Lake Wanaka

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Our first port of call on this leg of the journey was the mirror lake of Lake Matherson. Sadly the weather was still poor and the lake looked a bit lame, so I cheated and bought a postcard for the scrapbook instead.

Arriving in Wanaka we rang the skydive company and they told us that we'd have to do the jump the next morning. As we were sitting right at the back of the bus, we were last off and missed the 9am jump, and had to get outside by 7am! Yet another ridiculously early start, but definately worth it.

That evening, we discovered that some of the girls on the bus had taken the drivers obvious joke a bit too seriously and had actually gone into the bakers to ask for peanut butter bread to feed the dolphins in the fresh water lake! I think Dan would have given it a go too if we'd let him!

At 7am, knackered, we all waited outside for the skydive bus to arrive. When it came the licence plate read 'FREE4L' which was a nice touch. It was only a 10 minute journey to the jump site and after a 5 minute safety video which I was half asleep when I watched, Myself, Will and Chris were up in the first plane, which was bloody tiny and could squeeze in 9 of us (3 lots of jumper, tandem and cameraman). The journey up there was hilarious, with both Chris and Will pretty silent. When the doors opened at 12K feet and Chris tumbled out, it really hit home. The next thing I saw was Force, hanging out of the plane, and then he was gone! I was instructed to shuffle forward to the edge of the plane, smile for the camera and then lean back, awaiting the moment where I would tumble from 15,000 feet entrusting my life to someone I'd met half an hour ago, great!

The first few seconds of free fall are insane. You feel your stomach go, perform a couple of spins, then you straighten up and just drop, like a stone. The speed is incredible, and you can't stop yourself from screaming with joy as you hurtle towards the ground at over 200 KMPH. The wind in your face is so intense that even with goggles on, water streams from your eyes, and your ears start to pop.

Suddenly you feel as though you're being forced upwards and the cameraman disappears beneath you. The parachute has opened and you're probably going to live! great!

The difference between the sensation of plummetting towards earth and a second or so later, floating gently towards the ground is immense, most notable is the noise. You can't hear a thing for 60 seconds, the chord is pulled and then there's silence. After having a conversation with my tandem dude and thanking him for not killing me, he made me more comfortable by loosening the straps around my legs and then performed some spins with the parachute which are great fun.

The landing is really easy, with you skidding across the ground with your legs in the air. And I couldn't for the life of me wipe the ear to ear grin from my face for about half an hour. One of the most intense things, in every sense of the word, I've eve done in my life, and I loved every second of it.

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