I still think that it should be called a death swing, but there you go.

Anyhow, the canyon swing is run a smallish company from Queenstown, and they've come up with a pretty mad activity. They've built a platform 109 meters over a river canyon, and you leap off it a la bungy style and, well, swing.

The experience itself is a bit less scary than a bungy, as you don't get as much weightlessness (the cord takes your weight laterally pretty quickly), but it's still great fun.

Not my photo - stolen from here The small white dot on the left is someone leaping from the platform. Click image to see large version. Front flip Back flip Elvis cutaway

I went out to the site a couple of times, and the blokes who run it are great guys who really take their time with the customers (bungys have become a bit of a production line). They helped talk a nervous friend of mine to leap off - she was absolutely petrified, but they took about 10 minutes calming her and she finally went. She was so grateful that she had done it in the end, as many people really regret not going through with these activities.

As you can see from the pictures I tried a variety of leaping styles, although the "bin on the head" was one of the most original! They really should put that on their website!

Bin on the head: