Jumping Out of A Plane

Lake Wanaka, New Zealand, 1 April 2008

We drove 280km from Dunedin (east coast) to Wanaka (west coast) for one reason & one reason only..... we had booked a skydive with SkydiveNZ. We had our fingers crossed that this time mother nature would give us picture postcard weather. We spent a quiet evening relaxing & had an early night. Surprisingly I (Claire) slept well. We got up in the morning, pulled back the curtain to discover crystal clear blue skies. I made a call that confirmed it was all systems go, yarg!!

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As we arrived at the centre we witnessed colourful parachutes in the sky, gracefully gliding their way back to the landing spot. The reality of what was about to happen had well & truly kicked in.

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After watching a safety DVD & signing away all rights to life & limb we donned our colourful jumpsuits & were provided with a safety harness. Needless to say Dave was Mr Cool taking on a 15,000 feet jump. No bother to him (it was to be his 2nd time). Whereas, I had figured that throwing myself out a plane at 12,000 feet was enough for me to begin with! Next thing, I heard someone calling my name & I was introduced to my tandem jumpmaster Eugene. Dressed in black from head to tow he looked like he'd just walked off the milk tray ad. He run through a safety & landing briefing with me but the only question I wanted answered was "how many times have you jumped out a plane"?? 12,000 times he reassured me as we made our way to his office (the plane). Phew, this guy has gotta know what he's doing - right?

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Dave, 2 Japanese, me & our respective jumpmasters all squeezed snugly into the tiny aeroplane. I was last in, which meant I was first out. I was also sitting at the planes glass exit door which offered incredible views as we cruised to our jump height. I guess Eugene was trying to take my mind off the nerves as he pointed out Mount Cook, Mount Aspiring and Lake Wanaka and that worked somewhat until he started joking that he'd forgot something. What was that something?? The parachute?? Yarg. Needless to say I was in stitches laughing, not!

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Looking at his altimeter on his wrist he confirmed we were at 12,000 feet, the exit door started opening automatically & I felt a rush of cold fresh air. I had to swing my legs out of the door, Eugene was straddled behind me. It felt mad, it felt crazy but I had no time to entertain those thoughts, no time to think, it was time to jump. Head up, smile for the camera, exit position then I was plummeting through the air at 200 km/h attached to my new best friend. Even the slightest body movement or facial expression was a battle against the force of the wind.

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The wind, the falling, the vastness of it all overloaded my senses. I was hurtling & spinning for 45 seconds through space yet moving in slow motion then the pace changed dramatically. The parachute opened pulling us upright at first and the frenzy of a moment earlier transformed to utter calm. Eugene checked that I was ok then we glided peacefully above the incredible scenery of Lake Wanaka & the mountains before making a perfect landing back on terra firma.

What do you mean you forgot the parachute????????
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Ready, steady, aghhhhhh.

Is it a bird, is it a plane???

I give Eugene a bear hug