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Published: August 9th 2007
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Getting ready to jump
Yeah the height of fashion I know.... Right hello again,
Left you all as I arrived in Wanaka. This was a really cool little town with stunning scenery. The major highlight of my time here was going skydiving!
This is so much fun and if you havent thrown yourself out of a perfectly good plane from a great height before I fully recommend it. I jumped from 15,000 feet which is a long way up and you freefall for 1 minute...
So arrived at the sky dive place and get a interestingly coloured suit to wear - kinda looks like a clown suit but hey! Then get told that its my instructors second day and that he was the landscape gardener and they were just short of staff... Get harnessed up and meet Chris my jumpmaster - go through the briefing etc and then walk out to the plane. Four of us jumpin so squeezed in pretty tight. Get a pretty good view on the flight up, can see mountains and lakes all around, can see as far as Mt Cook but its too hazy to see all the way to Christchurch. Drop one guy out at 12,000 feet and the way he just disappears
as they fall out the door makes you realise how fast you fall. Then catch my jumpmaster checking the oxygen masks in the plane - apparently have to have them there when going to this height.. surely should have checked them before we took off?!!
Then its time to get strapped to my jumpmaster and you are strapped tight together thats for sure... watch the others dissapear out the door and get the green light to move into position. Jumpmaster says were gonna sit in the doorway and pose for the wing camera first and then get into the jump position. what he actually meant is that he would be sitting on the edge of the door frame and I would be hanging outside the plane... now wasnt quite expecting this but then posed for the photo, not easy at that height with the wind rushing past etc. Then get into position and we jump, the next few seconds are just a blur, I remember the feeling, but have no idea where the plane went. Just had this amazing rush, then when you are in the freefall position the wind is rushing past your face and your mouth feels
Wanaka town
View from the Mount Roy hike really dry. Amazing views from up here but dont really feel like the ground is rushing towards you as its so far away. Then after a minute of mind blowing freefall the jumpmaster pulls the cord and the parachute opens and it all goes quiet... strange feeling, get a chance to look around and savour the views. He then says hes going to loosen the straps on my harness to make me more comfortable, even though he warns me it is still very unverving when I suddenly drop a few centimeteres away from him!! As we head down he says its time for a bit of fun and to check out the scenery so he gets me to take the controls on the chute and turn left and right - just pull down on the left or right cord! Time for the fun - he says pull down on the right cord as hard as I can. So I do and we start turning, but not hard enough as he grabs the handle and pulls even harder and we spin sharply to the right, lots of fun but a bit unerving as I can see the parachute almost in front
of me instead of above me...! do a few crazy turns and then its time to land... basically get my legs out of the way and land on our butts... but fairly gentle. Back on the ground the adrenaline rush is still there - it was absolultely amazing - never felt anything like it... I can see why people get addicted to sky diving.
That evening me Adam, Cheryl and Suzy went to the cinema in Wanaka, had heard about this place and were recommended to go and see a film there, regardless of what was being shown. Basically the cinema is fairly small and all the seats are old couches, armchairs, a car with the seats in to sit in even some airline seats, you choose where you sit, went for couches (had heard that the car wasn’t that comfy and we all know that economy airline seats aren’t the greatest! We saw the film Descent (wont go into it here - this is not a movie review website, but I enjoyed it) however the best bit of the experience was the interval where they served large freshly baked cookies (actually baked during the first half - could
smell them) and homemade ice cream, very nice.
Spent a couple more days in Wanaka which is a really nice little town with great views of the lake etc. Me, Adam and Cheryl rented a car and drove out to the Rob Roy Glacier Track which was a really good day hike up an alpine valley with the Rob Roy Glacier hanging off the side of the valley, so a really good hike to do. Saw quite a few Kea there at the area where everyone eats their lunch. Kea are an parrot found in alpine areas of the south island and are renowned for stealing food from people.
Did another day hike on my own in Wanaka, climbing the track up to Mount Roy which overlook s the lake and town of Wanaka, a slog straight up the switchback from the lake level with ever improving views of the area and mountains around. Good day but hard on the legs on the way down.
Left Wanaka and joined the bus again for the short trip into Queenstown which is another activity town only an hour or so from Wananka. However Queenstown is bigger and is the
self proclaimed adrenaline capital of the world (or at least NZ). You can do just about anything you can dream of doing here that involves trying to scare yourself etc and if its not available they are probably working on it right now! Much more lively in Queenstown, a very party town and fills up in winter for the skiing and snowboarding on its doorstep.
Was in Queenstown a couple of times cos of the way my bus routes work, initally was only there a couple of days to look around, catch up with friends from the bus on the west coast etc. Then headed down for a trip around the southern part of the south island, starting with the famous Milford Sound, but will leave that to another blog.
So catch you all later.
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Dad
non-member comment
you whimp
Some of us land on our feet when sky diving!!! I agree with the rest of what you said and I'm one of those now addicted!