Bungee jumping

The Canyon Swing was so much fun that I decided I had to do a bungee jump. You can't come to New Zealand and not do a bungee jump. At 134m the Nevis bungee is the highest in Australasia. To achieve this height you don't jump off a bridge but from a gondola suspended on cables over the Nevis valley. A cable car takes you out to the gondola. Being out there is scary enough on it's own. The gondola is big, it can hold 25 people, but it still sways and rocks in the wind. Parts of the floor are made out of glass and you can look straight down to the valley floor and watch other people jumping.

01-Queenstown from one of the surrounding mountain

After getting the bungee strapped to your feet you pigeon step to the tiny ledge and start to realise the stupidity of what you're about to do. 134m is such a long way. If the guy hadn't counted me down I think I would have stood there for a long time. I dived off head first and watched the ground race towards me. Eight seconds of freefall and there's no other feeling like it. You forget to scream or swear, you're just gripped by fear. The fact that you have a big elastic cord strapped to your feet and that all the equipment goes through numerous safety checks every day makes no difference, you still feel like you are going to die. If I could afford it I would have done it 10 times. Near the bottom the elastic kicks in and you start to fly back up towards the gondola. The first bounce takes you to about two thirds of the jump height and after the peak of your bounce it's the same thing all over again.

02-The gondola

Releasing a cord next to your feet puts you into a sitting position. As they winch you back up you get to enjoy the scenery and contemplate what you've just done. As we took the cable car back to the edge of the canyon it started to rain, a rainbow appeared below us in an almost complete circle.

The night of the bungee jump me and other people in my room went out for dinner and drinks afterwards. The English girl in my room is flying to Melbourne on the same day as me so we are going to meet up beforehand.

03-Gondola and cable car

04-Nevis canyon

05-Glass floor

06-Bungee

07-Rainbow