Is it a bird... Is it a plane?????? Skydiving at Lake Taupo

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As my grandmother had skydived at the age of 65, I knew that I definitely had to do one. James was wavering, Iain was keen having done one before and Ellie was adamant that she would not do it. After heading to the tourist office to enquire about prices etc the girl informed us that sky diving would not be possible for the next couple of days due to rain (apparently the raindrops feel like bullets!!) and that i we wanted to jump, we had to do it that day! Following our night out in Rotorua, none of us were feeling too clever, furthermore, if we wanted to do it we had 10 minutes to decide as the next jump slot was in half an hour!

We decided that it would be a fun thing to do as a foursome, and that it's probably better to book it and jump rather than have too much time to work yourself up. Before we knew it our hard earned cash had been handed over and we were on our way to the airport. Once suited up we were led out to the plane (a tiny yellow tin can with 2 benches inside running parallel to each other and a plastic door!) by our jump masters. Mine was Albert the German, with a scary vein running down his forehead and James' master was Brad Rock (real name) who spent the entire ascent winding him up, asking why straps were not clipped on and cracking jokes such as 'what's the difference between a ferrari and a hard-on?....I haven't got a ferrari' haha! Glad I didn't have him! The ascent was scary as hell, being the daredevils that we are we had opted for the 15,000ft drop - the highest of them all and the 25min ascent went slowly but also quickly as we didn't really want to fall out.

Once we reached our jump height everything went very quickly, the door was slid open and you immediately felt the whoosh of cold air hit your face, 2 seconds later and Ellie was out the door, closely followed by James! Watching people fall out doesn't do much for your nerves as you are rapidly being pushed towards the door by your jumpmaster. Before I knew it my legs were dangling out, my instructor turned my head towards the camera for my exit shot, tucked it back and then suddenly it was like the world turned upside down. For the first few seconds whilst you are tumbling your brain cant really register what's happening, then you level out and stick your arms out. I was expecting to feel a floating sensation, kind of like flying, instead it felt like you were slamming through really thick air. I thought it would be easy to move my face and arms but it does take quite a bit of effort. After a minute of freefall (which feels like about 5) at speeds of over 200km per hour, the parachute opened - thank god - and we floated through the air towards the ground. This bit was almost as scary as the free fall as we were still really high up, furthermore my shoe almost came off when the parachute opened so I had to concentrate on keeping it dangling from my toes. I did consider letting it go, but my shoe collection is already dismal and one less pair would mean a 25% decrease!! Then it was time to prepare for the landing by lifting your legs up and grabbing the backs of your knees (ladylike). Luckily our landing went well, until Albert told me to stand up and I couldn't due to sky-diving jelly legs!

James enjoyed it so much that he proclaimed that he was going to become a sky diving instructor! My advice to anyone who is thinking about doing it is DO IT! It is scary but you get such an adrenaline rush and a real sense of achievement once you have finished it! Take a leap of faith!

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Photos

Our tiny plane
only 2 benches inside and a plastic door!!

Parachute opening
praise the lord!!!