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Three, two, one, bungy... counts the jumpmaster, and 17-year-old Angie Moyle plunges headfirst from the platform cantilevered from the cliff face. Fifty-five metres below is the Aorere River, a majestic setting for this newly-opened bungy jump, near the Heaphy Track. Jack Perkins explores the thrills of bungy-jumping.
The New Zealand ‘ultimate leap of faith’ was inspired by both ‘land diving’, a ritual from the island of Pentecost and the drop made by the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club of the late 1970s, from San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. New Zealand entrepreneur, A.J. Hackett originally bungy jumped 110 metres off the Eiffel Tour in the mid-1980s, an event which eventually prompted his company start-up in Queenstown.
Built by locals, Colin Bass and Max Poleglaze, the Aorere River jump was opened in November, 1993. Perkins interviews Moyle prior to her jump, a teenager from Takaka who explains her mother, grandmother, aunt and sister have all come to watch.
Bass recalls how the idea for the 170-foot purpose-built jump came about and it’s two-year construction. He explains how jumpers dangling 25 metres above the river are recovered by rubber dinghy and therefore, the state of the river and wind largely determine whether conditions are safe.
Jumpers are requested to read a Health Warning, sign a waiver form and get weighed prior to jumping. Bass explains that the majority of participants are between fifteen and thirty years old, however it’s noted one man of seventy recently jumped much to the horror of his wife.
The two jumpmasters, Ben and Alex are originally from Great Britain and both hold BERSA (British Elastic Rope Sports Association) qualifications. Ben describes why and how he became a jumpmaster and what competencies are involved on the job. Bass acknowledges the spectators have become as important as the jumpers, with often 1-200 people watching, they are looking to expand their viewing station.
Ben notes the intense training he took in the UK, the club membership system and the cranes they operated from, that travelled the south coast. He explains that his friend, Alex offered him a job and they both came to New Zealand. Ben describes the type of tactics and techniques they use when encountering particularly anxious jumpers.
Jumpers are given the opportunity to purchase a T-shirt and video of their leap. Bass hopes to increase the spectator space from two to three hundred people. Perkins waits alongside the cantilevered platform whilst Moyle gets harnessed in and briefed by jumpmaster Ben. Following Moyle's dive and when she is back with her family, she describes how scared but wonderful she felt and plans to put her Bungy Jump certificate with her CV.