Tattoo, skydive, tattoo, skydive... SKYDIVE!!!!
Trip Start
Oct 04, 2004
1
49
102
Trip End
Ongoing
Queenstown,
New Zealand
Wednesday, December 8, 2004
But Mum, don't fret, I didn't do it - I nearly did mind, I had the design and session booked in, but for some reason, throwing myself out of a plane at 15,000 feet seemed like the better option at the time!
I could only afford the one, and with Dan already booked in to jump, I couldn't bear the thought of him coming down saying what an amazing experience it was
01. in the plane!
. So after signing the mandatory "if you die its not our thought" forms and paying the astronomical charge of $600 (250 pounds) [Thankyou Mr Visa], we were in the bus heading to the jump site.When we actually boarded the bus, the sky was bright blue, with not a cloud in sight, but as usual it changed for the worse, becoming very overcast, very quickly. Not a major problem, just the photo's would have looked better. We had the choice of either 9,000, 12,000, or 15,000 feet, the latter giving you over a minute of freefall. As you can imagine, we choose the 15,000 feet jump.
I would like to say that by the time I was kitted up, introduced to my tandem buddy, watched the safety video and walking to the plane, that I might have felt a bit of nerves, but for some reason I didn't, I just couldn't stop smiling.
We jumped into the plane, each with our tandem buddy and our own cameraman/women. To say it was cramp was an understatement. There wasn't any in flight movies of hostess service - there wasn't even any seats! We just squatted on the floor.
It took us a while to reach the altitude needed. At 12,000 feet we were given facemasks to help us breathe - we really were going high!! And then we were there, 15,000 feet, with nothing left to do than jump. But its not that easy, first they make you hang off the side so the cameraman is ready! Before your given even the smallest chance to back down your off, freefalling through the sky, with nothing else than a extravagant duvet cover to slow you down
02. just as we left!
!It was just so amazing. To have snow capped mountains below you as you fall is an experience I just cannot describe. It was just so cold!
After over a minute, the sudden shock of the parachute opening snaps you out of the freefall trance you get into, everything just slows down, giving you more time to take it all in. The mountains, the Lake and in the not to far distance, Queenstown.
Whilst slowing descending, our tandem buddy's directed our parachutes towards each other, so at 5,000feet me and Dan could talk to each other. We were literally about 5 metres away from each other! That was weird!
And then suddenly the grass of the land site is getting closer and closer and you land. Yes it cost an arm and a leg, but boy was I glad I choose that over the tattoo!
[A professional shot the photos and video so I only have hard copies of them. I tried to take a photo of them, but the quality isn't great as you can see. The same with the video's, hopefully your be able to see how good it was though]
