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Published: January 15th 2010
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...and I did it! This has got to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life! Less than 24 hours after deciding to actually do a skydive I have already jumped out of the plane and landed again! It cost quite a bit but well worth every hard earned penny. We meet the dive company at 5 and they took us over to Fox Glacier to a ting air strip (it was in fact just a few caravans and an old road and the world's smallest plane!) I signed the "if I die it's not their fault form" and then got straight into a jump suit. There was a brief safety talk and a guide through how to jump out the plane properly. Dan and I were the last two to jump so we had a bit of a wait as the others took to the sky. My instructor was a guy called Rod and he said he had done roughly 8,000 dives since he started 30 years ago so that filled me with a bit of confidence. He talked me through everything and adjusted the harness to fit him. The plane landed and as the pilot was filling it up we did a practice jump (even that was slightly scary!) Before I knew it we had taken off and we were flying up through the valley. We headed up over the Fox Glacier and out over the Tasman Sea. We flew over Mount Cook and Mount Tasman and the views were absolutely amazing. I couldn't quite believe how lucky I was to be up there! It was about a 20 minute scenic flight over the Southern Alps before things started getting serious and the cameras had to go away and the hats and gloves had to go on. My instructor went though the jump with me one more time before basically saying just get the exit right and then enjoy the ride! he told me all about the area before we jumped and how the mountains and valleys we formed and everything. So, at 12,000ft (the reading actually said 13,000ft) the pilot opened the door. There was literally no going back now. Just before Dan jumped/when I said bye, the two instructors touched fists and it was quite a moving moment. They had been joking around the whole way up but as soon as the door opened it all got a bit real and it was such a cool moment. So, Dan shuffled his legs round, tangled out the plane and they were off. I had about 10 seconds to come to terms with the fact that I was about to just jump out of a perfectly good plane into thin air. I moved to the front of the place next to the pilot, shifted my legs out and by that point I was dangling out the place and the instructor was still sat inside. I was so weird to think four clips were between me and...well...a lot of empty sky! We got some photos of the wing of the plane then the instructor folded my arms and pushed off and we were on the way! I managed to keep my eyes open to see the plane fly away (that was very surreal) and we did a full forward (well, at least I think it was forward) roll then leveled out and I actually can't describe the feeling I had up there. The views were unbelievable and I could see the mountains, the rain forest, the valley, rivers and the sea altogether. It was absolutely amazing. It was almost peaceful because with nothing around you there is nothing to do but relax and enjoy it. Not once did I feel off because of the height and it was hard to come to terms with the fact that we were falling at 200kph! After the free fall (which was possibly one of the best things I have ever done) the parachute opened and we cruised down. I even managed to get a few photos on the way down. The instructor spun us around a bit (pretty quick at some points) and I also took control at one point and started off a little spin myself. It was only then that i realised how high up we still were and also just how far we had fallen (just over 8,000ft through thin air). The land approached pretty quickly and we made a fairly good landing as well. I don't think i have stopped talking since I landed it was such an amazing experience. The Fox Glacier is rated the second best drop zone in the world (second to Mount Everest...and that costs 30,000 bucks) so I feel pretty lucky to have had the opportunity to do the second best skydive in the world! In short, I would recommended doing this to anyone and I promise you won't even feel nervous...but to be honest you have no choice...once you are in that plane there was no turning back because the instructor was going to jump and that was that! In one word: amazing. Falling through the air at 200kph with the Southern Alps of New Zealand all around made me think I am one lucky guy.
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