In March of 2004, I made bungee history. I became the first person to ride a unicycle off “The Ledge” in Queenstown, New Zealand. I had disembarked a Princess Cruise Line ship in Dunedin I’d been performing on, and had 3 days before flying to Hobart, Tasmania to pick up my next ship. So I rented a car and headed to Queenstown which was described to me as “The Vegas of the Southern Hemisphere but with adventure sports instead of gambling and casinos.” What??
As I checked into my hostile, I heard some backpackers talking about “The Thrillogy” – a bungee package consisting of “The Bridge,” “The Highwire,” and “The Ledge.” The Kawarau Bridge was famous for being the world’s first commercial bungee site. The Nevis Highwire was known for it’s height– the 3rd highest jump in the world at 440 ft. And The Ledge had a reputation for it’s runway which thrust out 1200 ft over Queenstown below. The special harness at The Ledge allowed for leaving the runway however you wanted to– running, skateboarding, rollerblading, etc. When I showed up, I learned that people don’t ride unicycles off The Ledge.. like, ever.
The Kiwis were all about it.. “Cool man!” They put an extra harness around the cycle, duct taped my feet to the pedals, and off I went. Check it out 🙂
