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Published: March 12th 2007
The next morning the five of us were all a little less cocky about our impending skydive & breakfast was a pretty quiet affair (although all the bottles of wine the night before might also have had something to do with that) as we waited to get picked up by the skydiving guy to get taken to the airfield so we could all jump out of a plane at 13,000ft on a perfectly clear sunny Sunday morning over the Abel Tasman National Park...what else would you do on a sunny sunday morning in New Zealand?!
We actually weren't as nervous as we all thought we would be on the drive over to the skydiving centre, the guys driving was probably scarier at the time as he went flying round corners and careering along the windy roads. That was until he handed around the "In case it all goes wrong & you die it's not our fault" forms for us to fill in...very comforting. We made it to the skydiving centre in one piece with our forms all signed and ready to go so we paid our money (possibly the hardest part for me handing over my card to pay
the $400, but it's much more expensive back home so at least there was that!) and it was decided that Steve and Lisa would go up first so they were whisked away to get ready and head for the plane while me, Kristine and Francesco had to just hang around and wait whilst taking full advantage of their free tea & coffee...if you're gonna die you might as well get as much for free as you can before you go, especially after just handing over $400!
After about 15 minutes we went outside to look for Steve & Lisa skydiving out of the plane and sure enough a few minutes later we could see a couple of tiny dots coming out of the plane one after the other. After about another 50 seconds we could see their parachutes open and they drifted slowly back down to the ground, it was amazing to watch and actually got us more excited to get up there than scared.
Next up it was me and Kristine so we were whisked away this time to go and get our jumpsuits and harnesses on. We each had a guy strapping us in to our
harnesses and they really got quite up close and personal for that early on a sunday morning as some of the straps go across your chest and round the tops of your legs! We couldn't stop laughing, probably partly nervous laughter but it was pretty funny us both just standing there with these guys tugging & tightening straps all over us.
We headed outside and we saw Steve just after he'd landed and the look on his face was priceless he was absolutely buzzing with excitement and adrenalin. Then I met the mad kiwi guy who was going to be filming my skydive for my dvd, he had long hair and piercings everywhere and was a bit of a nutter but helped me relax and have a laugh except he kept putting the camera right in my face! Then I met big Bob the guy that I would be strapped to and doing the skydive with, he was pretty tall and big which made me feel tiny but very safe...if anything went wrong he looked like he'd cushion my fall quite well at least!
He checked over my harness & decided that after all that tugging of straps
earlier it hadn't been put on to his standard so he re-strapped me in to the harness with yet more tugging & pulling of straps and then we were finally good to go.....so we headed for the plane. We had to climb into the back of the plane and as I'm quite short I nearly couldn't get in but I managed it and Bob told me to sit in front of him in between his legs so he could strap us together so I just did what I was told. As the plane took off the adrenalin really started to get going as we went higher and higher but after we got to about 3,000ft or so and kept going we were still just high, it didn't seem to matter after that point how high we went, we were just still really high up.
We flew around in the plane for about 15 minutes or so and we had an perfect view of the Abel Tasman it was breathtaking but the view was about to get even better as we reached 13,000ft. Kristine was first out of the plane and then it was my turn...Bob slid us over to
the door and he sat on the edge of the plane so I was actually fully out of the plane but I hadn't realised that yet and I could feel the rush of the wind in my face, it was a quick smile for the camera and then he pushed us out of the plane and were free-falling through the air and now I could really feel the full rush of the wind it actually takes your breath away almost but it is the best feeling. You don't feel like you're falling at all it's unbelievable and we got the most fantastic views as we went down...by the far the best way I've ever spent a Sunday morning.
After about 50seconds of free-falling Bob opened our parachute (which opened, thankfully) and you could feel the jerk as we immediately slowed down and then we just drifted down, doing a few turns as we went. we had a little chat on the way down now that we went plummeting towards the ground at god knows what speed and he said how nice it was to have someone small like me to skydive with so I asked him if he gets many
No turning back now...
