Queenstown is called the adventure capital of the world and I wanted to try some adventure sport there. Skydiving was very tempting, as the views are very beautiful from Queenstown with mountains and lake and I was sure I can do it easily as I did that three years ago. So, I pushed myself to try Bungy jump as I get to try something new and also because Queenstown is the birth place of Bungy.

After a lot of thought, I booked a slot for Bungy jump at Kawarau Bridge! I didn’t speak to anyone who did Bungy earlier, so I was not sure how it will be and what to expect. I had many questions in my mind that I couldn’t sleep properly the night before the jump.

We reached Kawarau Bridge by 10:30am. My slot was at 11am. The place was completely maintained by AJ Hackett company. The office felt amazing, it was designed based on the Bungy theme that even the male and female symbols near the toilets were also in reverse direction. I just loved the way they reflected their mission everywhere 🙂

After a few formalities and health related questions, I was given a band and sent to the bridge directly. There was a brief pre-jump interview after which they started the process of tying ropes around my legs. I was clueless on what was happening. I expected them to give me a brief and spend some time explaining what exactly I should be doing. There was none and I was on the edge of the bridge in no time. Everyone there looked so cool and least worried about the jump. When I asked the person there on the process etc, he simply replied “you just need to jump, you will get to know only when you jump”. That left me a little confused and worried. He just told me that he will count 5,4,3,2,1 and then I have to jump.

He counted the numbers and I just held back myself to the edge without jumping. I felt a bit scared looking at the water below. As I don’t know swimming, my brain asked me to take a step back 😐. Though I will not be jumping into the water, it felt tough to make myself believe that fact. The coordinator started counting numbers again and I just stood there motionless without jumping. When he asked me the reason why I wasn’t jumping, I explained to him that I don’t know swimming, for which he assured that I will not be touching water.

He counted numbers for the third time and I still couldn’t jump. This time I thought that it’s getting tough for me to jump on my own and asked the guy there to push me from behind after counting. He told me that he can’t do that as it is against their organization’s policy and that I have to jump on my own. So, I was left with no option but to jump on my own! It felt embarrassing to just stand there and waste their time. So, I just jumped this time, after taking a final look at my husband 🤔

I felt weightlessness for a few seconds and then got turned upside down by a rope. I made many rounds there and it was fun hanging around there. I think I felt more relieved at that point of time and enjoyed it. I had a doubt earlier on how it feels being upside down, if I will have any vomiting sensation etc, but there was nothing of that sort. In fact it was more fun.

After a minute, I heard someone’s voice from the boat below, asking me to hold the pole. It took some time for me to catch the pole and later I was pulled into the boat which took me to the bank of the river. I think that was the happiest moment for me that I could do it 🙂 I felt very excited and it took me a while to be normal. After a brief post jump interview, I climbed up the bridge. I was congratulated by many people on the way and I felt proud of myself 😊

My husband felt happier than me witnessing my jump live. He told me that several people cheered for me and took my videos. I spoke to my parents after that and told them about the jump. They felt a bit shocked initially to hear about it, as I didn’t mention it to them before. We collected our photos, videos in a USB and a certificate which says the following:

If I think about it, Bungy felt scarier than Skydiving, which was surprising to hear for many people. Theoretically speaking, Skydiving was from around 12000ft high and should look more scary while Bungy was only 142ft high. I realized that having an instructor during Skydiving made it easier as he took the jump and I just enjoyed the process then. For Bungy, the most difficult part was to take that jump on my own. Taking a step out of my comfort zone on my own was the most difficult part for me. That was a moment of self reflection. I understood more about myself during this entire process 🙂