Although we considered skipping it, there was no way we could leave Queenstown without at least checking out the "original" bungee jump at the Kawarau Bridge.  In fact, it was on our drive out of town heading towards Christchurch.

Walking in the building, neither of us were at all committed to the experience. We were just going to watch a few people do it...  Maybe snap a few pictures...

Our first excuse was if there was a line and we had to wait very long we’d just skip it – there was no line. Hmmm, okay well how much does it cost? We thought if it’s outrageously expensive it just wouldn’t be worth the money.  Unfortunately, $100 USD/person didn’t seem unreasonable for an experience like this so that excuse was out. They neglected to even ask about any injuries or body issues, so I guess there was no excuse there.  In fact, as is the case with all adventure activities in New Zealand, they never even had us sign anything.  The decision was made. We were taking the plunge.

We decided I would jump first so that I didn’t get scared and back out of the experience after watching Jason – I’m glad we did it that way. The whole process happened so damn fast it’s hard to recount the details (I think that’s intentional so people don’t freak out and bail).

All I know is I was asked whether I wanted to touch water or not as my legs were being bound tightly with a towel. There was major commotion going on, with people radioing down to the raft below in the water. Then a harness was strapped onto my legs.

Next thing I know I’m shimmying out on a ledge.  To the left are about 3 dozen people at the observation point all cheering me on.  The instructor is standing behind me telling me to wave, look at the camera, take some deep breaths, but yet still no instruction on how to jump. All of a sudden he starts counting down five, four, three, two, one, jump.

All I know at that moment of faith, I thought I was going to die

Jason and I both agree that this was the freakiest thing we have ever done in our lives. I was proud of Jason who managed to touch the water on his way down. I didn't quite make it that far.  We were both shaking like leaves after the jump.

In hindsight, I’m certainly happy to have the “bungee jump” notch on my belt, however don’t know if I’ll be rushing off to do it again any time soon:)