Tips and Tricks - AJ Hackett Kawarau Bridge Bungy Jump

The Kawarau Bridge Bungy (or bungee) is THE pioneering site for bungy jumping. Founded in 1988 by Bungy pioneers AJ Hackett and Henry van Asch, they launched both themselves and an international phenomenon, marking one of the many adrenaline rush activities to do in Queenstown, Otago.

Few things you'll need to know before you make the eventual jump:

1. You must be minimum 10 years of age (Children 14 and under need to be accompanied by an adult) Max 110 years (Immortals are strictly forbidden for the jump)
2. Weighing range of 35kg to 235kg.
3. For tandem jumps: Total weight difference must NOT be more than 30kgs.
4. There's no clothing requirements, in fact as suggested by the Bungy NZ page, completely naked is quite a popular option. (I *might* try this *one day* but no documentation will be recorded *koff*)
5. Medical Considerations and safety (Click to find out what are they). PS: AJ Hackett is 100% confident of their safety measures but ultimately it is up to you to adhere to any rules available to ensure that safe jump.

My trip last year to New Zealand consisted of the bungy jump at the Kawarau Bridge. My travel buddies and I chose this location because it's not too far away from Queenstown central, and we were itching for at least one extreme activity. Located on SH6 in the Gibbson Valley just 20 minutes from Queenstown and 30min from Cromwell. From where we stayed, it took us approximately 30 minutes to reach to the bridge itself. Give yourself an hour prior to your scheduled jump for traveling there. Self drive is a very popular choice in the South Island.

The price may not be cheap, but I didn't necessary put a price on that awesome experience I had! It costed us NZ $180 (Around RM454) for the jump and another NZ $80 (RM202)  for the souvenir photo and video (NZ $45 for either one of them). You may bring your own camera to record your own jump, but of course if you're jumping with it, it's at your risk :)

We're jumping from WHERE?

My personal preference is booking any necessary activities and/or proceed with the payment in advance. That is, a little sense of security to actually do the activity given the schedule that you have.The day itself, we chose the earliest slot! That is, at around 9am (GMT +1300). We registered ourselves accordingly and they took our pre registration slip and weighed us. 

Registration and waiting area

After which, we were brought to the bridge where we were given numbers to jump. This is where most of us will freak out, unless you've balls of steel.

Just below the 235 kg weight quota :D

As for me, I did not 100% freak out per se.... until they started strapping my legs with the harness. That was when I started to think, CRAP, what on heaven heck have I gotten myself into. Oh, and they did give us an option whether to dip (heads down) into the river or just dry jumping :) After a split second of camwhoring (for that picture perfect moment before jumping), I finally jumped.

No motivational push whatsoever, I just followed my instinct and impulsively leaped the bridge.

Jumping is freestyle, but bear in mind the asserted force from the harness pull may injure you, so just feel natural and not to freak out too much.

Of course, to mitigate the fear, they say don't look down. But where's the fun of that. Go YOLO mode and just jump AND look down. Scream, pray, curse, scream-pray-curse when you're halfway floating in the air as much as you want!

The feeling of the jump? Well, you MUST experience this yourself. As for me, once I leaped off the bridge, I felt a sense of liberation (I always wanted to feel what jumpers feel without dying in the end). Of course, within seconds the freedom feeling quickly translated to WTF when there's no pause button or brake to the jump.

Faith! The rope did suspend the fall and I was back heads up momentarily before being spun around in the air. 

Saved by the rafters

The rafters then approached the inverted yours truly and took me down. Of course, looking back up to the bridge platform from the raft, dayyum, I wish I could do it again! That's just my first bungy experience. Aside from bungy, you could try their Swings and Climbs activities in Nevis and Auckland. Call me crazy, but I might, just might, try the jump in Macau by AJ Hackett after this. Who knows? :)

Proof of Jumping :D Picture courtesy of Lemuel Ong

Just in case you're curious to what they actually recorded, help yourself with the video taken by them: