New Zealand Part 2

---

So as i was saying when i went skydiving in Fiji i met an englishman called Nick who said that if i wanted to learn to solo jump i had to go to Taupo and do an AFF course with a world renowned guy called Geoff so i booked a bus from Paihia and made my way down.

The bus took around 10hrs and i checked into my hostel and had a wander around town. Taupo is in the centre of the North Island and is situated next to the biggest lake in NZ. It has many skydiving centres that all focus on tandem skydives; for some reason it is a massive tourist attraction rather than a sport, which was really annoying at times because tandems got priority for plane spaces. Taupo Tandem Skydiving was at the airport a few miles from town centre and on the first day i had arranged to be picked up by Geoff from my hostel. As i was waiting outside a bloke got in his car and asked "You fancy a lift somewhere? I'm heading to the airport." I assumed he was leaving so declined the offer. Geoff picked me up and when i arrived the bloke who had offered me the lift was waiting for me and Geoff to arrive! His name is Gerald, in his mid 30's who is from France near the spanish border. He is half french, half spanish so when asked he normally prefers to say spanish because so many people harbour a dislike for the French; thats what i loved about Gerald he could slag off the French because he dissassociates himself from them and doesnt really like their attitude.

It was cool because Gerald and I could chat in Spanish and i could help him out where his English struggled. On the sunday Geoff gave us ground training (a day in the classroom talking about what the course would entail and its theory). Geoff is a really great guy from South Africa who's been jumping for around 30 years and has taught thousands to jump. Everything he teaches us he is able to back up with anecdotes of his experiences because he has done around 18,000 jumps! Stories like- what to do when a plane catches fire, what can go wrong when you kink up your body in freefall and how to pay beer fines.

In the evening we get home around 7pm and Gerald says we should go out for a few beers, so naturally i comply. Gerald tells me he is a professional animator who has worked on blockbuster films like Avatar and many TV cartoon shows; he is currently animating the new Tintin film with Steven Speilberg and Peter Jackson whilst living in Wellington.

The following day we go back to the Drop Zone and Geoff says today we have to do a tandem skydive to get the feel of it and learn how the parachute flies when it's open. Since ive already done a static line jump in England he says i dont have to do it and so can save money. Gerald and another guy who is there for the day tandem jump and naturally they come back beaming and buzzing. I look to do a jump but its too windy. Thats the big problem with Taupo becuase of the lake- wind whips across it really fast and makes it dangerous to jump. There have been stories of people landing in the lake which is dangerous and damages parachutes. We wait around in case it dies down but no luck...

The next day we turn up to the drop zone but its too windy again so Jo (another instrutor) says lets go to the windtunnel in Rotorua so we can practice. Its a really cool experience floating above the wind of a jet engine and practising an arched body position and how to turn in circles. We also learn how to correct an unstable body position- this involves flying on your stomach then going into a ball, flipping over, then re-arching your body to gain stability. A couple of times when i re-arched my body I flew violenty towards jo and i almost took her out! It involved some matrix style moves. There were two guys who worked their who could do flips and spins; at one point they did a cool move where one floated in a standing position with his head back and the other floated as if kicking him in the face like the scene in the matrix when time freezes and the camera turns round the characters. Jo said we did really well and were well setup for our jumps when the weather clears.

The next day the weather is good, no clouds and no wind, perfect for jumping! So we get ourselves over to the airport and Gerald and i do our first jumps. The way AFF works is that you jump out of a plane with your own parachute but two instructors holding onto you to correct your body position and check you're doing well; after two jumps you lose one instructor, then after the next four jumps you go alone with an instructor nearby but not holding on. That makes 8 jumps then you can jump solo.
My first jump was with Jo and Andy. Andy is twice New Zealand champion skydiver and really helped calm me in the plane before jumping. The jump went great and my body position was good due to the practise time spent in the tunnel. As i mentioned in skydiving when you do something for the first time it incurs a 12 bottle beer fine to be shared amongst the crew at the end of the day so that evening we stayed on late drinking a few well earned beers. That night when i returned to the hostel i noticed a really good looking girl had moved into my room so i got chatting to her; her name is Sanne and from Holland; she is very cool and friendly. The following morning it is very windy so i introduce Sanne to Gerald and said why dont we take a day trip to Rotorua since its going to be too windy to jump. They both agree and we head to Rotorua which is a town full of Maori culture and other tourist attractions. We visit Whareka Thermal Village which is a small Maori settlement build of top of hot springs and near geezers. Its a hot spot for geothermic activity and as such really smells of sulphur dioxide. We are shown how they use the hot springs to heat their houses, for washing purposes and to cook food. They put things like corn on
the cob or meat in sealed bags and throw them in the pool attached with string. Some of the pools bubble because they are literally at boiling point an thus useful to cook food known as Hangi.On the way back from Rotorua we find a river walking path and take a wander along waterfalls and see people trout fishing.

