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Published: April 26th 2008
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Ah finally some stuff to talk about! I've had my first really busy, and quite expensive week, ending in one of the things i've been dieing to do in NZ - skydiving. That was pretty much the most exciting bit for me so sorry if i rush head to that...
Basically our trip was a huge road trip up from dunedin (south east of the south island), through 'Arthurs Pass' up to Abel Tasman (tip of the south island), then back down the west coast to see some glaciers in Franz Josef, a little further down to skydive over Mt Cook then to Wanika, Queenstown and home again.
Arthurs Pass is awesome - a drive through icecapped mountains - great but a very quick, small part of the trip. Abel Tasman was pretty much the main part of our trip; we spent three days sea kayaking round a series of islands - most of which seemed pretty much completely untouched, save for the odd one with a beaten up house that still probably cost millions for the location. We eventually ended up at one of the northern most beachs called 'Mosquito bay' - quite aptly named as my
legs were torn to shreds my sandflies, as my friend Karthick said 'Mosquito's like poms'. This beach was amazing, incredibly remote place to be, medditerenean climate - warm seas, white/camarel coloured sand and noone else there; save for the worst smelling toilet known to man.
The smell was ridiculous, for anyone whose actually been to Glastonbury it was ACTUALLY much worse than that. Mainly due to the fact that the waste in it had probably been not dealt with for a very long time and it had been a boiling hot day with a soft breeze that carried over unneeded scents to where we were setting up our tents. Eventually I had to use it and spend the next few days trying not to scratch myself and scare people in public - 30 seconds was all the sandflies/mosquitos or whatever they were to do their work. I realise that whole paragraph is way more detail than you need, but its typed now so i may aswell leave it.
Anyway besides that it was unbelievable, we were so far away from anyone else and got to watch 'the most extreme tide in the world' come in on our shores
- it was ridiculous, just like someone turning on the taps in a bathtub; it came racing in and filled up the majority of the beach in minutes. We then also discovered an animal called the Possum (probably already been discovered i know), which was a relatively cute looking thing but with huge claws and a fearlessness of humans/desire to take all our food. Sadly it won and in the moments we left our table it, and its sidekick eat my raisins, nuts and most of my loaf of bread; aswell as my friend Jack's muffins.
As an example of how much these things didn't fear humans - when the torch was off you'd see them come racing at the table and the moment the torch was on they'd casually stroll off a metre or so from your feet. If you've seen the Will Smith film I Am Legend, they were pretty much like the zombies in that - not keen on light but no problem dealing with you. I'm almost certain Peter Jackson got the idea for the scream of the Ringwraiths in LOTR from these things too, they sounded completely identical screeching out across the beach late
in the night.
Anyway the night spent there was suprisingly comfortable and good fun, we all managed to sleep ok and so were off for another day of kayaking; this time through a lagoon, some more beaches, to an island with a seal colony and then finally to the main beach campsite where there were a few other people camping including some other English people (has been quite rare here up until the last week or so) from Liverpool who could have a quick chat with me about football and Glastonbury and stuff. The next day we kayaked back to our starting place, through some pretty mean waves and then waited for our pickup taxi. We'd all lost a lot of weight by this point too thanks to kayaking constantly and the damn possums eating the food. So the subway we had after an hours travel back to a town tasted brilliant.
Anyway after this we drove down to the Glaciers in Franz Josef, did a mini-tramp up to them and took a few pictures - awesome but uneventful so i'll just put some pictures up of it instead of describing it all. The next day we got
to do what had been in the back of our minds all week - skydiving. This was seriously the most awesome thing i've done in my life. We did it at the top height available - 12000ft so we could get a 45 second freefall in what's described as 'the world's most beautiful skydiving destination' (by the company of course, though it was above Mt Cook and Tasman and so looked pretty incredible). After getting kitted up in thick, tight, ball-crushing sky-diving costumes we learned what we had to do when the plane door swings open for your dive. Basically you tuck your feet under a bar underneath the plane - hanging only from the instructor behind you, give a thumbs up to the camera then cross your arms over your chest, fall off then wait to be tapped on the head to let your arms go up in the air and make a banana-shape with your body.
Actually doing it is the most intense thing ever, in terms of fear etc, you know there's no point hesitating so when the guy asks you 'are you ready' after 15 minutes of flying around, you can only really say 'yes', unconvincingly. Then the door to your right swings open and you're hit with a pretty damn loud, blast of cool air. The next thing you have to do is where you feel the most fear but also where it ends; you have to swing your feet out of the plane and hang there 12000ft from the man you met half an hour ago and now apparently completely trust. Then he asks you to smile at the camera and give a thumbs up - kind of the last thing you're thinking about; then he crosses your arms and tumbles out of the plane with you. You flip a few times, catching a blur of the plane above you the same amount of times, and then the fear is almost instantly replaced by a massive amount of adrenealine. It's the most intense feeling ever, you accelerate up to 200kph and feel an odd mix between kind of floating and shooting to the ground like a huge rock - a whole lot of pressure and wind anyway.
Anyway the 45 seconds felt like about 10, but were incredible and unlike anything i've ever felt. Then when he opens the parachute you can totally relax - the worst thats going to happen is you break your ankles on landing, but unless you're a bit of an idiot (no offence to anyone who has), you only have to lift your legs so he can put his down first so its not too frightening. The parachuting part actually felt heavier than i thought it would too, not so much floating as going down at a non-lethal pace - this is also the bit i managed to snap a couple of badly shot films of the descent and a parachute spin my guy did for me. Anyway I landed on my arse - suprisingly unpainful thanks to him landing on his feet first pretty well.
Once we were back on ground we all met up for some quick high-fives and swearing loudly about how awesome it was. Then we picked up some pictures and looked at our own and began our drive home via Wanika and Queenstown. We pretty much talked about it the entire 9 hour or so trip back, it's definitely something worth doing. Anyway i'm writing this the next morning and should probably go have a shower, sort my life out, buy food, tidy stuff up etc. So i'll finish there for now and will put some pictures up and a quick video if i can in a bit. Hope everyone's good, and sorry if i'm slow getting back to emails and facebook comments, I've now got more time and so will try and get back to everyone properly; hope you're all well,
Tom
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Noelle
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Breathless in Hemel
A big wow to all of this, sounds such a great trip and you describe the sky diving experience so well too. It looks as if you all had a fantastic time. Would love to do the kayaking, beautiful photos too. Could you run a 'spot the possum' competition, maybe?