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Published: March 26th 2007
I arrived in Taupo on Friday the 24th of March at around 11am. By 12pm I had a skydive booked and by 3pm I was in a plane preparing to jump. I put on the suit, the fannypack, the cap and grabbed goggles and an oxygen mask. Damo, my tandem partner strapped me up and we boarded the plane. I was the last one in so the first to jump. We climbed in with our sides right at the door. Damo didn't close it right away, and I realized afterwards that was so he could throw out his apple core. He closed it before we took off.
Taking off and reaching altitude was normal except for the strange position I was sitting in. As we got higher, we were hooked up to the oxygen masks, no trouble there. Damo got me to lift myself onto his lap and he strapped us together. When the time came, he opened the door, we swung our legs out, and that was the first little rush, sitting on the edge of the plane. Damo started to rock back and forth a bit, then stopped...
Then he pushed us out. I felt like I could have screamed for those first two seconds as we tumbled free in mid-air. After that he popped the stabilizer and it was all the rushing fall up to 200km/h for 60 seconds. Sixty seconds where I felt myself rushing through the air. Sixty seconds thinking, "Wow! It's not hard to breathe... Look at all I can see... Omigod! We're spinning! ... My ears hurt... Omigod! We're spinning again! ... Keep your feet up... Look around... This is a bit cold... I think he just popped the chute" WHOOSH "Wow... This is so amazing, so peaceful..."
When he turned it gave a bit of a thrill. He loosened the straps which made me feel for a second like I'd fall off of him. Being able to feel the straps holding me in made me feel a lot safer. He got me to lift my legs nearing the end and then drop them to run in together. I didn't want to land...
Yesterday I went to Huka Falls and then on the the Honey Hive where I tasted different honeys including Manuka (which isn't all that great if you ask me.) I also tasted Manuka Honey Mead which was good and I bought a Manuka/chestnut ice cream, delicious. In the afternoon, I went sailing on the Barbary (which was once owned by Errol Flyn) to see the Maori rock carvings. After disembarking, I walked along the beach and reached my hostel just as the sun was setting.
Today I went to Craters of the Moon and walked back to town past Huka Falls and up the river. Tomorrow I'll meet Catherine and leave for Napier to do some fruit picking. More adventures to come...
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Natasha
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Sweeeeet!
Awesome! Isn't skydiving the best? I'm sooooo jealous. I wanna be down there right now, not writing this stupid essay waiting for spring to hurry up and arrive so I can ditch the stupid winter jacket... So jealous.