Over the next few days we continue to try to jump but the weather calls it off; the problem with skydiving is waiting around for weather to clear... I get a bit fed up so decide to head back to Rotorua myself, originally i wanted to go white water rafting but the river levels were too low due to lack of rain. So instead i go to a place called the Kiwi Encounter which is a conservation program to try to save the Kiwi species from dying out. For those of you who dont know the Kiwi is a nocturnal flightless bird native to New Zealand. Its related to the ostrich so imagine an ostrich the size of a large chicken with a long bill (google it!!). The kiwi bird used to be very common in NZ but ever since Europeans started bringing things like Stoats, Possums and Weasels the numbers have been rapidly diminishing; so a few conservation places like this one have been hatching eggs in captivity and releasing them back to the wild when they are at an age where they can defend themselves. The Kiwi bird has many interesting characteristics that i'll let you folks read about if your interested.

Next door to the Kiwi Encounter there was a Native Animals show with a day special where it only cost a dollar to go in. It had many interesting animals in their too that are only found in NZ. The Kea is an alpine parrot that is very mischeveous and is known for nicking tourists lense caps or glasses and hiding them up trees for fun. They are very clever and need puzzles and things to keep them entertained. Another local animal is the Tuatara which is a lizard that can live up to 200 years. I saw one that was 100 years old and still able to reproduce and so he had three girlfriends on the go; definately something to aspire to eh? They also had Moreporks (owls) and the largest woodpigeon species in the world.
Also nearby was a gondola lift up a hill where there were views of Rotorua all the way across to Lake Taupo, it was a lovely clear day. At the top of the hill was a street luge track. In other words small carts you could steer down the concrete hill tracks, around banked corners and force kids off the road, great fun! After a full day in Rotorua i returned to my hostel in Taupo hoping for clear skies on the following day.

The next day the weather looked good so we went to the drop zone and Gerald was up first to do his level 3 jump. I walked out on the field to watch him land. I saw him jump out of the plane and as he reached 6,000ft i saw his parachute start to open but then it stopped as if trapped above his head... next thing i see the parachute has been cut away and he is falling again...then the reserve parachute opens. He flies down safely as his primary parachute floats away in the wind.
In skydiving there is a 1 in 1000 chance of this happening but the instructor thinks that maybe he saw the parachute start to open, thought it had an opening malfunction because it was taking more than three seconds, and so following his training he pulled the cutaway handle and used his reserve parachute. The main thing was he landed safely but still a bit worrying. I was due to jump next but the wind had picked up again so i couldn't. Surprisingly i was actually really annoyed because i hadnt jumped in 3 days!

The following day Geoff text me saying although its a bit windy in Taupo we could go to a really small drop zone called Matamata (which amusingly translates to Kill Kill in spanish) run by his mate, at a 2hr drive away. We went and found Mark (another South African) who ran the drop zone with his wife and a young guy who packed parachutes, they have a small plane only just big enough for five of us but we had the whole place to ourselves for the day. It did take ages at times to climb to 15,000 ft in the small plane but I did my levels 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. We literally jumped, landed, repacked the parachutes and jumped again. Five progressive jumps in a day was really hard work; each time we were doing different skills all whilst overcoming the fear and dealing with the adrenaline of jumping out of a plane at 15,000ft. It was an amazing day but i dont think i could do it again as its too much for your brain to take- plummetting to the earth at terminal velocity 5 times in a row.

After a well earned sleep that night the next day we go back to Taupo Tandem drop zone where the wind has seriously picked up (which i was quite glad about having fried my brain the day before) but Geoff asks us if we would like to learn how to pack parachutes which is a very difficult but rewarding skill. We agree and over the next two days receive tuition from a Kiwi called Troy Attwood (OC reference anyone?) to everyone at the DZ he is known as Teeroy and has packed 14,000 parachutes in his time.

Parachute packing is physically very demanding and difficult, it took us two days to learn it properly but we got our packing license at the end. Teeroy was funny because he was a patriotic Kiwi and referred to Gerald as "Frenchy" and came up with comments like "not bad for a Frenchman", it was done in a jokey way and he bought us beers at the end when we got our licenses.

This was my final day in Taupo as id decided i needed to spend a week down in Queenstown where there are all sorts of activities going on. Its known as the adventure capital of the world so thought i needed a week there. For my last night Gerald and I went to a restaurant called The Lava Rock Cafe which was amazing. They served you cuts of raw meat and gave you a red hot slab of stone so you could cook your food to your desired level at your table served with veg and potatoes. Its the best meal ive had since going away.

I bid farewell to Gerald and the others ive met at the hostel because the following morning im catching a plane from Taupo to Queenstown. Wow this has been another long entry sorry if its too long for everyone but tune in next time for the final installment of my adventure in New Zealand.

Thats all for now folks!

---