When you travel to New Zealand, a bungy jump (or bungee jump) should be pretty high up your list of things to do – it is pretty much the national sport in Kiwi land!
AJ Hackett invented and popularised bungy jumping in the mid-80s, with his first jump being from Auckland’s Harbour Bridge!
Luckily for me, I worked at an awesome place in the UK before coming out here and as a leaving present, they bought me a voucher for the Auckland Harbour Bridge Bungy! I literally can’t think of a better leaving present.
As far as bungy jumps go, the Auckland Harbour Bridge Bungy is one of the tamer ones in the country at just 40 metres, which is probably a good thing considering this was my first bungy jump! However, it does offer the unique experience of being dunked into the Pacific Ocean below, making it the only bungy jump in New Zealand (maybe the world?) that dips you into an actual ocean!
To get to the bungy pod underneath the centre of the bridge, you obviously have to walk to it. At this point, you might expect the nerves to kick in, but they didn’t really have chance… instead, I was the one trying to calm Hannah down! She wasn’t enjoying the wind, the height and the slight shakiness as we walked along the steel walkway to the bungy pod… it’s a good job she wasn’t jumping!
This type of thing really doesn’t make me nervous, but as soon as I actually jumped and found myself hurtling towards the water, I did actually think shit, this is a bit fucking high ain’t it?!
But it was epic! I was one of only two in our whole group who managed to reach the water too (albeit only just)! I’d definitely recommend it if you’re not sure, and I’ve already got $250 towards my next jump thanks to Hannah who got me another voucher for my birthday!!
Next time, it’ll be one of the big’uns in Queenstown!
