Skydive at Lake Wanaka
After unsuccessfully trying to do a skydive at Taupo on the North Island two weeks ago, due to bad weather, I was unsure whether or not I would do a skydive here in New Zealand at all.
But things happen for a reason and in the end I began to think about a skydive more and more as we approached Wanaka. The scenery there is just incredible and the weather was fantastic and that more than anything else persuaded me to take the plunge!!!
I signed up for it along with two other members of the group for the following day and we just hoped that the weather would hold out. Early the next day I woke up and opened the curtains to find a cloudless blue morning sky, perfect!!
I wasn't really nervous as I was looking forward to it more than anything else. But as we went up in the specially designed plane I was located right next to the perspex door (I was going to be the first to go) in clear view of the thousands of feet that lay beneath me. It looked like a long way and we were only at 4,000 feet, another 8,000 feet to go!!! Uh oh!!
The plane journey in itself was worth the skydive as the views of lakes and across to the snowcapped Southern Alps was amazing, especially on such a clear day. I looked across to my follow skydivers and they looked nervous, I then looked out of the window at the ever increasing height that I was going to jump from, a long way indeed.
The instructor gave me a few last minute instructions and I tried to take it in as much as possible. The door was hoisted open and a sharp cold wind could be felt, I had a last look across to my fellow skydivers as we put our legs out of the plane, stong winds indeed. I had butterflies in my stomach by this point and as we jumped out of a plane at 12,000 feet (crazy!!) all the instructions went quite literally out of the window. The height was incredible, and it took me a while to come to my senses and not look at the ground to hold my position which we soon did as we went into a backflip position.
The g-forces I felt whilst doing the backflip was quite strong and the rush of air against the face especially was intense!! The freefall lasted around 45 seconds and it was utterly brilliant, did a few spins in the process and marvelled at the views, it was quite a relief when the parachute did open as I knew that I could do it all again another time!!!
I was really glad I did it and very lucky with the weather, got some good photos for you all to check out soon on the website. Just arrived in Queenstown today for four nights, going to Milford Sound tomorrow for a day trip to check out the fiords.
Catch you all soon.
But things happen for a reason and in the end I began to think about a skydive more and more as we approached Wanaka. The scenery there is just incredible and the weather was fantastic and that more than anything else persuaded me to take the plunge!!!
I signed up for it along with two other members of the group for the following day and we just hoped that the weather would hold out. Early the next day I woke up and opened the curtains to find a cloudless blue morning sky, perfect!!
I wasn't really nervous as I was looking forward to it more than anything else. But as we went up in the specially designed plane I was located right next to the perspex door (I was going to be the first to go) in clear view of the thousands of feet that lay beneath me. It looked like a long way and we were only at 4,000 feet, another 8,000 feet to go!!! Uh oh!!
The plane journey in itself was worth the skydive as the views of lakes and across to the snowcapped Southern Alps was amazing, especially on such a clear day. I looked across to my follow skydivers and they looked nervous, I then looked out of the window at the ever increasing height that I was going to jump from, a long way indeed.
The instructor gave me a few last minute instructions and I tried to take it in as much as possible. The door was hoisted open and a sharp cold wind could be felt, I had a last look across to my fellow skydivers as we put our legs out of the plane, stong winds indeed. I had butterflies in my stomach by this point and as we jumped out of a plane at 12,000 feet (crazy!!) all the instructions went quite literally out of the window. The height was incredible, and it took me a while to come to my senses and not look at the ground to hold my position which we soon did as we went into a backflip position.
The g-forces I felt whilst doing the backflip was quite strong and the rush of air against the face especially was intense!! The freefall lasted around 45 seconds and it was utterly brilliant, did a few spins in the process and marvelled at the views, it was quite a relief when the parachute did open as I knew that I could do it all again another time!!!
I was really glad I did it and very lucky with the weather, got some good photos for you all to check out soon on the website. Just arrived in Queenstown today for four nights, going to Milford Sound tomorrow for a day trip to check out the fiords.
Catch you all soon.
posted by Adrian at 6:04 am
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