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8am came and I wasn't on the bus. I ran over to the bus 5 minutes late and Phillipa did not look impressed! Fortunately for me there was someone even later than me! The trip to Wanaka was quite a long one and there wasn't a lot to do on the way there. We stopped for a couple of photo's but the real excitment began when the skydive sheet came around! Dan and I were straight in there and decided on the 15,000 ft jump plus a dvd to go with it. Now all we had to do was pray that the weather stayed clear! At first it didn't look promising. The rain was still coming down and there wasn't any blue sky to be seen. However the closer to Wanaka we got the more the cloud started to break up and we started to see blue! In a matter of minutes, it seemed like the weather was perfect! Sunshine! Blue skys! No cloud! Phillipa came on the coach speaker system and announced that the skydive.......was on! 😊
The coach pulled over and the 8 of us who were skydiving got off and jumped in a small mini bus that
was going to take us to the jump centre. We had to watch a safety dvd in the back of the mini bus on the short 5 minute journey and it basically said, do as your instructor says, have fun and smile....that was it. I was about to jump out of a plane at 15,000 ft and that was all the safety briefing I got! 😊 This was going to be fun! Now I have always said that I would be more scared to jump out of an plane than bungy jump. Everyone I have met on this trip completely disagrees! However when I arrived at the jump centre I found that I wasn't scared at all! I was expecting to be shaking and be really nervous but nothing happened. I was just really really excited, a bit like a 7 year old kid at Christmas! I wanted to go first so I flew through my paper work and was the first to hand in my clipboard....I wasn't in the first plane. First up was Dave, Emma and Andy. We watched their jumps from outside and the plane was a little bit bigger than a dot when we saw it.
Then we saw these white dots fall away from the plane and travel at an incredible speed back towards the ground! They seemed to fall forever and I was thinking great! Lots of freefall time. Suddenly the parachutes opened and they then just floated the rest of the way to the ground. At 15,000 ft you get 70 seconds of freefall and then 4 minutes of parachute descent. Emma was the first to land and her smile said it all! She was running around saying how amazing it was and that she wanted to do it again. This was the girl who looked terrified before getting in the plane and according to Dave, even worse as she jumped! After the first three it was time for the second plane to go.....Luke, Bethan and Kathryn. Grrr! This meant that I was in the last plane! Once the second plane had left Dan and I had to get suited up. They gave us these ridiculous, clown like, jump suits to put on with a harness on top. We looked very funny but I just didn't care. All I wanted to do was get up there and jump out of the plane! I
met my camera man Eugene and he asked me how I was feeling and if I was looking forward to it. He was going to jump out with me and my instructor and film us until the parachute opened. The instructor I had was called Jeff. He had done over 5,000 jumps in but still called himself the baby of the group! I understood this when Dan told me that his guy had done over 13,000 jumps in his life! A few minutes after the second group landed we were taken to the plane for our turn. I was determined to jump first out of this plane at least.....or so I thought. Nobody got into the plane so Jeff decided we should go last....thanks Jeff. Dan was to be first out, followed by an American girl and then it was me with the
LAST jump of the entire day!!! The Plane was tiny! I knew it was going to be small but there were no seats, no belts, no nothing! The most suprising thing about the plane was the journey. I expected it to be jumping around all over the place but it was the smoothest flight I have ever
been on! Jeff pointed out the scenery around us and before I knew it the door was open and Willo was sat on the edge! By this time we were all attached very tightly to our instructors with hats, gloves and glasses on. I saw Dan pose for the camera and then within less than a second he disappeared! He shot out of the plane so fast it was like a bullet. After the American girl had gone, it was just me left! Jeff slid us to the edge with our legs hanging out....still no fear, I couldn't believe it! I just smiled! My picture was taken. "Lean your head back and tuck ur legs behind me" Jeff said. We leant backwards. Then we just rolled out of the plane.....I'd like to say I knew where I was but the only thing I knew was we were falling faster than I had ever been in my life. Still the smile remained (watch the DVD). Suddenly I felt as if we weren't falling any more. There was a very loud sound of air rushing past us but it still didn't feel like I was falling! Jeff tapped me on the head.
This was the signal for me to look forward and spread my arms. Eugene came into view, waving at me! I waved back and made some funny faces. Jeff span us around a bit and then Eugene came in to shake my hand! If you watch the DVD you will laugh a lot at my face but I would like to see anyone look like a normal person when falling 200kmph! Suddenly Eugene waved goodbye and the parachute went up! It felt like the freefall only lasted 20 seconds! This was now the time to take in the view and it was awesome! We were jumping over Lake Wanaka so we had Mountains with snow on top, a lake, green fields all around and because we were the last plane the sun was setting in the distance. All I kept saying was "It's so beautiful here" and it really is. When we landed I just wanted to go again! I thanked Jeff and Eugene and then got out of my clown suit. Dan was very excited when I reached the bottom and between us I think the words "Best thing I have ever done" came out about 14 times! We
waited for our DVD's and then headed to our hostel to watch them all.
After telling the rest of the bus about it and watching all the DVD's a small group of us went for some food and a few drinks at the local bar. The smile on my face didn't leave for about 3 hours and I will definately not forget the amazing feeling that the skydive had given me. Skydive down.....Bungy to go!
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