...the only way out of the plane now is to jump from 13,000ft!shall we say larger people skydiving and he said you would not believe the size of some of the people that come along to skydive and that it's a relief when he gets small people!
we came in to land and the landings are not graceful at all as you basically put your legs out straight in front of you and you land on your ass and slide along the grass! But I'd done it and we'd made it back down and the buzz I felt was amazing I've never felt anything like it, although there is one detail that no one ever mentions, your ears pop during the freefall and it takes a couple of hours before they get totally back to normal so the 5 of us couldn't hear properly for the rest of the morning!
Fido and the Stray bus turned up not long after to pick the 5 of us up and then it was back on the bus as if it was just a normal day and we started the drive southwards down the rugged west coast of the South Island. We made quite a few stops along the way the first one
at New Zealands longest swing bridge which didn't look that big until you were on it and it really did swing as you walked across it but I was more worried about dropping my purse and camera in the fast flowing rocky river below than anything else! Next stop was at a lovely bay which is home to the local New Zealand fur seal colony and although it was the right time of year I didn't see any seal pups but we did see lots of adult seals on rocks and lolling around in the shallow water near the rocks. After that we headed for an almost deserted pebbley beach where the sand was in fact all small pebbles which felt kind of strange to walk on in bear feet but kind of nice at the same time. From up on the rocks at this beach we had a beautiful view of the ocean and a few of us even spotted some dolphins swimming around in the surf just off the coast.
We headed on to see the famous Pancake Rocks, which are rock stacks sitting just off the coast made up of lots and lots off layers that
have been compressed over time so they do look like stacks of pancakes, sort of. There were also some incredible blow holes where the tide was rushing in against the rocks and the noise of the waves was like thunder in places. The last stop for the day was for a wander through a rainforest which was very peaceful and you could understand why there was a hippy retreat only a few miles down the road as it was definitely a relaxing, calm place to be. We also picked up some beer at the shop as we were heading for a tiny place called Barrytown for the night which has only 40 people in the town and basically consists of a pub which is where we were staying. Although Barrytown has become a bit legendary as a stop on the Stray Bus as the locals are apparently renound for their parties in the pub and they certainly lived up to the legend when we were there. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by this kiwi guy who ran on the bus and got Fido (and me as I was sitting right behind him) with a water pistol and
then ran off again!
Once we'd dumped our bags it was time for some food and the pub had cooked us all a very tasty kiwi roast dinner, which vanished pretty quickly and then it was time for a few drinks, especially for the skydiving five as we were all in the mood for celebrating after our mad morning leap out of a plane. That night it just happened to be the birthday of a girl who had come up from Franz Joseph with some friends (including the water pistol wielding kiwi) so everyone was in the mood for a good night and the pub just happens to have about 6 massive boxes full of fancy dress clothes sitting by the pool table. We were all told that happy hour would go on until around 10pm for anyone in fancy dress so of course we all charged towards the boxes and grabbed everything & anything that we could. Kristine found a fantastic pink fairy costume and of course most of the boys ended up dressed as women which is always funny. Although I think Steve had to win for his efforts as he really went for it and had
the high heels, handbag and everything and I even spent about 20minutes in the ladies toilets with him making him the perfect 36B's out of toilet paper! He looked fabulous! At one point Steve and Simon, both dressed as women, were re-enacting the "Call On Me" video where all the girls are working out in the gym and doing sit ups etc....one of the funniest and strangest things I've seen for ages!
Everyone was definitely up for a good night and it definitely was a great night. After lots and lots of drinks we ended up watching What Women Want at about 3am and I fell asleep next to Steve who was still dressed as a women but the 36B's that I had made him did make a surprisingly good pillow! We all woke up for the end of the movie and then stumbled to bed after a legendary night in Barrytown or Bas Vegas as it's also been known as on the Stray Bus!
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