Taranaki Wharf Jump Platform – Mountain Dew Guy Made Me Do It

This week we were in Wellington and guess who leaped from the Taranaki Wharf Jump Platform?

And see how the Mountain Dew Guy made me do it!  Well, not exactly me, so if I was your guess, try again.

This story has few players.

The Cast:

Mountain Dew Guy – played by the Mountain Dew rep who was handing out the beverage (“Mountain Dew Guy” seems more interesting than calling him Chuck.)

The Cute Girl – played by my niece

The Aunt – played by me

The background:

My amazing niece is visiting for a few months.  With our girls transitioning to school from homeschooling this term, they are not available for travel.  So hubby stayed home with them and my niece and I flew down to Wellington, New Zealand’s capital and the world’s southern most capital city.  We hit the highlights, which you can see photos of tomorrow.  For today we will focus on just the Taranaki Wharf Jump Platform along the waterfront where young guys like to jump off the wharf into the sea.  So, the city wisely chose to build a big platform, with a few rules.

The Scene:

The small crowd gathered around the basin, cheering and howling as shirtless wanna-be athletes leap, flip or jump from the Taranaki Wharf Jump Platform, plunging into the murky, waters below.

As the cute girl watched, she was getting ideas. I am sure the jump into Haruru Falls a few weeks back was still fresh in her mind.  One of the beverage companies capitalized on this opportunity, passing out caffeine injected cans to anyone who would take one.  He hands one to the nondescript Aunt who glances at the rep, then at the cute girl and simply says:

Aunt – “Do you think she should Jump?”

Mountain Dew Guy (obviously very excited at the prospect of a cute girl jumping) “Do you want to jump?”

Cute Girl “I’m not sure, I have to catch a plane in a few hours.  I have nothing else to wear.”

Mountain Dew Guy: “I’ll give you a t-shirt if you do it.”

Aunt: “How about the one you are wearing?”

So, hot Mountain Dew Guy gives the cute girl the shirt off his back and off they go.”

The crowd goes wild.  The cute girl is incredible.  Her jump from the Taranaki Wharf Jump Platform, nothing short of magnificent.

Taranaki Wharf Jump Platform

It wasn’t until later, after she was dry and dressed, that she came back with her new shirt to take a photo of the scene.  (the dry one, she walked away with two shirts: the one off his back which she was wearing and was now wet and a dry one in her size).  As we approached we finally read the sign . . .

Just in case you can’t read it: Health Warning: This area has recently been polluted.  It is not safe to eat seafood or swim.  (the rest is in Maori)

Since I am really the aunt and my sister (the cute girl’s mom) is probably reading this, I will spoil the fun and tell you that we did research this and it turns out to be not that bad, just slightly higher than normal bacteria and the law requires the sign.  Serious problems get much more serious signs.

By the way, would you jump off the Taranaki Wharf Jump Platform for the shirt off this Mountain Dew Guy’s back?

Mountain Dew Guy

All photos on this page @Rhonda Albom 2013

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