On our way to Mt. Cook and Cook's Glacier, we stopped at Kawarau Bridge for some bungy jumping. The bridge is the sight for the first commercial bungy enterprise by AJ Hackett. It is 142' above a glacial river. After signing in and getting weighed, we headed to the bridge. Only 4 of us were brave enough to take the plunge. It was a little chilly up on the bridge and had started to rain while we were waiting. Once it was your turn, the guys strapped your feet in based upon how far you wanted to go. Since it was chilly, I opted not to go half way in the water but to go in up to my arms. One of the guys decided to go in half-way up to his chest. Afterwards he did mention that he was very cold. Well duh, it's a glacial river you are jumping in to and it so happened to be the coldest summer in NZ history, not to mention the wind and the rain wasn't helping much either.
Finally it was my turn. I got strapped in, took a deep breath, smiled for the camera and for Bob that was taking pictures from the observation deck, and waited for the countdown. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...BUNGY! As I fell from the bridge, my first thoughts were "What were you thinking!!" but as I continued making my way, head first to the river below, I was enjoying the ride. I skimmed my hands in the glacial river and took the recoil back up, just to fall down again. After a few bounces, I was taken into the boat and asked if I would do it again. OF COURSE!!! Maybe next time I'm in NZ, I'll do the 440' drop. I picked up my pictures and dvd, filled out a postcard to mom and dad and then continued on to Mt. Cook.
We arrived at Mt. Cook and after hanging out at Peter's lookout over Lake Pukaki, I lead the group to the glacier. We passed terminal and lateral moraines, climbed up till hills, saw glacial polishing, meltwater streams, outwash plains, kettle lakes, and witnessed the blue glacial rivers become whiteish-gray with glacial flour.
Eventually we had to make it back to Doc and head on to our lodging for the night.
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