"It was lovely, almost 20 years to the hour we did the first bungy off the bridge," Mr Hackett said as he and Mr van Asch walked up the trail after their crowd-pleasing jump.
"The main difference today is I'm dry, the first one had a longer length. Kawarau Bridge is one of the best spots to do it. It's not the highest but it's the most beautiful."
The duo's jump was one of the highlights of AJ Hackett Bungy's 20th birthday bash, during which about 500 pupils from Queenstown, Arrowtown, Cromwell primary schools and Wakatipu High School mobbed their heroes, bombarded them with bungy questions and received a goodie bag and signed certificate.
The open day featured $88 jumps for people wearing 1980s fashion, plus stunt jumping displays, a sausage sizzle and a DJ.
More than 2000 people visited the bungy centre during the day.
Messrs Hackett and van Asch said when they introduced their operation in 1988, the New Zealand tourism industry was "a bit flat", and bungy captured a lot of attention.
"Bungy definitely put New Zealand on the map and it's a good, positive Kiwi thing," Mr Hackett said.
"Queenstown was always a special place for tourism but when we arrived it had a really terrible spring and people saw the business from a different angle.
"We were always serious about what we did, but had fun doing it, which was different from the run-of-the-mill operator."
Mr van Asch said bungy raised the resort's excitement level, and he praised their team.
"We put the gas into adventure tourism."
Mr Hackett said the Department of Conservation and other government agencies were strapped for cash when bungy started and it felt good to "give something back to New Zealand" via their bungy concession and by restoring the then dilapidated Kawarau bridge.
Mr van Asch said: "We feel really proud for the bridge and for Queenstown, but knowing half a million people have jumped from the bridge and faced that personal challenge, it's a great position to be in.
"We already had good and fulfilling lives before this and it's been a fantastic 20 years. We'll be around for the 40th; in another 20 years we'll be jumping with our zimmer- frames."
