TAUPO: Birth of a new Sky Diving Queen!!!

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Me again, have actually found some time to chill out and catch up with my blog, wahooo!! I think its long overdue! Left for Taupo on the 24th January on a bus that was full of OAP's, what the hells going on, lol?! Spent the entire journey getting extremely worried and scared about my skydive that id booked for that afternoon!! Dont think i ate anything that day at all! Weather still not so good, very windy due to some cyclone i heard off Fiji so our dive was actually called off..... so i began to relax a little, beginning to feel quite grateful......when we got another call saying that we had to go now because there was a break in the wind!!! Aaaaaaaah! i almost died!

Arrived at the massive yellow building and i hadnt even been in there 5 mins when they called my name, i felt physically sick!! But all the guys were great really put you at ease ad very friendly, i jumped with Elad who was lovely! Bit of a perfectionist but that made me feel a bit better, one of the the guys Mikey who jumped with our friend Meirikeh kept telling him he'd made a mistake with my harness and to see if he could find it?!!! Thats not the kind of thing you want to hear as you're getting into the plane, lol!! (It was fine though Mum-i was checked like a zillion times!!!) i think the plane ride was actually the worst bit, it was the tiniest little thing with 10 people crammed into it and very bumpy!!! Me and Fi were right at the front so first out!!!!!!!!! We gut strapped to our tandem buddies and i could literaly feel his heart thudding through my back!! We didnt realise they get nervous everytime too-they said it was because they knew what could go wrong!!!!

Didnt really have time to get that panicky though because when we got to 12000ft they opened the door and away Fionnuala went!! it was awful having to watch her :-( But then just as i started getting nervous, they swing you onto the edge of the plane with your legs underneath it (really scary-very high) and away you go!!!!! It was AMAZING!!!! Absolutely unbelievable! I've never done anything quite like it, theres so much air beneath you, you dont even feel like you're falling, just floating away (although the skin on your face is moving so much!) and the views were awesome! I LOVED it soooooo much! cant wait to do another one, only 8 more to go and then i can go solo!!!!! Dont worry Mum i cant afford it, lol!!!

When we got to 5000 ft he pulled the parachute-it opened, thank god, lol!! And then everything went eerily silent, really strange (may have been due to the fact that both my ears had popped and were hurting like mad!) and then you just glide down to earth-BRILLIANT!! I was buzzing so much when i landed, the adrenaline rush was just immense! Its all i could think about for days after, i even dreamt about it, lol! Wish i could have afforded the photos and dvd, but they were almost as expensive as the jump itself! Me ad Fi have now decided we want to move to New Zealand and become Tandem Masters!!!! Wahoo!

We ended up staying two nights in Taupo so we could do the 8 hour Tongariro crossing the next day!!! Home to Mount Doom for all you Lord of the Rings fans!! Was a very early start-half 5 IN THE MORNING!!! and our coach never turned up so we didnt end up getting to the National Park until half 8! I killed my feet that day, ive never had blisters that big lol :-( Your stupid boots Mum. threw them out when i got back-am surprised i could even walk the next day!! Not too bad though-the weathers finally lfting, beautiful blue skies (about time too!!!! Was beginning to feel like i was back in wales!) Hope everyones ok at home, make sure to keep in touch, love hearing about the little things!! much love Em xxx

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