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A Dunedin cliff-jumper has made the leap of a lifetime by launching himself from a 31m cliff at Tunnel Beach.
University of Otago student Andrew Bachrodt had been eyeing up the drop for two years, but had to wait for the perfect alignment of a high tide, calm seas, a windless day and rare October sunshine.
Mr Bachrodt made the leap from the Tunnel Beach cliff on Sunday.
“I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie,” he said.
The Tunnel Beach jump was his highest yet.
When he first saw the cliff during a visit to the beach two years ago, he said to himself “I could jump that”.
A rare sunny Dunedin Sunday in October proved to be the perfect opportunity.
“I thought ‘today’s the day, I guess’, and I finally just went for it.”
Mr Bachrodt, alongside a crew of his friends, went at high tide.
He first paddled out on his surf board to check the depth of the water.
The stars were aligned and the last step was to make the jump.
“It wasn’t that scary because I was so excited to do it and because I’ve been wanting to do it for so long.
“I didn’t really get anxious because the excitement was overwhelming.”
He was happy and there were also plenty of accolades from fellow cliff-jumpers.
However, one person who was not happy was his mother.
“She was livid, she was so mad.
“Apparently so were my whole family when they found out.
“My mum sent me a letter, like an intervention letter, but she didn’t understand that cliff jumping is an actual sport.”
Cliff-jumping was a real sport with competitions that he was passionate about, but he understood from an outside perspective it looked like he was risking his life.
“I’m a pretty experienced jumper and I’m able to control myself in the air.
“But for the average person I would, for sure, not recommend doing it.’’
laine.priestley@odt.co.nz