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Published: February 23rd 2006
Beam me down, Skoty
No turning back now...Interesting statistic: it is safer to jump out of a plane in midair, than it is to finish the flight in a more orthodox fashion. Skydiving is also safer than travelling in a car.
These kind of facts are comforting when you are about to hurl yourself out of what appears to be a perfectly good plane. 12 thousand feet up is quite high. 12 thousand feet seems especially high when you are looking down at the scenery below from an open doorway. With a word from the man who is going to save my life in the next few moments, we jump. The feeling is so surreal, to be falling and have nothing beneath you. We freefall for about 45 seconds. I scream my head off, partly with joy and partly with fear. It's a bit like that scene in Bill & Ted's when they are falling for so long, that at one point they stop, look at each other and then resume screaming again. My screams run out before the parachute opens. Once the initial shock and panic subsides it is the most sublime feeling. The closest one can get to flying (and then living!).
Once the
parachute opens we stop falling with a jolt, and begin a slow glide down to earth. This is the time to really enjoy the view, all 3 minutes or so. A quick check to see if my husband has also made it, and all is deeply well with the world. My saviour seems keen to show me a few tricks so we twirl and spin down to terra firma.
I have jumped out of a plane before, in my younger and sillier days. Now I am just older and still silly. That time I had to do it alone, albeit if from a mere 1,200 feet. But that was far scarier, though much less time to feel the amazement of freefall.
Now mum and dad, and mum-and-dad-in-law I know you are not going to particularly like this entry, which is why we are telling you now we have made it back down in one piece, and not before. There is undeniably something about the Kiwi psyche that craves the pure adrenalin hit, and it is definitely catching. They are so chilled and laidback for most of the time, but then this contrasts sharply with all the crazy, maniacal
Alive Alive O, Taupo
Now just how fetching is that helmet, heh? sports they have on offer here. Before you think we are completely mad, we have no plans to go 'zorbing' (huge plastic ball that rolls down a hill with you inside) or do a bungee jump (just seems too unnatural, that huge jolt to the body and all that time upside down). We also passed on the chance to upgrade our skydive to 15 thousand feet (oxygen mask compulsory). See, we are actually quite discerning and sensible!
The professional skydivers at the centre we used were an interesting bunch. Caracatures of extreme maleness and blackly comic. While I was waiting for my pro, another asked me who I was jumping with, I replied 'Mike S', 'Oh Mike Schlerosis' was the deadpan reply. Steve was asked by his pro 'have you done this before?' to which he replied 'no, have you?'. 'Yes' he was assured, 'this is my 13th time'. A later exchange on the parachute down went as follows:
Skoty: 'I am just going to loosen off your leg harness so they are not so tight. Let me know if there is anthing else I can do to make you more comfortable.'
Steve: 'Well what about the jumpsuit? Red really isn't my colour.'
Skoty: 'Sorry, they have to be red. To cover the blood.'
M x
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David
non-member comment
zorbing
bring on the zorbing. Zorbing, zorbing, zorbing!!!