Skydive!

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Today we decided to take the plunge and do a skydive! We're in Wanaka, and when we woke up this morning the sky was blue and the sun was out. We'd briefly discussed doing a skydive after watching Helen's videos of hers when she was in NZ, but Flora had been ominously quiet about them recently. However, after planning our route for the next few days it became clear that it was now or never, so we made the phone call and at 2pm found ourselves at the airport. Next door to the airport is a transport and toy museum - perfect for me to distract myself with! The most random selection of classic cars and toys all crammed into a series of warehouses. So after you've perused the vintage selection of star wars toys, you can turn around to see a mustang. One car which particularly stood out was a Morris Minor covered in yellow fur! Apparently it used to belong to a shoe maker, who decided to run a mobile shoe making business. After covering the car in fur, they removed the rear seats so that customers could have their feet measured in the back. I assume the company is no longer trading. Anyway, after the weird (but very cool) museum, we went around the corner and checked in for the skydive. To be honest, there wasn't much messing around - we were shown a video, and then we had to wait for our plane. With jumpsuits on we met our cameramen and tandem partners then were herded into the plane! Flora was unnervingly calm - not nervous at all! When we hit 15000 feet we made the leap and the rush was amazing. It seemed to me to be a frenzy of activity and emotions (not the calm that it sometimes looks like) and it went so fast that it seemed like 10 seconds of freefall rather than the 60 that it was. Amazing feeling! Highly recommended, though now I've done it I'll likely stay on terra firma for the rest of my life. P

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