Ballooning, SkyDiving, Bungee Recommendations in Christchurch and Queenstown

randombar

Hi Lads,
Looking for recommendations for the best value Ballooning, Bungee and Skydiving? Will be there next month and just looking for value for money.
Thanks again,
Gary

youcancallmeal

Just finished 6 weeks traveling around NZ and I'll tell you straight away that good value and Queenstown are not usually found in the same sentence. Don't know anything about ballooning but skydiving is much cheaper in the North Island, particularly Taupo. As for bungys I did one on the North island for $90nz which was cool but the prices in Queenstown were far too much for me to justify. $230nz to do the Ben Nevis bungy! It is the highest one in NZ though. I met a few Irish lads who got a special deal on 2 bungys(Inc Ben Nevis) and a swing in Queenstown but can't remember how much it cost them, there is loads of places around which do packages so it shouldn't be hard to find one that suits.

randombar

Nice one for that, how did ya get on in general??

Might try and sus out a few group deals then or something??

Crumble Froo

not sure in general, but i went skydiving in Methven, an hour outside of christchurch, they even do a car trip down there free.

youcancallmeal

Me and GF went the whole way round NZ on the Magic bus and its been one of the highlights of our world trip so far. The main thing is the social life, you end up having the same itinerary as loads of other people on the bus so every where you go there's always some to have a laugh, go for a drink with etc. We've even met up with people from the bus afterwards in Oz!

We're driving up from Sydney to Cairns at the moment and haven't really got chatting to anyone so far. I see on the other thread you posted somebody recommended Jucy for vehicle rental. I would totally agree! We've had a Jucy van for the last while now and we're very happy. Cheapest we could find and its surprisingly comfortable to sleep in.

robinph

I seem to remember that doing all three bungys in Queenstown last year cost around NZ$600, including pictures of each one and DVD. For that you get to do the original comercial bungy off the Kawarau Bridge first thing in the day, that is the one where you can get a dunking in the river as well if you ask. I would suggest not being the first person to jump of the day though, which is what I did, as they didn't quite have it set right for the dunking until after I'd jumped. Something to do whith knowing how bungy the bungy cord is for that day.

Next comes a very "interesting" drive up to the Nevis bungy, worth doing just for the drive to it really. If you only do one then I would recommend this one. You are falling for long enough to notice that you are falling with over 8 seconds before you bounce back up.

Then you finish the day off with The Ledge from above Queenstown itself. This one is a bit different in that you are attached at the waist rather than the ankles so you get to take a run up at the jump and attempt some form of summersault, or superman pose as you go flying. I didn't quite manage that spin as intended, but fun trying.

Other crazy things to try in NZ:

Also in Queenstown, and I fitted it in between my day of bungies, was the Shotover Jet. Very fast boat driven down a very narrow canyon and within millimeters of the canyon wall.

I did my Skydive in Wanaka which is just a bit further north than Queenstown. I think that was about NZ$600 as well, but that was for jumping from 15,000ft and to have an additional guy jumping at the same time with a video camera and a still camera attached to his head. They have other cheaper options where you jump from lower or just have the tandem guy your attached to taking the video or not to have any video pictures etc.

Also up in Auckland there is the Skyjump from the tower there. It's not a bungy though, it's a controlled speed drop from the top of the tower. Not that great really, but I did it straight after getting off the 30+ hour plane ride to NZ so my head wasn't quite right at the time so it did the job of waking me up a bit at least.

randombar

Nice one for that lads, bit of research to do now!!!!

pclancy

Queenstown=tourist trap. Lovely place, good times to be had but like all the world's tourist hotspots, they milk the visitors. No choice really, there isnt much other industry there but its a gorgeous place well worth visiting and some good adventure stuff if you dont mind paying for it as shown above.

Come to think of it, I don't think I met one Kiwi in Queenstown!

randombar

Ya that seems to be the impression I'm getting now:

Got two $110 bungies here:

http://www.gravitycanyon.co.nz/information.php?info_id=26
http://www.taupobungy.co.nz/ViewServices/ServicesOverview.aspx?ID=9214

If anyone has any recommendations for a more reasonable sky dive I'm open!