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Published: January 27th 2007
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Kaka Feeding
So nice of them to schedule me in for lunch! After being spoiled with two days in the same place, we were back on the Magic bus again the next morning to make our way up the north island, first overnight stop being Napier.
Our driver today was a bloke called Paris (apparently his mother thought it would be a good stage name, little did she know some little rich girl was gonna get there before him!) who had pretty good knowledge about the area. We have found that the drivers can be a bit hit and miss with the Magic Tour. On the whole they know their stuff and it's interesting to learn about an area and its traditions as you pass through it, though some drivers don't give you any information which is a bit disappointing as you feel you're missing out. Though have to admit that there are other times when you just want to go to sleep! That's quite common where Karen and I are concerned.
Anyway, on our way to Napier we did a stop at a conservation park where they look after the Kiwi birds. That's right, its not the green fruit that's assocaited with the country, its the Kiwi bird! The birds
Tui Beer
Morning taster of the local brew aren't that common in the wild and they are trying to prevent the species from becoming extinct. They are actually a pretty cool looking bird - a lot bigger than we expected and really long thin beaks that are about a foot in length. So yeah, save the Kiwis!
Next stop was a beer tasting in a little pub where they started making Tui beer. Neither of us really drink beer and it was 11.30 in the morning but it was only $2 so we signed up. Not surprisingly, we didn't like any of it. After that we stopped at a winery (see a pattern anyone?). The winery was called Mission Estate and is pretty famous in New Zealand as they have a huge outdoor concert there every year. We were just a week early for Eric Clapton, last year it was Chris de Burgh and someone else more famous that I can't remember and past preformers included Rod Stewart, The Beach Boys and Burt Bacherach, legend.
Finally we arrived in Napier, a town famous for its numerous art-deco buildings. Napier was completly destroyed in the 1930's after an earthquake and subsequent fire and so they decided to
Napier Art Deco Building
Look, I only put in one photo rebuild the town in the most current architectural style - art-deco. The town itself is quite small but attracts many visitors because of it's rather unique appearance. Since we were here, we decided to do a guided walking tour which was very interesting and Karen took many pictures which you should have the joy of seeing in the very near future.
Well. The next stop on our trip was a big one for me. Lake Taupo, where I would be doing my long anticipated skydive. I had planned on doing one here since before I even left home so was very excited (in a terrified kind of way). The Magic drive booked my in for the 12pm slot but on arrival to Taupo I was gutted to find out that it was too cloudy to do it so they had called it off. :-( Not to worry though, the weather looked like it was clearing up so I re-scheduled for the 2pm jump.
Got picked up and brought to their base at the airport where I was delighted to meet Jen, Karen's friend from home whom we stayed with in Sydney. It was all a bit rushed from
Pre-dive poses
My smiles hides my nerves this point on. Myself and another guy who was doing the jump were brought into a cinema room where we presumed we'd be watching a safety video but it actually just turned out to be someone else's Skydive on DVD..this was their sales pitch. We were then ushered out and asked how high we wanted to go up and if we wanted the DVD and urged to decide NOW NOW NOW!! I had only planned to do 12,000 feet but then Jen said I HAD to do 15,000 so I agreed...to getting the rip-off DVD as well.
Next thing I knew some guy called Alex was telling me to get into a beautiful, flattering pair of blue overalls and attaching my life jacket to me...comforting. Turns out Alex was the guy that I would be entrusting my life to so I did exactly what he told me. What he told me wasn't actually much. Just to make the shape of a banana while we jumped from the plane. I said I'd try my best. Literally 2 minutes later we were all squashed (and I mean squashed, 10 people sitting on sideways on 2 little benches inside the plane!) in
With Jen & Co in Taupo Bar
Celebrating after the big dive into the sky. We´d like to thank Export Gold for our lovely free flip flops. a tiny pink plane and heading upwards. Must admit I was pretty surprised by the speed of the the preparation process. Fair enough it was probably better that way so you don't have too much time to dwell on your fears but a little bit of reassurance and explanation might have been good. Anyway, none of that really mattered because before long we were crusing 15,000 feet above the ground and Alex was asking me was I ready to go. Definitely! The door was flung open and all the air rushed in and people started to jump out straight away, it was so quick I didn't even know Jen was already out. But then it was my turn. We shimmied up to the door of the plane and sat on the edge. At this point I was just wanting to jump rather than sit there waiting to jump and think I started screaming before we even left the plane...and then...we were away!
There are really no words to describe the feeling of flying through the air at 200kms/hour but it was just the best thing ever. You just feel totally out of control and weightless and that you are
Huka Falls
Look closely at the T-shirt - proof she jumped! hurtling towards the ground at a crazy speed and that craziness was such a great rush! We were meant to be freefalling for 1 minute but it just flew by (pardon the pun) and then Alex was pulling the parachute. It was also a great feeling of relief when you see this go up as you know you are home and dry. We had another 10 minutes in the air then, just looking at the amazing sight of Lake Taupo and the surrounding area and doing some cool spins in the air. Then we came in to land, on our bums which looked bumpy to say the least but was actually fine. Had major shaky legs when I went to get up but still on a high from such an experience. Got some pictures from the ground but you really have to see the DVD to get a feeling of what went on. In saying that, my face is flapping around like someone possessed so won't be showing it to too many people!
Ok, sorry to have rambled on so long about that but just had to share it and also encourage anyone who has the opportunity to do a skydive to do it, do it, DO IT!!!
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Gypsyrovers
Karen & Helen
Hey!
god i get nervous even reading about a skydive. PS wheres all the lovely description bout art-deco napier to accompany me photies?