Photo of the week: Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge

Today’s photo of the week is of the historic Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge near Queenstown.

The bridge was completed in late 1880 and formed a key access route to the Central Otago goldfields.

On this day in 1988 the first customer paid to bungy jump off of this historic bridge. DOC originally issued a licence for a bungy operation off the bridge for 30 days. It was a massive success and bungy jumping has gone on to become a quintessential kiwi experience.

Nowadays the bridge forms part of the Gibbston River Trail and it remains a popular bungy jumping site.

Photo: Matthias Klappenbach | CC BY 2.0.