Leap of faith

By KAREN GOA

All I'm thinking is, what an idiot you are. Standing on the edge of a 43m drop, I'm regretting deeply handing over hard cash for what looks like my last act on Earth.

With the bungy tied around my ankles, I feel like a criminal going to the gallows upside-down. My hands sweat, my heart's doing the 100m dash and my stomach's demanding to be let off this joyride right now.

I shuffle around. I do anything but look down. But the longer I wait, the tighter the fear grips my innards. The bungy operator makes encouraging noises. Do I jump now, or give up? I take a loooong breath, close my eyes - and dive.

Why do people hurl themselves from terrifying heights attached to a large "rubber rope"?

Some explanations: "It looked like fun" (yeah, right), "I was curious", "My friend did it and loved it", "I leapt because I'm afraid of heights", "A bungy jump was a 'do or die' cure".

It's a good reason. Nigel Hobbs, from AJ Hackett Bungy in Queenstown, says doing a jump is literally a chance to "step out from the norm - you push yourself beyond what you'd normally do". Also, he notes, "jumping is a good equaliser - the biggest and strongest people sometimes break down".

Often the smaller folk - and you need to be 1.2m high to jump - show more fortitude.

AJ Hackett Bungy's success story is part of Kiwi legend. Hackett and partner Henry van Asch spotted a movie showing the Oxford Dangerous Sports Club eating a meal - while dangling on harnesses suspended under a bridge. In a monumental leap in logic, bungy jumping was conceived.

Hackett and van Asch got together with Auckland's then Institute of Technology to develop the crucial elastic thingy. After many test jumps - Hackett's dive off the Eiffel Tower included - they unleashed a new thrill on the world in 1988.

Thrill for some, maybe, but I know I'm heading for death. I'm falling for what seems like forever and thinking, "When's the bungy going to kick in - something's wrong...".

Then the bungy pulls me back like a giant hand. And - surprise - the fun begins. Gently I fly back up towards the sky. Then down again. Upside-down, right side up, I bounce up and down in slow, spine-tingling motion. I like this. I like this a lot.

I like it enough to think about doing another jump. Hobbs, a veteran of more than 120 jumps, assures me that once you get over the fear of the first one, you get off on the adrenalin rush. A serial-jumper friend agrees.

But also, he points out, if you don't do the jump you don't get the T-shirt! And the best part of each jump? Definitely the end, he says. Then you think, "I can do this again".

A head-first dive like mine is the cowardly beginner's way. You can try front and back somersaults, or take the feet-first "elevator" down. Some fully costumed couples take the plunge when they get married. Others spring off in nothing more than their birthday suits, or take a prop with them - a unicycle, a raft, several friends or skis and snowboards.

At Mt Hutt Bungy you can have your skis or snowboards strapped to you in a full body harness and ski off the mountain after the jump. Ski nuts James Urquhart and business partner Aaron Ward started the idea "as a way to afford our skiing habit". Plus, says Urquhart, the views across the Canterbury Plains to the ocean are something you don't get elsewhere.

And that's the other thing. New Zealand is the world's bungy-jumping mecca. Plenty of tourists come here to do something we can access any day of the week, at any number of spectacular sites around the country. We can jump into historic gold-mining canyons, over rivers full of trout, by day or by night. There's no excuse not to do it.

At last, the bungy slackens and stops. I dangle upside-down. The last of the adrenalin drips out somewhere. When I'm finally lowered to solid, boring ground I'm wearing a grin wide enough to tie behind my ears.

Someone asks me what it was like. I can't explain. You've got to try it yourself.

Top 10 New Zealand bungy jumps

* Kawarau Bridge (Queenstown)

Thrill factor: The original bungy site. The only Queenstown bungy with water touch option.

Height: 43m above the Kawarau River

Cost: From $125. Includes jump, T-shirt and transport.

Depart from: Bungy Centre, Station Building, Queenstown.

Bookings: Essential.

