Bungy Jumping the Nevis

New Zealand is known for its adventure activities. People come from around the world to white water raft, glacier trek, skydive, hike (they have one of the best day hikes in the world here), and bungy jump. And one of the best places to do a bungy is in Queenstown.

Queenstown is home to a lot of bungy operators, the most famous of which is AJ Hackett Bungy. AJ Hackett is the creator of bungy jumping and his company runs the biggest bungy in the region — the 134-meter (439-foot) Nevis Bungy Jump.

It’s the third-highest platform jump in the world and the free-fall for this jump lasts almost 10 seconds. That’s a long time to be plummeting toward the earth if you ask me.

The sport of bungy jumping was actually invented by Hackett himself in the 1980s. Taking inspiration from a ‘land diving’ tradition in Vanuatu, he spent many hours trying to figure out how to make land diving actually work in a safe and consistent environment.

Once they had it figured out, he and his friends went to France where they then jumped off the Eiffel Tower. Now, this was illegal (obviously) and it resulted in Hackett briefly spending some time in jail.

But that stunt caught the attention of the entire world, and bungy jumping has been a common (if extreme) sport ever since.

Now I am really afraid of heights so even just looking at it hade me feeling queasy. Not surprisingly, I didn’t do it. The mere thought of doing it made me sick. But luckily I went with some braver people than I and they allowed me to film their jumps. Take a look:

Think you can handle the highest bungy jump in New Zealand? If so, you’ll need to pay 280-290 NZD for an adult ticket.

If you aren’t looking to jump, you can go as an observer for 50 NZD (you need to take a shuttle there and back, which is why there is a cost for observing).

While this isn’t exactly my cup of tea, if you’re an adrenaline junkie then you won’t want to pass up this incredibly epic experience during your visit!

Photo credit: 1 – AJ Hackett