The Biggest Swing in the World [Day 15]

posted in: New Zealand 2014 0
Getting ready for the Nevis Swing
Getting ready for the Nevis Swing

It’s our last day here in New Zealand (with the exception of the trip home tomorrow) and Queenstown still has one more thrill ride waiting for us!

After an earlier start than normal we pack up the camper for the last time and check out from the campground, heading to town. As we get a bite for breakfast at Ferg Bakery, we run into the film crew around Sam Wang yet again – it’s barely 10am and the Taiwanese celebrity already checking out Ferg Burger next door! (I think he’s following us!)

Then it’s time to check in at The Station for today’s adventure with AJ Hackett Bungy at the Nevis Swing: the world’s biggest swing! After a quick time-to-go note on Facebook, we’re off in the 4WD bus that will take us to Nevis Bluff, approximately 40 minutes east of Queenstown, where we will get to “drop.”

It’s a rattly metal swing bridge that gets us from the terminal to the platform to where the swing will drop from. It’s quite a ways when you look down at 175 meters between the supporting cables and the canyon floor. The swing drops us about 60 meters (including a couple seconds of free fall, before the cables catch) into a 300 meter arch just above the canyon floor and up on the other side.
Once past the scary as $#it free fall and head-first rapid descent, the swing is actually a ton of fun offering beautiful views of the canyon in its autumn colors.

Be sure to check out the video, but turn the volume to low … someone’s screaming like a little girl!

After the swing, we’re glad to have firm footing again as we get off the bridge. Since a group of high school exchange students from Germany were heading out to the swing, we head back to see when it’s like from a different perspective. Check out the video in our next post which shows their swing (and screaming).

The bus ride back to Q-Town is uneventful, and after a quick bite to eat back in town it’s time to pack up, clean up and gas up the campervan to have it ready for tomorrow morning’s drop off.

It’s just before dark when we check into our hotel (the Novotel Lakeside) for our last night in NZ and time to pack for our trip back home. Then it’s dinner time, and we choose the Halo – Forbidden Bite restaurant just around the corner for our last meal out. New Zealand cuisine, very tasty. Especially the dessert!

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