Ph 03 442 1177 or 0800 BUNGY BRIDGE (0800 286 492)

Email: kawarau@xtra.co.nz

* Nevis Highwire (Queenstown)

Thrill factor: Freefall for six seconds. Jump from a purpose-built pod suspended by high-tension wires over the Nevis River.

Height: 134m.

Cost: $200. Includes jump, T-shirt and transport.

Depart from: Bungy Centre, Station Building, Queenstown. Access by AJ Hackett 4WD on a private road.

Bookings: Essential.

Ph 03 442 7100 or 0800 BUNGY JUMP (0800 286 495)

* The Ledge (Queenstown)

Thrill factor: Urban jump right in Queenstown. Fabulous views. Day or night jumps during winter, day jumps in summer.

Height: 47m.

Cost: $125. Includes jump, T-shirt and gondola ride.

Depart from: Skyline gondola. Two-minute walk from centre of town.

Bookings: Essential.

Ph 03 442 0023

Email: theledge@xtra.co.nz

* Pipeline Bungy (Queenstown)

Thrill factor: The only bungy jump operating year-round over the Shotover River. Freefall for about 10 seconds.

Height: 102m above Shotover River off the Pipeline Bridge.

Cost: $160 for dive and historical drive.

Depart from: Queenstown or drive Skippers Rd to the site.

Bookings: Recommended.

Ph 03 442 5455 or 0800 BUNGY1

Email: bungy@pipeline.co.nz

* Skippers Canyon Bridge (Queenstown)

Thrill factor: Special events in wilderness/Full Moon Bungy.

Height: 71m over Shotover River.

Open for special events only (eg, corporate events).

Full Moon Bungy takes 30-40 people into the canyon for a midnight jump.

Ph 03 442 4007.

Email: nhobbs@ajhacket.co.nz

* Thrillseekers Canyon (Hanmer Springs)

Thrill factor: Jump off 135-year-old Waiau Ferry Bridge. The smallest jump in New Zealand if that makes it easier for you.

Height: 35m above Waiau River.

Cost: $114.

Depart from: Ferry Bridge, Main Rd, Hanmer Springs.

Bookings: Not essential.

Ph: 03 315 7046

Email: thrillseekers@actrix.gen

* Mount Hutt Bungy

Thrill factor: Jump over snow at altitude 1600m above sea level. Option to ski/snowboard out after jump.

Height: 42m.

Cost: $99 (option to ski out $129).

Depart from: Mount Hutt carpark.

Bookings: Preferred. Open during winter months only.

Ph: 03 302 9969

Email: info@mthuttbungy.com

* Taupo Bungy New Zealand (Taupo)

Thrill factor: Specialises in water touches. Jump solo or tandem.

Height: 47m above Waikato River.

Cost: $100 solo, $160 tandem.

Depart from: Spa Rd, Taupo town centre.

Bookings: Highly recommended in summer.

Ph 07 377 1135 or 0800 888 408

Email: jump@taupobungy.co.nz

* Rotorua Bungy (Rotorua)

Thrill factor: Purpose-built tower with lifting system raises you to jump height. Panoramic views, low cost.

Height: 43m over Ngongotaha Stream.

Cost: $80.

Depart from: Free shuttle from Rotorua.

Bookings: Advisable in peak season and for groups.

Ph: 07 357 4747 or 07 357 2929

Email: bungy@ihug.co.nz

* Mokai Gravity Canyon (near Taihape)

Thrill factor: Narrow canyon gives a good ground rush.

Take the waterfall-powered chairlift back up.

Height: 80m over Rangitikei River.

Cost: $99 includes chairlift ride.

Depart from: Signposted from Taihape.

Bookings: Not needed for day jumps; recommended for night jumps.

Ph: 0800 80 BUNGY (0800 80 28649) or 06 388 9109

Email: jump@hightimebungy.co.nz

* Collated by Karen Goa from information supplied by the operators.