Day 139 - The Skydive

Check me out...



Ok, so the night before a skydive is pretty mental. if you're me, that is. I wasn't *nervous*, just maybe a bit subconsciously anxious. And it showed through in my nightmares and almost sleepless night. But in the morning, we got up, got dressed, I avoided breakfast, and we walked down to the airstrip on the other side of the very small town. I felt like I was going to a job interview. scared.

The jump costs a whopping 100 quid for about 20 minutes in the plane, 45 seconds freefall and 5 minutes descent under a parachute. And a DVD, where I go the video above. The whole DVD is funny - seriously - its laugh-out-loud funny. But the best bit is the first bit of falling. I look insane - eyes darting around all over the place. Mental.



Anyway, we got suited up and Anna and I were due to share a plane. We did a practise run through of how to dangle your legs out the side of the plane, and what to do with your arms. Nerves getting worse every second. The plane had room for about 5 people and there were 7 of us in here. It was cramped.



And then we took off. For 20 minutes we ascended to 12,000ft and it was beautiful. We picked this place to do it because we get to skydive over the glaciers, and it was unreal. Flying over the mountains, over the neve of the glacier, over the peaks and valleys. It was unreal. I just wish I was a bit less nervous to appreciate it more.









And then the door opened. The wind was intense inside the plane. Nerves reach an all time high. Anna slipped her legs out the door in front of me, and within a second I watched her drop out the doorway. Then within seconds, the other girl (diving solo) scoots to the door and hops out. And before I know it, I'm shuffling up to the doorway, hanging my legs out, putting my thumbs up to the camera, and I'm gone.

From memory, I spent the first couple of seconds completely bewildered, watching the plane get smaller and disappear from sight, before I adjusted to the sensation of falling and started looking around at the amazing landscape. Its weird - it doesn't feel ANYTHING like falling - its not even scary or strange. no stomach lurching when you fall out. No g-force acceleration. It just feels like you've stuck your head out of a car window at 90mph. But its still mental.

My dude spun us around a little while we were freefalling, so I could see the coast and the mountains, and then he pulled the parachute, which felt like an almighty car crash. And then it was silence. hanging off 4 hooks on the the back of my harness, I was suspended (what felt like) MILES above the ground, staring down at my feet. And then my fear of heights kicked in, as I scrambled to grab the straps across my chest. But the dude told me to calm down, and as I started breathing properly, it felt more secure. I grabbed my camera from inside my jumpsuit, and took some photos.





We did some tricks, spinning around faster than a rollercoaster, and practised the landing, and within a coulpe of minutes I could hear Sam at the ground chatting to Anna, who had already landed. And despite going stupidly fast, I pulled my legs up and we came in to land on a field about 10 metres from Sam and the Laser.





All in all, it was pretty spectacular. I loved it. Adrenaline pumped through me for the rest of the day, endorphines making me smile for hours. It was awesome. I reckon a solo dive would be even better - a bit more control of yourself, including some self-controlled movements would be good. But it was pretty special anyway.



After watching the DVD again, we hopped in the laser and bombed off towards Wanaka, promising hot snowboarding guys (for the girls) and Puzzle World for me. Sweet as, bro!