December 21

Queenstown: Bungy Jumping

I was scheduled to ride the Shotover Jet boat today at 9 AM. But when I arrived at the departure desk, they said it was raining on the river, so the trips were canceled for now. It would be very unpleasant to ride the fast boats in the rain, since it would hit your face like bullets. I tried rebooking for 10:00 and 10:30, but it was still raining, and looking worse rather than better. I was reluctant to give up though, since the man at Trusty Rentals had said it was an exciting ride. However, it was becoming very clear that this was going to be futile.

As I waited in the booking center, called "the Station", I began to get some other ideas. A.J. Hackett's Bungy Jumping booking desk was on the other side of the center, so I stopped at their counter and asked for some information. The do jumps in any weather. I booked a 1:30 PM trip to Skipper's Canyon, which was a special today for $100 NZ. This trip included two jumps from the 229 foot Skipper's Canyon bridge, and jeep transport out the rough road along the Shotover river gorge, about an hour each way. The trip would take all afternoon, with six jumpers.

For lunch, I had a salmon quiche and capuccino at Neff Cafe. I checked in at the bungy counter at 1 PM to be weighed and sign in. I weighed 83 kg, and this was marked on my hand. Eight passengers boarded the jeep, including one jumper's father, who was just watching, and a driver-in-training, who was going to get some instruction on driving the jeep road. The narrow dirt road was wide enough for just one vehicle. When another came by, someone had to pull over or back up. The canyon drops off steeply at the side of the road, which was very twisty. It was built by Chinese laborers during the 1880's gold rush. They were allowed to stake claims after two years of working for free.

We passed the remains of a couple old pubs, and some former hydraulic mining sites. We also passed the "pipeline", a new bungy site from a pipe 102 meters over the river. This pipe was put in just two years ago for bungy jumping, though historically there had been a water pipe here.

Finally, we arrived at the bridge. Another group was just finishing, and the rain had mostly stopped by now. I took pictures of a couple of jumpers. Then, fourth in line, I was fitted with a harness which would be used to pull me back up after jumping. It included a climber's seat harness plus a chest harness, both attached to a locking carabiner. When my turn came, I took off my glasses and crawled out onto the platform hanging from the side of the bridge. I sat in an enclosed area, where a towel was wrapped around my ankles, and webbing was tied tightly around the towel, with a carabiner attached. This was then connected to the bungy cord, a thick bundle of many tiny rubber strands. My main concern at the time was that someone would knock my glasses off the bridge.

I got some instructions, and scooted my feet out to the edge of the platform. It looked really far down, and I was reluctant to let go of the railing, afraid of falling even though I was about to jump. Then they told me to smile and wave at the camera on the right. I did, and they counted down from 5, and I jumped, in a forward diving motion. Falling freely felt really weird. Although I knew the cord was back there, I couldn't feel it, because it was a couple of seconds before it offered any resistance. My thought was that whatever was going to happen, there was nothing I could do about it now.

As the river rushed closer, the cord yanked hard and I bounced high up again. This happened a few more times. When the bouncing stopped, they slid a rope with a heavy ring and a carabiner attached down the cord. When I felt it hit my feet, I reached up and grabbed it and hooked it to the carabiner on my harness. Then I gave the two-thumbs-up sign as instructed. I wondered if anyone had ever dropped the carabiner while trying to connect them, since it would not be impossible. A truck on the bridge pulled me up. Eventually I turned upright. I had to throw the bungy cord over my shoulder a couple of times as it got twisted around the rope. At the top, they helped me onto the platform and asked if I wanted to go again.

I could have settled for a free T-shirt and the one jump, but I wanted to do it again. This time I jumped backwards. They connected the bungy cord for a backwards jump and checked everything. Then I eased my heels over the edge, waved to the camera, and dived off backwards. This time my view was of the receding bridge as I fell. It felt just as weird as before, but seemed longer this time. Then I bounced a few times, and started to spin around a lot. By the time the carabiner slid down, I was a somewhat disoriented. I connected it and put my thumbs up. They seemed to be taking their time, but eventually pulled me up. The bungy cord was much more tangled this time because of all the spinning, and I had to keep throwing the heavy cord over my shoulder.

Finally I reached the top and was disconnected. They asked what I did for a living, and I said I was a physicist. The guy was wondering how fast the fall was. I've read that it was around 140 miles per hour, but didn't really know. They also said I looked tense on the way down, and wondered if I enjoyed it. I told them that jumping made me nervous, but it was a lot of fun.

The next person after me, a German, was afraid of heights, and was not sure he would go. He got ready to jump and went to the edge, but would not jump after the countdown. He went back and sat down for a minute before trying again. He still could not jump, and gave up. One more person jumped just as it started raining again. Then we began the jeep ride back to town. Two people were planning to catch the last run of the Shotover Jet at 6:00, and we radioed to check on it, but after running a few times, they had stopped again due to more rain. I rebooked for 11AM tomorrow, though the forecast looked bad. The Bungy center put on a video of our jumps. You could get a souvenir package with a video, T shirt and four photos for about $70, and I ordered one.

I went back to the YHA to change clothes for dinner, and came back at 7:30 to get my souvenir package. Then I went looking for an interesting restaurant. The Moa Cafe had an interesting menu, but was closed tonight for a party. The Stonewall Cafe looked good and displayed a lot of awards, but I ended up choosing the somewhat less formal Chico's Grill upstairs, because it had a more interesting menu. In fact, both had similar prices and atmosphere, being located in an old stone building.

Chico's gave a free beer or wine with dinner, and I ordered a Speight's Old Dark to go with my venison medallions, which were served with chutneys and surrounded by fried kumara (local sweet potato) and pumpkin strips. It was very good. Afterward, I stopped in Moa's to see what the party was like, but the band was still setting up. A couple of other bars had bands tonight also. I looked at a cafe for desert, but at 9:30, many were already closed. I found a nice chocolate mousse cake with ice cream at the Jazz Cafe, a tiny place with a small counter open to the sidewalk. Around 10:00 I returned to the YHA and went to bed.

Copyright Scott A. Yost, 1996. All rights reserved.