So, on Friday, I threw myself out of a plane!
I FINALLY managed to do my Skydive, and it was worth every second of waiting for it! I happened to be booked onto the same dive time as Anne and Patric, two of the group that were travelling with us on the Kiwi Experience bus, so the three of us went up together as a group.
The plane was tiny - with the three of us, three professional skydivers and three cameramen, we were crammed like sardines into the back of the plane. I was completely relaxed the whole way up, and even when I saw Patric and then Anne disappear out of the plane I didn't seem to have any feeling of nervousness.
Then it was my turn...
My tandem skydive partner, Peter, was strapped to my back, and my cameraman (whose name I never did get) stepped out of the plane and hung on to a bar on the outside, while Peter positioned us on the edge of the doorway. Of course this meant that he was sat on the edge while I dangled with nothing below me and only Peter keeping me safe from a 12000 foot fall.
Then Peter moved forward and we started a 12000 foot fall!
I'm not (entirely) ashamed to admit that I screamed like a girl for the first five or six seconds (Norris, you would have been proud!), but that quickly turned into a more manly "Woo-hoo" when I remembered there was a video camera pointed at me! The freefall lasted about 45 seconds, of which I spent about 40 seconds trying hard to catch my breath, and almost completely forgot to do any poses in mid-air for the photos the cameraman was taking. I'm ashamed to say I did close my eyes briefly, but then realised how stupid that was and opened one eye so I could see what was happening. The other eye very quickly followed!
Once we got to a certain point (I have no idea how far we fell in freefall), Peter opened the parachute and we seemed to shoot upwards, although this was only the drag slowing us down and the fact that the cameraman fell away rapidly. After that we spent the next few minutes floating down and taking in the scenery. Peter pulled off a few tight mid-air turns for a bit of a thrill (cue another, very short, girlie scream from me!), and eventually brought us in for a very graceful (for me!) landing.
The whole experience was just amazing, and I'm certain now that I would definitely do it again, as I would know more of what to expect and probably enjoy it even more than I did.
I spent the next two days with a huge grin on my face!
The following day, while not as exciting, was still really good. I went on a Lord of the Rings tour around the Queenstown area. (Naomi decided that one LotR tour (in Wellington) while on honeymoon was quite enough, so didn't come with me). Our guide Trisha was a lot of fun and showed us some really fantastic areas. She also had quite a few replica props from the films, which we got to play with (take a look at my photo site to see some of these). The group that I was with were really good, especially the nutty Katrina from Germany who got photos of herself in some locations which Trisha told us noone else had thought to get photos in before! (We enjoyed watching her pretend to be a dwarf with three wargs trapped on top of her, particularly!) There was a couple from England, Ian and (I want to say Sheila, but I'm really sorry, I forgot your name!), another girl from Germany (whose name I have also forgotten - I'm so bad!), and Lin from Thailand. It was a fun group and we had some great times recreating different scenes from the films.
All in all, definitely worth the money. (Oh, and Trisha, you can buy the elf ears in the toy store in Queenstown!).
Today we went up on the Gondolas and went Luging, which was also very good fun. On the way back down we found an indoor 18-hole crazy golf course, so we had a quick round on that (I won!), before dinner, and now we're on our way back to the hostel. Hoping to watch the final Lord of the Rings film tonight, if we have time and the tv room is free, as we've watched the other two at different YHAs on our way down the south island, so really want to complete the set while we're here!
Tomorrow we get the bus up to Christchurch, so might try and post again from there before we head home. The end is in sight.... *sob*
Showing posts with label Skydive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Skydive. Show all posts
Sunday, 18 March 2007
Thursday, 15 March 2007
Wanaka - Skydive Strike 2
The fates are conspiring against me, of this I'm now certain.
When we left Franz Josef, our driver Bods passed around the signup sheet for doing a skydive in Wanaka. He told us that, with the weather as it was, there was almost no chance to do it that day, but there was a very slim chance that we could do it the following morning before leaving Wanaka, so three of us put our names on the sheet and crossed our fingers.
As we drove south, the weather steadily improved until, when we stopped for lunch, the clouds were few and far between, and the sun was shining down. As we drove to Wanaka, Bods informed us that he'd spoken with the Skydive people, and they were ready to take us when we arrived in Wanaka at 4pm. So we got off the bus when we arrived (at around 3.45pm) and hung around outside the hostel to be picked up.
At 3.55pm it started raining.
*sigh*
We were told that there was no way for us to do it then, but possibly the next morning if the weather picked up.
I awoke the next morning to torrential rain.
*sigh*
So Franz Josef - strike 1. Wanaka - strike 2. However, on writing this, I sit in Queenstown with a skydive booked for tomorrow afternoon (Friday). We are forecast for torrential rain on Saturday (when I'm supposed to be doing another Lord of the Rings tour - although not subjecting Naomi to it this time!), but I have no idea of the weather for tomorrow.
(I've just looked on the NZ Met Office site, and it looks like it'll be dry but with thickening clouds, and that might be enough for it not to happen, so keep your fingers crossed for me!)
