swing bridge
Credit: The Weekend Mish/Instagram

Check Out this 'Gnarly' Swing Bridge

It's basically a wire that you can walk across.

When you're backpacking through public land in New Zealand, you might come across something called a swing bridge (or walk wires). The makeshift bridge was the topic of a recent video shared by the adventure channel The Weekend Mish.

"These things are just as gnarly as they look," said Riley Meason, the channel's host. "It doesn't really get much easier. You're pretty much walking across a single wire."

In the video, Meason explained that it was the second swing bridge he came across in two days journeying through the area. The bridge consisted of a single wire to walk across and a series of wires on either side, which you could grab for balance.

In New Zealand, a swing bridge is essentially a suspension bridge and it's often used by people or livestock. However, the definition changes depending on where you are. In other countries, a swing bridge is a permanent structure that physically rotates so cars or boats can pass.