Queenstown

In the south west of New Zealand's South island you can find a small place called Queenstown. It's not clear how it got the name Queenstown but it's widely believed that the Queen in question is Queen Victoria. It's set in beautiful natural scenery with a wonderful lake and impressive mountains. So where better to come and throw yourself off a very high bridge with nothing but a piece of elasticated rope tied to your ankles? This is called bungy jumping.

This mildly insane activity first started when a man called Chris Baker decided to use this elastic rope to jump from the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England. He and his three friends were arrested as soon as they had stopped bouncing from the 250 foot construction, but it didn't stop them from continuing these jumps all over the world.

It captured the public's imagination and two Kiwis saw an opportunity for a successful enterprise. AJ Hackett and Henry van Asch started the world's first bungy jumping business in 1986. Their first jump was from the spectacular Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown, and now you can decide to test your nerve from almost anywhere – bridges, towers, viaducts – you name it! You can also decide exactly how you want to fly head first towards the ground in freefall – you can choose to plunge into water, do it tied to a friend or even do it at night. This might actually be better as you won't be able to see the ground coming towards you!

This can be a dangerous activity. You must make sure that the organisation responsible for the jump is licenced and has an impeccable safety record. Even so, accidents do happen. It seems amazing but sometimes the rope is too long or it hasn't been tied to the jumper or tied to the base. In these cases the accidents are nearly always fatal.

Most operators now use a full body harness for their jumpers instead of the simple ankle straps from the early days. This is less 'pure' than the original bungy idea but has certainly reduced the number of accidents.

There is some dispute as to the highest jump in the world. The Guiness Book of Records says that it's in South Africa and is 216 metres, or 709 feet. However, there is a jump in Switzerland that claims to be 220m, or 722 feet. (This featured in the James Bond film, Goldeneye).These are both permanent sites. There was a jump in America that was 321m high, or 1053 feet, but this was temporary for 3 days and isn't there any more.