Queenstown and jumping out of a plane?!?
Trip Start
Jan 25, 2008
1
14
17
Trip End
Jan 25, 2009
Sydney,
New South Wales,
Australia
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Another of lake Hawea
. Basically they are just huge burgers for a pretty good price and have all sorts, I got one, one night called a sweet Bambi which was a deer burger, very tasty.The following day after much deliberation we both decided it was time to book a skydive each so we did that first thing in the morning for the following day. We had planned to do it a couple of weeks earlier but there is a weight limit on it which I was just over. We later found it wasn't as strict as I first thought it was more for if you were huge then the straps wouldn't fit also the weight effects the landing so I would just need to be paired with someone a little lighters, so over the week or so I found that out I managed to loose a few pounds and got to the weight but as I say found out it didn't really matter but trying to stick to this diet anyway as dropping a few more wouldn't be a bad thing!! Anyway after we booked it we decided to go for a walk up Queenstown hill for a view and were reliably informed by the tourist info guy it would be a nice stroll and nothing to strenuous as we were not really kitted out for a big walk cause we had no water and not really up for a hardcore hike but after about 1 hour we thought maybe we should go back as didn't know how much further and it was all up a very steep hill so thought we had done enough! We got good enough views half way up anyway. That night we sampled the night life again.
Enjoying the view of The Remarkables too much mayb
So the next day we got up a bit nervous as we had to meet for the skydive at 11.15pm in town and they would take us to the place out of town were it was. We first had to sign forms one of which mentioned something about the parachute not opening and death which was a nice thing to be told before we did it. On the drive out we went past some very big mountains in the Remarkables and the driver said if you were doing 12,000ft which kev was, you would be jumping from double the height of that mountain and if you were doing 15,000ft which I was you where jumping at one and a half time it. Another good fact to take on board, that really settled the nerves. Anyway we got there and it was about 12ish by the time me and the two other guys I was doing it with got called to get kitted up and then we got about two minutes of what to do when you jump out and that was about it we got in the plane and took off. The flight was awesome as it flew right over the mountains so we got a scenic flight included in the price which was nice. The plane took about 15mins to get to 12,000ft were one of the guys was jumping from so we got there and he got to the edge and then just like that he was gone, very weird and again not good for the nerves as I now knew that the only way down was out the door. So we got up to 15,000ft and I was fed some oxygen as you need it when at that height then the door opened and I was ushered to the edge and sort of hanging out the camera woman that was jumping with me was looking at me looking for good snaps (the camera and video camera were on her helmet) so I was trying to look cool and then 1,2,3 and we went out and any bit of nerves I had soon turned to complete exhilaration as I was now travelling at about 240km per hour
Kev and a Fergburger
. My free fall lasted I minute which was the best bit as you are just flying , well as close to as I'll ever get. The parachute opened at 4000ft so I covered 11,000ft in 1 minute which is kinda cool I suppose! Anyway then on the float down is just sightseeing time as the view from up there was incredible as you might be able to see a little from the photos. Once back on the ground I was just totally full of adrenaline and just jumping about for the next half an hour or so and almost used my discount card to do it again but thought better not as very expensive but it was definatly worth every penny. Once back in Queenstown everyone went for a well earned Fergburger. Later in the day at about 6pm got to pick up my photos and DVD so had a good laugh at each others photos and the other guys that were there. (Was going to attach the video of it but didn't work, if you want to see it go to youtube.com and type in Paddy H, skydive and it should appear)The following day we were going to head to Milford sound for a night which was about a 4 hour drive and managed to save a few pennies as there were a french girl and a Polish girl in our dorm who wanted to go but had no transportation as they were travelling on a tour bus which wasn't going to Milford so we gave them a lift which split the cost of the gas. The drive there again was amazing one of the best bits being when we came through a tunnel called The Homer Tunnel which is around 3km long through this huge mountain and then you come out the other side to an amazing view and the rest of the drive to Milford was just incredible even though it was a bit bendy and the roads were quite tight. We survived and arrived at our hostel early evening and as Milford is so small we didn't do much in the evening also we had an early start the next day as we had booked to do some kayaking. But I will leave it there again as I accidentally deleted my photos of Milford so in the process of trying to get them back through some very frustrating software on the laptop, so hopefully I can get them back for the next entry, speak soon, p.
Comments
Skydive vid
just watched your vid on youtube, looks absolutely amazing like. that bit where you are just hanging out of the plane, you look like you are totally brickin it. was kev on that plane? cos there is a guy in the vid who looks a wee bit like kev but slightly chubbier. true?