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Published: February 24th 2005
Pete and Scary Freddy
Pete just before his skydive looking remarkably calmThe same day we left the Thermal wonderland we drove to Lake Taupo - I was booked in for a skydive that afternoon and didn't want to miss the appointment!
The Skydive At this point in my life I have got to say that the exhilaration from the skydive - the feelings of freefall and the accompanying visuals - is the purest feeling I have ever felt. I was on a buzz for a long while afterwards, replaying the first seconds in my head like a videoclip.
We arrived at the Taupo Tandem Skydive office with plenty of time, and proceded with choosing what altitude to jump from and whether or not to have a personal camerman (and suchlike other choices). I opted for spending $100 extra on going to 15,000 feet instead of having all my pictures taken - I wanted the experience much more than the pictures, and also I was to share the plane with a large group of girls who were all going to jump from 12,000. I worked out that this was the best way to do the whole thing; they would all be jumping first and I would then have an extra five or
Pete coming in to land from 15,000 m
Everybody else had landed at this stage, I was starting to get worried and then they appeared! ten minutes to ride up the extra 3,000 feet - and be alone in the plane (apart from the large German man called Freddy strapped to my back, of course).
The calculations paid off - it was great fun climbing up over the glorious landscape with an excited group of people all squashed into the tiny plane; video cameras were passed up and down the length of the cabin with everyone waving and shouting excitedly. Watching the others all go one by one quickly made it feel very real - that I was about to fall out of that door at the back, very soon.
It was like everything had changed as the "hardcore" ones (me and my slightly unhinged German accomplice) then began climbing to do our "proper" jump. We chatted a bit and he explained what to do.
Then we hopped to the back door, sat on the edge and waved to the fixed camera - and then we were flying, riding a stream of air 5 miles above the ground for a whole minute.
When the parachute opened we were in for a completely different kind of ride - a whole lot slower but equally fun. Freddy
A happy camper after the skydive
Pete looking suitably pleased with his jump. and I were talking the whole time - I asked him to show me what the parachute could do expecting a couple of graceful turns, and he chucked it into a controlled spin right towards the ground, then left and right in a series of tight turns - the G forces were amazingly strong and far from what I had expected. Parachutes are slow and don't do much right? Wrong - they're brilliant! and controllable to a fine degree too.
We landed gently and slid a bit across the ground. I now had a whole new set of feelings that I'd never known existed.
After Sarah drove us onwards towards our next destination and we stopped at the edge of Lake Taupo for a quick swim (it was a glorious day, after all) before heading for the nearby Tongariro National Park. We stopped in a DOC site for the night, and cooked some chilli con carne in a rainshower before going to bed.
The Tongariro Crossing Our objective on Friday was to walk our first of New Zealand's 'Great Walks', the Tongariro Crossing. There are about 10 in total (correct me if I'm wrong) varying from one-day to
Mount Doom...
Mt Ngauruhoe in Tongariro National Park, one of the two mountains used in Lord of the Rings 5-day+ walks through New Zealand's diverse landscapes.
We drove to Phakapapa to catch the bus which was to take us and our packs to the start of the track. We were a bit behind most people who had started about half an hour before us, but caught up along the way. The pictures really tell the sotry of the landscape - you basically start on one side of the mountain, climb high and fast, go through a volcanic crater up along a ridge (I swear I could see Orcs running towards us as we looked over one ridge) and then descend past some beautiful lakes down down down through the different kinds of scrub, and eventually forest, that populate the mountain sides.
I'd definitely recommend it - it's 17km so start early - because you get to see about 20 different types of New Zealand all in one day.
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