Assuming it all goes to plan, I should be jumping some time between 1.30 and 3.30pm local time (that's around 12.30 - 2.30am UK time).
Anyway, onto other things.
We arrived in Queenstown yesterday, stopping on the way at the original Bungy site where quite a number of people on our bus proceeded to tie elastic to their ankles and throw themselves head-first (usually) off a bridge. Skydiving is one thing, but I don't think I am all that fussed about doing a Bungy. Have to say, though, watching them all do it made it seem like an awful lot of fun...
(Don't worry guys, I haven't forgotten about the videos I took of you all! I'll have them up on the video section of my site when I get home! No promises about the quality of the video, but I've done my best!)
Queenstown itself is quite nice, although smaller than I expected. As one of the guys on the bus commented, it does heavily resemble a ski resort. There seem to be loads of activities to do here, and I suspect the town relies very heavily on the tourist trade to keep its economy going.
We're staying at the Lakefront YHA, and I have to say that its probably one of the better YHAs we've stayed in. All of the YHAs have been good, and we've been very happy on the whole. Wellington has been the best one so far (although lacking a tv in the room, which some had). Queenstown probably rates as number 2, other than the size of the room (we have a double, and the room is only slightly bigger than the double bed in it!).
We spent today being lazy - its our first lie-in since Wellington, so we made the most of it! We wandered around town (Naomi was very good and didn't even do much shopping!).
We kept bumping into people we had met on other Kiwi buses (buses other than the one we had arrived in Queenstown on). Its really great to catch up with people and find out what they've been up to, especially as (in at least one case) we hadn't seen them since we left Taupo in the North Island around two weeks ago (I think - I've kinda lost track of time, I must admit!).
Anyway, the next couple of days are going to be pretty interesting for me, and very relaxing for Naomi (other than worrying about me killing myself in the Skydive!), so I'll probably post again before we leave for Christchurch on Monday morning.
When we left Franz Josef, our driver Bods passed around the signup sheet for doing a skydive in Wanaka. He told us that, with the weather as it was, there was almost no chance to do it that day, but there was a very slim chance that we could do it the following morning before leaving Wanaka, so three of us put our names on the sheet and crossed our fingers.
As we drove south, the weather steadily improved until, when we stopped for lunch, the clouds were few and far between, and the sun was shining down. As we drove to Wanaka, Bods informed us that he'd spoken with the Skydive people, and they were ready to take us when we arrived in Wanaka at 4pm. So we got off the bus when we arrived (at around 3.45pm) and hung around outside the hostel to be picked up.
At 3.55pm it started raining.
*sigh*
We were told that there was no way for us to do it then, but possibly the next morning if the weather picked up.
I awoke the next morning to torrential rain.
*sigh*
So Franz Josef - strike 1. Wanaka - strike 2. However, on writing this, I sit in Queenstown with a skydive booked for tomorrow afternoon (Friday). We are forecast for torrential rain on Saturday (when I'm supposed to be doing another Lord of the Rings tour - although not subjecting Naomi to it this time!), but I have no idea of the weather for tomorrow.
(I've just looked on the NZ Met Office site, and it looks like it'll be dry but with thickening clouds, and that might be enough for it not to happen, so keep your fingers crossed for me!)
Assuming it all goes to plan, I should be jumping some time between 1.30 and 3.30pm local time (that's around 12.30 - 2.30am UK time).
Anyway, onto other things.
We arrived in Queenstown yesterday, stopping on the way at the original Bungy site where quite a number of people on our bus proceeded to tie elastic to their ankles and throw themselves head-first (usually) off a bridge. Skydiving is one thing, but I don't think I am all that fussed about doing a Bungy. Have to say, though, watching them all do it made it seem like an awful lot of fun...
(Don't worry guys, I haven't forgotten about the videos I took of you all! I'll have them up on the video section of my site when I get home! No promises about the quality of the video, but I've done my best!)
Queenstown itself is quite nice, although smaller than I expected. As one of the guys on the bus commented, it does heavily resemble a ski resort. There seem to be loads of activities to do here, and I suspect the town relies very heavily on the tourist trade to keep its economy going.
We're staying at the Lakefront YHA, and I have to say that its probably one of the better YHAs we've stayed in. All of the YHAs have been good, and we've been very happy on the whole. Wellington has been the best one so far (although lacking a tv in the room, which some had). Queenstown probably rates as number 2, other than the size of the room (we have a double, and the room is only slightly bigger than the double bed in it!).
We spent today being lazy - its our first lie-in since Wellington, so we made the most of it! We wandered around town (Naomi was very good and didn't even do much shopping!).
We kept bumping into people we had met on other Kiwi buses (buses other than the one we had arrived in Queenstown on). Its really great to catch up with people and find out what they've been up to, especially as (in at least one case) we hadn't seen them since we left Taupo in the North Island around two weeks ago (I think - I've kinda lost track of time, I must admit!).
Anyway, the next couple of days are going to be pretty interesting for me, and very relaxing for Naomi (other than worrying about me killing myself in the Skydive!), so I'll probably post again before we leave for Christchurch on Monday morning.
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