Buller Gorge Swing Bridge — Attraction in Tasman

1: Major safety issues 2: Discusting attitude from a staff member 3: Not worth the price

Customer service was pretty good at reception, there were 3 adults 1 child and 1 infant. The front of desk worker was welcoming and accommodating and we were very appreciative of being lended a back carrier for our baby, we were very excited to be getting onto our walk. Given that I am also pregnant with our second child, we were really excited to do something reasonably safe (so we thought) that we could all enjoy together.

Once we hit the bridge we were shocked to see that "passing was encouraged" in which we were not informed to begin with (and did not see the sign for it as it was on the otherside of the bridge). I personally was carrying our baby in the back carrier, and was the first of our group to cross the bridge being encountered by 3 rude adults. I was in the middle of the bridge as they pushed past me shoving me against the side even though I asked them not to. They wouldn't turn back or allow me to turn around. This was extremely frightening with my daughter in the back carrier.

This bridge is very narrow in width and 20 meters above the mighty Buller river.

The staff member with a walkie talkie at the start of the bridge was nice and gave us the all clear. Indicating that it was safe to cross and no one would come from the other direction.

When most of the way across another person was attempting to come back across. We asked if he could back up and he stood at the entrance and was rude as we came past.

As we were coming down the other side this is where we learned that "Passing is Encouraged" as we were greeted by the most horrible female staff member.

She proceeded to abuse us stating passing is encouraged, overtalking me telling me it was only 1 person trying to cross and to "get over it". Followed by her arguing with one of our group about the situation.

This is 100% how it went down as we have it on video.

What a terrible way to begin a small adventure. It put a huge damper on our walk and scared the other young child in our group.

Walk was nice tracks were in below average condition considering you have to pay $12.50 per adult. Free DOC walks are in better condition and there are many large swing bridges in NZ that can be crossed without passing encouraged signs at no cost.

This was a poorly managed attraction and has some serious safety concerns.

Do not recommend, "have a great holiday" as the owner seems to say and go...

Overall value for money 2.5/5 No family pass No combos so yiu do mkre activities and save.

Bridge 3.9/5 $12.50 - Went in the morning. Manager/owner was very welcoming and friendly. Paid our entry and went on in. My first thought of the bridge was disappointing after being on the ones further down the country, yes this one is longer but I feel it could be better. When searching and looking at things to do I didnt take a close look at what the bridge was made of or looked like in detail.

Comet line 4/5 fun - 1/5 not Including access to bridge and walks. $40 + $25 for photos and videos. Tandem Comet line and it was fun. Interesting to be one behind the other and not next to each there. Definitely could be longer and definitely could be faster. $25 extra for a flash drive with the photos and videos seemed expensive though especially if you paid for the other thing.

Gold panning 3.5/5 Sand flies 1/5 Unfortunately we did not get told about the sand flies when we arrived. We were covered head to toe in them when we went to the area to do this activity. Went and brought some bug spray from the front desk ($25) and this only kept them away for a few minutes. The activity itself was really fun but as I only got to do it for a very small amount of time it has become the worst thing I have done in years. As we left we mentioned about how bad the experience was and that the bug spray did an aweful job and we really didnt do much panning because of the sand flies and his comment was "yeah they are quite bad this time of year" and didnt really care at all. We were just another person who had already paid.

If you do go, there is some enjoyment in some of the activities but 100% do not go anywhere near the gold panning, and take good...

IMHO, I believe the Buller Gorge Swing Bridge should be an iconic ‘must stop and explore’ for anyone travelling from Tasman Bay to West Coast. The site is steeped in history, has NZ’s longest swing bridge, which spans a beauty river, and leads to a variety of walks (shortest is an easy 15min), with lots of gorgeous photo ops along the way. Cute little native birds will follow you around, looking for insects as you disturb them on your walk. They’ve even been know to land on the visitors - rate for birds like fantails etc. We had a couple of tuis calling out to each other and were close enough to capture on camera. We did the short loop walk, and I ducked off for the 20min return walk to look at the giant Kahikatea off the loop. Stunning crown ferns and many more native flora. Would definitely return again and do the longer loop walks. Be sure to check out the old miners cottage before taking the zip line back across the river. Super friendly staff, lots of other things to do too (gold panning, jet boat ride etc), and a beautiful spot for a picnic. Activities are very reasonably priced too - not...