Sky Diving

Jun 18th. I sneak a peak out of the curtains and it is bright blue skies with not a cloud in sight. Today is the day that I am jumping out of a plane at 15,000 feet. I feel mainly excited and just want to get on with it. There is a bit of hanging around so I read a bit of my book. The nerves start to kick in a little when we are on the bus to the airport. We get checked in and then kitted up. My tandem buddy is Elad from Israel who has 8000 jumps under his belt so I am in safe hands. We get on to the plane and head up into the sky. My heart is racing a bit as we get higher and higher but the views from the plane are outstanding. You can appreciate how large lake Taupo is from up here and we can see Mount Doom (now covered in snow) in the distance. A perfect day for throwing yourself out of the plane!! When it is my turn I am shuffled towards the door - there isn't much time to think about anything as I smile for the camera and then it is downwards (at about 120mph top speed). It is a bit difficult to describe the feeling - it is total sensory overload - the view is amazing, you could see from the east coast of the north island to the west coast. The snow capped peaks of Tongariro National park are cool as well. We freefall for 65 seconds before deploying the chute at 5000 feet. Then it suddenly becomes peaceful as we swoop down towards the landing. Actually at the point when the chute opened I got a touch of vertigo (not during freefall). We swoop down and make a landing at the airfield. Absolutely unbelievable experience - It is a few hours ago as I write this but still my brain has not caught up with what has gone on. I feel slightly discombobulated. Not bad for someone scared of heights.