Interested in doing a Bungy in New Zealand? Maybe the highest Bungy in the Southern Hemisphere will satisfy your need for adrenaline or even take you from 0-100 real quick if you've never done one before.
My partner and I's decision to attempt the Nevis Bungy started 3 weeks prior when we decided to book an adrenaline filled weekend away to Queenstown. Janne (Janneke - my partner) and I have never done a Bungy before and were told by countless people that it's 1000x worse than a sky dive, even with a sky dive being north of 10,000ft up. So naturally being the type of people we are we decided to go straight to the top and book ourselves the Nevis swing and the biggest bungy in New Zealand, which we later discovered was the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Oh and did I mention that Janne is petrified of heights! Character building right.
THE NEVIS BUNGY & SWING
Queenstown renowned as 'the adventure capital of NZ' and for good reason, its a city built on a booming outdoor adventure market. Pre Covid Queenstown was seeing more than 3 million visitors a year, it has more activities to do there than you can imagine and for every level of adventurer. For the top end adrenaline junkie a visit to the famous Nevis Bungy will quench your thirst for excitement and in a way is a right of passage.
The Nevis Bungy is 134m High, suspended on a platform about the Nevis river Valley. Boasting an 8.5 second free fall time, it's certainly not for the faint of heart. In all honesty though I'm not sure what's more intimidating, the Bungy itself or the EXTREMLY slow moving gondola that takes you out to the platform (that's an experience in itself).
The swing is a whole other experience. With its 160m height above the river, 120m rope length and impressive 300m arc across the valley it's truly a breathtaking swing to tick off your list, and a must do if you are taking the time out to do the Bungy as well.
Experiences like these are often a one time thing, and it does have a price tag to match. We chose to do the 'Combo' deal, getting the Nevis Swing, Nevis Bungy and the free shuttle in 1.
This set us back $325NZD (EACH)
That being said they always have promos on as well as having special rates for students, so keep an eye out.
Check out their website link below for all pricing plans available for their wide variety of other swings, ziplines, bungees and catapults. It's a super easy website to navigate.
OUR EXPERIENCE
Waking early we managed to get a free shuttle ride from our accommodation to the sign in/meeting point for all AJ Hackett adventure activities called 'The Station' located in the city Centre, only 6 minutes away. We arrived to find we were one of the first ones there. After introducing ourselves to staff behind the desk we were ushered over to a row of iPad to fill in our details again. After completing that task it was then weigh in time. As I stood on the scales with the numbers hidden from view one of the staff jokingly asked me "so how much do you reckon you weigh today?" with a smug, watch me nail this answer response I came back with "Easy! 90kg, well that's what I was 3 days ago". Without a word she asked for my left hand......95kg!...in 3 days. When on holiday right?
We had to wait for the whole group to arrive, which on the day was around 30 people meaning we had time to burn. Advised against eating anything substantial (for obvious reasons) we made our way into the city to find a coffee spot, hoping to ease the nerves. A trip to 'The Exchange' was in order, it's a café we discovered the day before. Unreal coffee and food.
On returning to 'The Station' the place had filled up nicely and we got the call to head to the loading area, where the bus picks us all up from.
The bus was a hearty rugged looking machine, later we discovered why it needed to be. The road leading up to the Nevis bungy and swing platforms was a near vertical precarious gravel 4x4 track. The bus trip there was certainly a quiet one, nerves were kicking the shit out of everyone. The Nevis was a 40 minute drive from town. 20 minutes into the drive we pull up to the 'Kawarau Bungy' site, this 43m Bungy was the first stop. I remember the drivers humorous, yet nerve jerking comments.
"OK team for everyone doing our baby bungy, I mean Kawarau Bungy this is your stop. Everyone else travelling onto Nevis, take a good hard look at that jump....yours is 3 times the height!"
I remember the chatter elevating as we all tried to visualize what another 3 times as high would look like.
Finally Arrived!!
40 minutes later we pulled into the car park and was greeted by a team member who instructed us all to follow him. We then placed all our valuables in the lockers provided and made our way to get sized up for our safety harnesses. Once signed off you then make your way to the gondola entrance, it was here we got our first sights of the bungy. "Holy F**k" was my first thought.
Photos...scary, videos....scary, real thing....terrifying! yet very impressive.
We made our way to the gondola entrance, more like an over sized half constructed shark cage. In groups of 5-6 we began making the painfully slow journey across the valley to the jump platform. The gentle sound of the river below, the soft metallic mechanisms from the gondola and the channeled air flow across the valley made for a somewhat peaceful experience.
When you finally get to the platform, what felt like 10 minutes later you are met by the crew. Like most of the adventure activities and hospitality establishments in Queenstown, there's not 1 kiwi accent amongst the crew which really makes the experience feel like a holiday. Their over the top energetic personalities make for a real good time.
You are given a short brief about what to expect then placed into a jump order according to weight, heaviest first (so with my newly discovered 95kg, I was f****d).
There was only 1 person in our group heavier than me, meaning I got to spectate a jump before doing it myself. Watching like a hawk, listening intently to the instructions given to them and enjoying the DnB that was being blasted by the youthful crew I was ready. My turn!!!
Take a seat, have your feet strapped together, wave to the camera, shuffle to the edge, 2 more cameras to wave at, 5-4-3-2-1 JUMP! It was all a blur! Watch the video of my jump below.
UNBELIEVABLE!!! To free fall for nearly 9 seconds towards a raging river, 134m up, I felt alive! I'd done it, a serious bucket list item just ticked off. After being pulled up the adrenaline was pumping. The rest of team asking how it was, could barely speak as I was still buzzing. A truly amazing experience.
After consoling Janne, and walking her through it, it was her turn. Same procedure...and Jump! Without any hesitation, without a sound she jumped. The same woman would was visibly trembling and petrified of heights had just thrown herself off the highest bungy in the Southern Hemisphere. Good job babe!!
THE JUMP
With the adrenaline levels through the roof it was now off to the Swing for Janne and I. The same swing that we looked at as we arrived thinking "Holy S**t that's high", we now looked at as "S**t yeah lets do this!" We couldn't get over there quick enough. This swing is actually deemed 'World famous' for its size so its well worth investing the extra cash to tick it off. Walking across the suspension bridge we had arrived. Met by another 2 energetic crew members we were ready. The choice of how you want to jump on this one is huge! Front facing, backwards, upside down, honeymoon, truck and trailer and even 69. After choosing Tandem backwards we were ready. Same paparazzi feel with our 5 camera angles nailed!3-2-1 Drop.
Breathtaking, literally and figuratively as you get incredible views of the valley as the swings momentum slows down allowing you to take in the views and catch your breath back.
Watch the video of our swing below
THE SWING
Due to the nature of these activities we chose not to have any phones or cameras with us, as we didn't want to risk losing them. Luckily for us AJ Hackett has you covered. Every angle is covered by a professional photography and videography team to capture your experience. Even though it is rather pricey in all honesty ($160NZD for My bungy, Jannes Bungy and our tandem swing on a 5 way USB Drive and physical photos). If you are only doing this once it's well and truly worth the money though.
Overall our experience was incredible and we highly recommend getting out of your comfort zone and throwing yourself into this bucket list item.
★★★★★
NEVIS BUNGY & SWING ✔
Thank You for reading
Aaron