Time for the bungy jump!

The day had finally arrived that my family was headed back to the United States 🙁 We had so much fun with them but we still had a few hours to spend before their flight left in the afternoon.    We decided to make the best of it by doing our final activity and then visiting a winery.

With the Canyon Swing from the day before under our belt, Ashley and I were less nervous about the Bungy jump.   After doing the Canyon Swing could it really be any worse?!   The family all piled into the car and we made our way over to the bridge where you jump.  Ashley and I were the only ones who had signed up for this one.   We went with AJ Hacket Bungy and opted to jump from the first commercial bungy jump site in the world.  It’s a beautiful area with blue water water just below.

Ashley and I made our way onto the bridge and got set up to jump.  Unlike the canyon swing we were both feeling a lot more relaxed.  I don’t know if it was our experience at the canyon swing the day prior or if bungy was just easier.   You get strapped in by wrapping your ankles in a towel.  Then they put the harness on and you make your way out to the edge.   To your left there is a big observation area with 30+ people all watching.  They also have multiple camera angles going so there’s really a lot of pressure to not just wait around.  Everyone we saw go they would just count from 3 to 1 and people instantly went.  Somehow this made it easiest as it felt like just part of the process.

Having analyzed my failure to actually jump the day before I was determined to get all 10 points for my dismount.  The guys at the top told me that to touch the water I would need to not jump up and do a good diving motion.  When I jumped off the top I felt the bungy start to engage and I was slowing down rapidly.  I thought to myself, “well it looks like I won’t be hitting the water” and then .5 seconds later, BAM! I went into the water all the way to my shoulders and instantly snapped backwards out of the water.   My adrenaline was pounding and I was excited to knock this one off the bucket list.  Ashley and I both feel we’ve done it now but Ashley said she’d be down to do it again.  Me, I’m not so sure!

After the bungy jump was complete we had just a few more hours left with my family.   We decided to head over to a winery that was just down the road.  We went inside for a tasting before heading back to Queenstown to grab a late lunch.    It was time for good bye’s and my family set off towards the airport.

Ashley and I had decided that to see the rest of New Zealand we would drive.  New Zealand isn’t huge so we could cover a lot of it on our own without having to stick to a bus schedule.   This gave us a lot more flexibility.    Unfortunately we happened to be traveling during the busiest time of the year in New Zealand (as far as we know).  It was January and all the kids were out for school so it was basically summer vacation time there.    Due to limited availability of places to stay, we had to head north from Queenstown and then double back to the south of Queenstown before heading north.

Ashley and I picked up our rental car and we were on our way.  Our first stop was Christchurch.  We heard from a number of people that there isn’t a ton to see there so we had scheduled just 2 nights there.   It was around a 4 or 5 hour drive to get from Queenstown to Christchurch and it was raining off and on for the drive.    We arrived in Christchurch that night and we were in one of the nicer hostels yet!