Our Skydive over Lake Wanaka

---

After driving around Wanaka a couple of times we couldn't seem to find anywhere to park up for free that wasn't completely obvious so we drove about 5 minutes out of the town to find a really cheap site next to a pretty river. Before we settled in for the evening at our site we went back into town to organise one of the main reasons we had come to Wanaka, a skydive. There was only one company in Wanaka who did this and when we called up to book with them we were much more confident as the sun was shining and there was barely a breeze in the air, but there was a different problem this time. The plane that they use to take skydivers up was with an engineer undergoing 'routine maintenance' and this was going to last at least a couple of days, but they could book us in for the day they hoped it would be back by. This was good enough for us and we didn't mind waiting around in Wanaka as the weather was lovely and there seemed much more to do than there had been in Taupo.

It was a bit late in the day by then to start any hikes up nearby mountains or to start driving out to the nearby national park, so instead we decided to kill a couple of hours at Puzzle World. Puzzle World is exactly what it says on the tin, we played around in wonky rooms where water appeared to run uphill, we stood in a room that made the person standing 4 meters away from you look like a giant and then we got completely lost in a maze. After all this excitement we bought ourselves some fizzy pop and sat at a table and played with puzzles in silence. We both felt like rain man when we left.

The next day we decided to explore the town a bit more, we had a wander around and took in the amazing view of Lake Wanaka and the Southern Alps that surround it. We found somewhere that would let us use their showers for a small fee (at last, it had been 8 days!) and visited New World supermarket to stock up on groceries. We also stopped by the local cinema which we had been recommended to go to by backpackers we'd met during our travels who had visited Wanaka. We had a look at the film listings and decided to go and see 'The Edge of Heaven' a German film, the following evening.

That afternoon we did a fairly easy walk up a hill a short drive out of the town which had great views of the lake. We sat at the top for a while taking in the views and then made our way back down.

The next day we decided to do a little more exploring of the surrounding mountains. After our short walk the previous day we wanted to tackle something more difficult so we drove 50km out of town to Mount Aspiring National Park. On the way there we stopped near a lake that was nestled at the bottom of a tall, rocky mountain which had a walking track to a view point of Lake Wanaka, before we climbed to the view point we walked past the lake and saw two black swans. It was quite a hard walk but the views were worth it. The lake looked beautiful and thanks to a clear day so did the snow capped mountains that frame it.

Once we arrived at the National Park we decided to do a 4 hour trek that takes you to a glacier suspended in the mountains. It was a two hour hard hike to the top but, once again was worth it for the stunning views. We sat on a rock for a while taking in the scenery, and eating some bread that we'd brought with us when suddenly the snow on the top of one of the mountains appeared to be moving, we heard an almighty roaring noise that sounded like a plane taking off and then realised that it was in fact an avalanche. It lasted a few minutes and it was incredible to watch all the snow falling away from the mountain. While we were distracted we hadn't realised that we were not alone on our rock, we had been joined by a cheeky bird, about the size of a large parrot, trying to drag our back pack away in its beak. He was a Kea, a native bird in New Zealand and he was determined to steal something, after we manged to get our bag back off him he flew a few meters away and tried to steels someones coat. Bless.

That evening we went to the cinema, it didn't take long for us to figure out why it's got such a great reputation. It's an independent cinema set up and run by a Scottish man. Rows of seats are replaced with comfy old sofas, there's even an old Morris Minor you can sit in, it has a cafe and bar that let you take your dinner or bottle of wine into the cinema with you and eat from your lap, just like at home! They have home made ice cream, and world-famous hot cookies cooked fresh for the intermission. After our day of hiking we decided to treat ourselves and sample the cookies which were every bit as good as people say they are. The film was quite good too.

We woke up early the next day with our fingers crossed for fine weather and a healthy plane. We had both, it was a perfect day for a skydive. When we arrived at the airport the first thing we had to do was get ourselves weighed and then read and sign a form which basically makes 'Skydive Lake Wanaka' totally blameless should anything, including acts of God, happen during our skydive. Trying not to think of the worst we signed our lives away and then watched a 15 minute DVD explaining everything we needed to know in order to jump out of an aeroplane safely. Nerves were starting to kick in a little by now and it was made worse by the fact the plane still hadn't been returned from the engineers so we had to sit around and wait for a couple more hours contemplating what we were about to do. As I write this now I'm getting butterflies in my stomach remembering the feeling.

Luke and I were told we were first up along with another lady, we were introduced to our skydive masters with whom we would be placing our lives. My master was a small European man, and when he introduced himself to me I asked if he'd been doing this long, he didn't say anything in response and just glanced at his watch and then walked off, the nerves were getting worse. Luke's master was English, by the sound of his accent he was from somewhere in Yorkshire. We were kitted out in full jump suits and had our harnesses on ready to go and as soon as the plane arrived back we were ready. Everything from there on seemed to go very fast. We all climbed into the plane, three divers, three tandem masters and mine and Luke's camera men who had been filming us almost from when we arrived at the airport.

Our dive was from 15,000 feet and it took the plane about 15 minutes to get up to that height. Since doing the dive we've considered how high up we were when we hiked in Bolivia, at one point we were further up on a mountain side than we were in the plane when we skydived. On the way up our dive masters pointed out Mount Cook and many other famous lakes and mountains, the Southern Alps looked stunning and seemed to go on forever.

Luke was sitting right next to the door of the plane while I was right at the back so when it was time for him to go I just saw the door opening and felt a gust of wind fill the plane, next I could see Luke and his dive master shuffle out of the door where they must have been hanging on for a few seconds until I felt the plane jolt slightly and then feel lighter, he had gone. About 30 seconds later it was the lady's go, then 30 seconds after that it was mine. Strapped tightly together by our harnesses we shuffled towards the door, the camera man was first out and was standing holding on to the side of the plane then I came out of the door dangling in mid air with my dive master holding us both onto the plane behind me. As we'd been shown on the DVD, just before you jump you have to assume the dive position which is to curl your legs backward almost as though they are going under the aircraft and to put both hands on your harness until your dive master taps you on the shoulder to signal it's okay to move them. Then we jumped.

The first 3 or 4 seconds of the fall are the strangest, it's where your legs go to jelly and your stomach feels as though it's in your throat, you flip backwards and fall upside down for a few seconds before reaching maximum velocity. At one point we were falling at 200 kilometers an hour and fell 2 miles in 60 seconds. The next part of the dive is the free fall and is difficult to describe, it's not like anything else either of us have ever done and was easily one of the best experiences we've had. I recommend everyone try it.

After the free fall was over the parachute opened with a jolt and we peacefully glided and spiraled back down to earth still taking in the scenery and trying to absorb everything that had just happened. Back on the ground with adrenaline still racing around our bodies we waited for our DVDs to be burned and told the next divers who had been nervously waiting their turn how incredible it was.

After all this excitement we went back to find Chats in the car park and started our drive to Queensland chattering all the way about what we had just done.

---