Freefall into Paradise

  Auckland, New Zealand
Monday, August 13, 2007

So, I have jumped out of a plane and lived to tell the tale!

Today I went SKYDIVING! Wow. Basically the reason I was able to do it was by not actually thinking about it too much. I woke up this morning and looked out the window to see a beautiful, cloudless sky. I bided my time by watching a movie (btw- I watched Whale Rider last night, a NZ movie, very good!). The phone rang and it was Gavin, asking if I was still keen to do a jump today, so i said yes!

I was picked up, along with all my bags, 1pm. We went and got another girl as well, then drove about 20km to Kerikeri, since the Paihia site is too wet. Since I had a bus to catch, I was suited up first. I went outside to see another girl landing, and then the plane had to refuel. I had purchased the DVD, so Gavin (the guy tandem jumping with me) explained everything to do to make it go smoother. Soon, he was filming possible last words, and we climbed into the tiny plane.

1- post jump, i survived!

Up, up, up... we flew around the Bay of Islands til we reached jumping height... 12,000 feet! The pilot gave a signal, and Gavin and I (me now sitting on his lap, strapped very tightly to him) inched our way towards the now open door, swung our legs out... and off we went! It was actually way less scary, being that someone was on my back and I really didn;t have a choice. I did think about chickening out, but the only place to go is down, and really, which way is more fun?

4 thats what I did!

It was awesome. Very cold all the way up there, they say at that height, freefall lasts 45 seconds. Then the chute went, the straphs around my legs actually were quite painful once we were coasting down. The view on the way down was mainly fields as we were out in Kerikeri.

heres the proof!

My stomach didn't really feel right for a while after!! I rode back into town, where dad you will be very proud of me, I realized on the way back the guy had only punched in $3.85 for my visa rather than $385 (for the jump & DVD). I pointed this out to Gavin, so he waited while I got some cash out. If I had been sneaky, it would have come out of the other guys' wages. He counted the 3.85 as 5, so i saved another $1.15 on top of the $75 for booking it directly through Gavin! Good thing I wandered over to him at the Pipi Patch bar that one night!

After chillin for a short time, the green bus arrived and off to Auckland again. I decided not to stay, so I head @ 8:30 tomorrow morning for Mercury Bay. I'll try and load up the DVD on the computer once I find a place to do it!

XOXO
Shawna