Jumping off of/out of things!

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Leaving Russell was so rubbish! I really didn't want to leave in the end and I would have been happy to stay another few weeks at least. I ended up making some really awesome friends in the last month and went out partying a lot more than I had done before but my flight to the south island was already booked and that was that. It was like leaving home all over again and now I'm home sick for Russell as well as Edinburgh! On a positive note though, I managed to be ruthless with my stuff and my backpack is much more managable now!

In Auckland I was staying at Amie, Steph, Louis and Anthonys flat for the week so that was great - no hostles yet! They were working most of the time but I had quite a lot I wanted to do in my week in Auckland so it wasn't a problem. As well as trying to get myself a bit more organised for my travels down to the south island I also visited Waiheke Island and Devonport, listened to a talk given by Buzz Aldrin (he's walked on the moon!), bungy jumped off Auckland Harbour Bridge and jumped out of a plane at 14300 feet.

I think I made a lot better use of my time in Auckland that I did last time. Waiheke Island was really beautiful and Devonport was really cute - had to take the ferry to get to them, just like being back in Russell! I saw a little bit more of Auckland than last time but think I've pretty much seen all I need to now. Seeing Buzz Aldrin give a talk about his life and the moon landing was pretty special, athough he was very American - if you know what I mean.

Doing the bungy jump was great. I wasn't too scared before as I had been up to where you jump from before (remember my story about the scared rugby player). It was only when I was getting straped in that I was thinking that I was a bit mad. I watched a few other people go first in a style that I can only describe as falling off in fear and then it was my turn. I wasn't totally terrified and really wanted to try and do a good dive/jump off and as i shuffled to the edge I was mostly thinking about doing a good dive rather than the fact I was about to do a bungy. I realise I didn't look down at all and I think this helped, I just flung myself off and it wasn't till I had gotten to what would be the end of a normal dive that it sort of sunk in, but by that point of course there wasnt much I could do about it! I'm trying to get the video to go up but having a bit of trouble at the moment, it's on facebook anyway.

I did my skydive the next day (only because of time constraints, not because I am mad). It got put off about 3 times - we were meant to go at 8am and we eventually got picked up at 3pm! On the way out I was trying not to get too excited because I wasn't sure if we would definatly get to jump but when we got there and they said we would be getting ready soon I started to get really excited. Thanks to my amazing friends at work back home I got to fling myself out a plane for free - love you guys...! But also, Katie, who was also jumping was doing it for her birthday so they took us up to 14000ft for no extra cost (and actually we jumped out at 14300ft)! Going up in the tiniest plane I have ever seen was pretty scary in itself and we were crammed in like sardines in a tin and part of me wanted to jump just to get out of the squish! But when we got to the hight and they slid the plane door open I started to get quite nervous. Sitting out the edge of a plane is pretty scary itself but I can honestly say that never in my life have I been as frightened as the moment I left the plane. For possibly about 2 seconds you just tumble through the air and I could not help screaming, and I always try not to scream. It was like a reflex, my brain and body both clearly realised that this was totally ridiculous and not until we stopped tumbling and were just free falling did I stop being so terrified. Apparently we were in free fall for a whole minute but if this is true it was definatly the quickest minute of my life, i would have guessed 20 seconds max. Free fall is mad, you cant here much cause the air rushed past you so fast and your whole body is pushed back by it but obviously you are still falling very fast. Once the parachute opened I thought all the fear would go (what with the parachute actually opening-always a bonus) but when you are gliding down and you move hard in one direction it's really scary - like when a plane turns hard, except your not on a plane, your just held up by a seriously tiny bit of cloth... It was so amazing though. I wouldn't say no to doing it agian though - it goes so fast, a second time would be good to appreciate it more (since I'd be a lot less scared, of course) but it was still totally fantastic and I still actually can't believe I've done it - I keep going over it in my head to remind myself!

Okay, written tonnes so I'll go for now. I'm in Christchurch in the south island now, I love it but more about that another time!

Love always,
Charlotte x

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Photos

Auckland Harbour Sailing
One of the boats racing in the Louis Vutton races as we got the ferry back from Waiheke Island

Buzz Aldin
The second man on the moon talked about his life and walking on the moon

Holly
This is Holly, she is 12 years old and she did the bungy jump too!

Katie, Me and Duncan
Pretty pleased with ourselves post skydive!

Comments

[Mum]

You are having fun!
Gran and I are sitting reading this laughing at your description but really glad we didn't do it! It was some Mother's Day - you texted in early morning to tell me that you'd bungeed and then texted late in the night to tell me you'd dived out a plane - give me a break! mum and gran xxxx