Jumping From The Bridge
Wanaka -> Queenstown, 3rd December 2001
We got up early again today to catch the Kiwi Bus into Queenstown -
the jewel in the tourism crown of New Zealand. Although it was early
the sun was shining strong, and other travellers were already
outsiding, playing a quick game of rugby with a rolled up sleeping
bag.
 The
journey to Queenstown was fairly unremarkable. We made a couple of
scenic stops to grab some photos of the amazing waterfalls. However,
as it started to rain (again) the stops were very short. We rushed
out of the bus, posed, grabbed a photo, then ran back on, in an
attempt to stay dry. We also did the most pointless short walk ever!
We left the bus, walked 50m to cross a bridge with some very average
scenic views, then boarded the bus again.
As we neared Queenstown, we stopped near the Kawarau Bridge. The
plain, red-brown bridge hung quietly over the sparking blue river.
In the middle of the bridge, a small building looked confidently
over the raging river. Suddenly, a piercing scream filled the air
and a person fell from the bridge. A few seconds later, just before
they broke the surface of the water, they were yanked back up again
at full force. Bungee in action!!
I had already decided to do the 'Thrillogy', i.e. all THREE, yes
THREE of the "A J Hackett" bungee jumps in Queenstown. I thought I
might as well go for the full McCoy and get the video and photos of
my jumps as well. I settled the small issue of payment (about
NZ$300) and put away my now melting credit card. Money now out of
the way, myself & the other fools were sorted out. We were weighed
as we signed waivers & certificates. Comforting. I just signed a
form saying that if I died or suffered serious injury then it wasn't
there fault. Hmmm.
 We then headed out to the bridge to join a small queue for the jump.
The Kawarau Bridge is the first public Bungee site in the world.
It's not particularly high, but it holds a lot of nostalgia and the
possibility of being dunked in the river adds a lot of fun to it.
As I danced around a little, my nerves building up, the queue got
steadily shorter. People left the queue, and we never saw them
again. I couldn't quite see most of the jumps from where I was
standing. But I did see a funny one with a girl who was too afraid
to go. She stood at the edge, screaming, agonising over whether to
jump or not. She clearly wanted to, but she didn’t have the bottle.
Her two friends had already done it, and when she edged forward and
looked liked she was about to do it, she just screamed and backed
off again. Eventually, one of the crew stepped up behind her and
casually shook his hips. His backside hit her gently on the back,
and off she went. The crowd went wild!
 It was then my turn for a leap into the unknown. I sat down on a
small box and one of the crew wrapped a thick towel around my ankles
before strapping the bungee attachment tightly to it. As the other
guy attached the bungee to me, the butterflies began to build up. I
stood up and hobbled to the edge of the platform. I looked down, it
looked a long way down to the river. The attendant asked if I wanted
to get wet on the jump, I said ok, but just my head. He nodded, and
I moved forward so my toes were just over the edge...The countdown
began...3...awh poo...2...oh well...1...here goes! I fell forward
into the empty space before me. The river rushed towards me and
before I knew it, I was upside down and waist deep in water! I felt
the yank of the bungee and I was back out of the water...whoosh...up
then down again...and again, slowing down fast. I saw the man in the
small yellow boat come towards me, holding up a big pole for me to
grab. On the first bounce I missed, but second time lucky. I grabbed
the pole and pulled myself down into the small boat. The guy
unstrapped me from the bungee and then rowed into shore. By the time
I was standing back on solid ground, I was soaked through and the
adrenaline was just dying down. The jump was amazing, completely
exhilarating and a great start to my bungee-fest.
 Luckily, when I picked up my video, I also get a free 'Thrillogy
T-Shirt' which I quickly used to replace my now dripping wet top. On
the way out, I just saw the end of a bungee jump done by a guy in a
kilt. As he was falling, he was clutching at the front to cover
himself up, but his backside was on full show to the rest of the
world. Ha ha!
We took a quick tour around Queenstown. It didn't take too long,
because even though its a huge draw for tourists, it's quite small.
There are only about 10,000 residents, but there are over 1 million
visitors per year!
We soon got to our hostel & checked in, Unfortunately, one of us was
in a different room to the other three tonight because the place was
full. Nat volunteered, but we made a booking so we'd all be in the
same room tomorrow night. The hostel, the Alpine Lodge, was very
small, but nice & cosy. Building works were in progress, so we got
the room really cheap! Yeay! And the building work only happens
during the day when we were out anyway!
We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the town centre before
heading back to get changed for the evening. As tonight was our
first night in Queenstown, there was a big Kiwi Experience outing to
celebrate. The "Casbah Club" had a 3 hour happy hour with beer
costing only $1.50 (about 60p) for a pint!
We meet up in the Red Rock, a small but buzzing pub and started by
playing some Pool and grabbing some cheap pints. After a while we
headed over to 'The Casbar'. It was quite a small club but before
the Kiwi Experience lot arrived, it was completely empty! Luckily
between the two busloads, there was more than enough to fill the
club. The club wasn't too bad, the drinks were cheap, the music was
quite good, and everyone was mixing well. We hung around for a
while, hoping to win a free Jet Boat ride, unfortunately, we didn't
win.
After a few hours we decided to head back, it had been a good night,
but we'd already spent enough money and we should be budgeting.
After a quick stop at the 24-hour (yes, a bakery open 24 hours), we
headed back to our hostel. We snuck in quietly so we didn't wake the
other people in our room, then collapsed on our beds.
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