Nevis bungy jump - Diving into a canyon headfirst

The Nevis Bungy Pod is every design engineer’s dream - suspended by high tensile wire, over the Nevis canyon on private property.

Bungy jumpers arrive from Queenstown in the ‘Batmobile’ (the burly black bungy bus), and a shuttle on a motorised pulley system takes them to the Pod.

It sways gently in the breeze and just looking at it made the butterflies in my stomach start dog fighting.

Shane and Pepp’s show me how to put on my harnesses and we shuttle out to the platform.

Suddenly, my feet are up in the dentist chair contraption. Shane checks my ankle restraints and I’m ready to go. I’m hit by a Tsunami of blind panic... I’m going to choke!

Shane sees right through me and says, “You’ll be angry with yourself if you don’t do it.”

With a deep breath and some grinding of the teeth, I pry my fingers off the metal wall. I don’t even remember smiling for the camera as I dive off.

I am Jonathan Livingston Seagull in free fall! The spatial awareness caused by the walls of the canyon flying past me as I drop 134 metres in 8 seconds, is utterly surreal.

Back in the pod, my whole body is shaking.

The Jump Controller has to pry my fingers off the metal safety fence so he can unhook the bungy cord. So, would I do the Nevis Bungy again? Probably not on the same day, but maybe tomorrow, that kind of adrenalin rush is perfectly legal and hard to say no too!

Article by Sarah Bond, Freelance Travel Writer

"If you're wondering what to do in Queenstown, well... wonder no more because the Nevis Bungy is it! Can't be topped!