My first sky dive!

Editor's Pick Award

Our Editors awarded this travel blog entry for providing relevant information that may be useful and inspiring for other travelers.

We drove over to Wanaka on the 31st, on the way to Queenstown (the normal stopping point on the tour).  Along the way, we got our first glimpses of Mt. Cook (the highest point in NZ), and Mt. Tasman, two of the most beautiful snow-capped peaks in NZ.  We stopped at a reflecting lake area near the two, and the cloudy sky started clearing up once again just as we pulled up to the site.  One of the most spectacular photos I have seen of NZ is the reflection of the 2 in this lake.

The stop was only about an hour, and the hike around the lake supposedly took longer than that, so I booted it so I could see all the view points along the way.  The lake was a little rippley (is that a word?), but you could still make out quite a nice reflection of the 2 mountains in the water.

Most people were continuing on to Queenstown, but Lucia, Maija and I decided to make an unscheduled stop off in Wanaka.  Wanaka has a few of the Queenstown activities and scenery, with less of the crazy Queenstown backpacker scene.  After bidding adieu to our friends from the bus, we settled in to watch the clouds open (again!) to show us a brilliant sunset.  Our hostel was right on the lake in Wanaka, facing the west, so we got a great view from where we were staying.  This country's beauty never ceases to amaze me - it seems like every turn brings a stunning new view.

The hostel was also filled with tons of people looking to find jobs for the upcoming ski season.  Unfortunately, it started the weekend that I left NZ, so no luck for me on that front.  Tons of Canadian kids there, many of which had worked in the Banff/Whistler/Lake Louise ski fields in previous seasons.  Sort of made me wish that I had done the same at some point...  ;)

We also had an interesting roomie experience that night in Wanaka.  There were a couple of Americans staying with us (there were on a university exchange in Aus, and came here for "study break").  There were very nice, and we talked with them for a while before going to bed.  We all fell asleep quite quickly, but were awakened about a half-hour later by the guy literally yelling in his sleep.  It went on for a couple of minutes, and then stopped, only to re-start roughly every half-hour for the next couple of hours.  Yet, he never woke up...  Strange...

On Thursday, I decided that I was going to do a sky-dive.  Quite concerned that I wouldn't be able to do so at first, since the fog had rolled back in, so I had to wait it out.  We went for a short hike around the lake in the morning, to kill some time, and it was nice but nothing amazing.  After the hike I went back to the hostel to see what would come of the dive.  Fortunately, the sky cleared up in the pm, so I was able to do it.

As always, I decided to go big on the jump, and did a dive from 15000 feet (giving 60 seconds of free fall!).  Apparently this is pretty much the highest dive that you can do on a commercial tandem sky dive... 

The plane was quite small, so with 3 of us diving, our tandem divers, and the videographer, we were all cramped in between each others legs on the floor.  There were tons of windows on the plane, and the door was transparent, so it gave a wonderful view of the scenery below.  Basically a 360-degree panorama of snow-capped mountains and lakes.  We could even see all the way to Mt. Cook - ~160 kms away!  The flight was about 10 mins longer than usual since we had to wait for some sort of clearance from the air traffic control, but I was not complaining since the view was amazing!

The jump itself was pretty cool, though perhaps not quite the rush I had expected.  It was quite awesome in the first part of the freefall, but my excitement was quickly overcome by the inability to properly breathe due to the rush of air into my face and lungs.  I was also aware of the crazy contortions my face was going into due to the pressure, and the feeling in my inner ear that told me I continuously needed to equalize.  Don't get me wrong, I liked the rush and the view was great, but the whole thing was a little uncomfortable.  Once the freefall was over, it was several mins of enjoying a normal face, clear breathing, proper ear pressure, and a spectacular view.  The landing was nice and soft, and I was happy to be back on the ground.  I will probably not do it again, but I am glad that I tried it, especially in such a beautiful area.

On the second night, we went out to a local bar with a bunch of Canadians, which was a little taste of home.  We were there for "Happy Hour", which lasted from 9 pm - 1 am.  Turned into yet another big night out, followed by a random conversation over hot chocolate after leaving the bar.  Can't say I have ever finished a bar night in front of a fireplace having hot chocolate before!

The next am was a very lazy start, and we essentially just sat and read until the Stray bus was to come in the pm (hopefully with some of the gang that we had left behind at earlier stops!)