Advertisement
Published: April 29th 2006
Taupo is the cheapest place to skydive in New Zealand, so I thought I'd have a little dabble.
There's nothing like it! If you want the
ultimate adrenaline rush, jump out of a flying machine at 12,000 feet, and see how you feel when you land (although I recommend a parachute towards the end, else it can get messy).
It's illegal to skydive if it's raining, windy or cloudy, and for most of the morning I thought perhaps I wasn't going to get the chance to do it, and I wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad thing! But the sky cleared, and I have to say my anxiety grew, especially as at the Skydive centre they have signs saying:
Skydiving is a dangerous sport. Even if a parachute is properly assembled and packed, there is a possibility that it won't open. Skydiving can lead to paralysis, or even death.
After reading this reassuring piece of information, I threw on my jumpsuit, and was led towards the tiny plane. As I looked back I waved to Eleni, who wasn't doing the jump, and who, 12,000 feet later, I regarded as very, very wise.
I was crammed into a sardine-can plane with 8 jumpers like me, all of whom had a skydive instructor strapped to their backs - it's a bit odd when
you can feel another man's lungs expanding - and 2 of whom had cameramen jumping with them.
We climbed, climbed to the drop height, which took about 15 minutes, and I put on my hat and goggles. Suddenly the airplane door opened, and the 3 pairs ahead of me each fell out of the plane! And then I felt myself slide forward, and there I was, at the exit, winds rushing past the door warning me not to leave the safety of the plane. As I was told, I glanced back, baring my teeth for the camera's 'Exit Photo', and then followed the others down.......
It's impossible to describe the feeling. The first few seconds you are rolling around in the sky, falling at such a speed that you don't even know what's happening, or where up and down is. But a little piece of material attached to my instructor's back by a long string stabilised us, and very quickly we were falling, falling, our bodies parallel to the ground.
I was so far above Taupo that I didn't really pay attention to it, trying instead to concentrate on looking at the miles and miles of Earth
spread out before me (which is really hard to do when you're skin is being pulled back across your face, and the air is rushing past you so quickly that you can barely breathe).
After 45 seconds of feeling like I was in a rollercoaster dream, the parachute opened, and we were suddenly jerked into a sitting position, to finally appreciate Lake Taupo and its surroundings, albeit with ears that needed popping and hearts that needed resting.
A few minutes later we slid into land, the grass and the earth never having looked so homely. And it was over!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.18s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 14; qc: 63; dbt: 0.0672s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb
Maman
non-member comment
A la recherche de la montee d'adrenaline !
Ou sont les photos ? Eric devant l'avion, Eric devant un parachute au sol, mais ou sont les photos d'Eric sautant de l'avion et planant comme un oiseau ? Bravo Eric, quel courage ! Le referais-tu ? J'ai quand meme hate de voir les photos. Continue a bien t'amuser ! Bisous !xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx