Queenstown Travel Forum

I am going with my family to New Zeland in March and my teenager children are driving me nuts with the decision of going bungee jumping. Is it really safe? Do accidents occur sometimes??
Is therer any of these activities that should be avoided?
I thank everyone in advance!

What...are you jokin? Can accidents happen?? I saw a fork go thru a guys mouth and out the side of his neck while eating spagetti at the local diner just minding his own business because some other guy was just clumsy, stupid and couldn't see where he was pushing his dish cart around to the kitchen.

Come on Ana, my 5 and 7 year olds have been flying around on a motocross track for two years now and at speeds of up to 40 mph. Yeah, accidents can happen and he can die but what the hell is living if you never experience the greatest thing next to intercourse...and thats PURE ADRENALINE!! (Of couse they don't abiout the second best YET) . Good luck and enjoy!

Let them do it!!

I will let them!! I was just wondering because sometimes bad news donīt get to tourists...
Thank you!!

Good! Let me know how it went. I'm sure they'll be fine, I just want to know if they wet their pants. Just kiddin. Have fun!

Never heard of bungy jumping accidents in NZ.

But on rare occasions there are accidents with the jetboats (I have done it several times without problems, and most other people will tell you, too), and more often - but not really often - accidents with rafting.

I have total faith in the bungy operators in NZ, and have done a bungy jump myself. They are very professional, with safety as a priority.
Nothing is totally free of risk, but your kids will be fine. It's a very good experience for them to do, as teenagers. Great adrenalin buzz, too :-)

Thanks for all the information everyone!

I have heard of someone injuring her face from the cable backlashing.

It's important to put thought into how you plan to jump. If you are doing an ankle-tied jump where you "swandive", it can become very uncomfortable if you jump off feet first. This can cause a flick reaction and perhaps contact with the cord. However if you do a nice swandive and arch your back, it's a nice descent with a gentle bounce at the bottom.
For the hundreds of thousands of people who have bungy jumped, very few are injured.

most by AJ Hackett are done by the ankles. There is one right in town that is by chest harness.

Though very safe and accidents are super rare, there are medical cases of retina seperation and micro. blood vessels popping. Still very rare but if your concerned about that, or your kids want to do flips in the air, then the harness one is better.

People talk about the retina separation, but they can happen in many aspects of life, it's not widespread in bungy jumping. The figures are not high.
My husband had this happen in his daily chores on the farm. We were told at the time, it's not necessarily caused by extreme activity. I feel bungy jumping is unfairly tagged as a risk of retina separation.

I personally don't think it should be a consideration for bungee or other activities but just sharing that there is the chest harness method for people who do feel there is a risk but still want to try it.

In fact from what I learned when my husband suffered retina separation, a chest harness could still give this condition.
And they also told me it's the flick at the top, not the fall down that does it.
Again, though, it is very rare in bungy jumping.

Thanks again, folks!