on the same day would be less than half the price of the first one, and third, that jump would include a ride back out to the bridge and a return.

It was a no-brainer. All the remaining images are from the professional photo software called EpicShot built by AJ Hackett, because these photos are OUTSTANDING.

Since Pedro has been bungy jumping most of his life, he’s got a favourite dive. He leaps out away from the platform and soars through the air like Superman. That was what he did in the morning jump, and that is why he did not touch the water. The crew on the bridge takes the weight of each jumper, and programs the computer to release the right amount of bungy cord. But it only works as expected if the jumper goes straight down. Once Pedro understood the assignment, he did just that. And he went underwater up to his thighs. He came up soaked and deliriously happy. 🙂

Oh and guess what? I took the zipline this time!

That was a great way to spend a day! On the way back, Pedro thanked me for giving up more exploration in order to spend our entire afternoon going back to do that jump again. Are you kidding me?! Seeing him so unrestrainedly happy was worth it. Heck, I would do it again in a heartbeat, just to see that rare and dazzling smile.