Hi All,
We arrived in Lake Wanaka yesterday afternoon and had a look around. But, not before Peter went SKYDIVING! I'll include his commentary below. I think that I thought about it too much and therefore I kept my feet firmly on the solid ground. I kept thinking how it would feel as I was hanging out of the plane door at 15,000 ft. Even standing on the ground thinking about it made my stomach queasy, so, I figured that feeling would be magnified by about 10 million if I were in the plane. Additionally, I was afraid I might lose control of my basic bodily functions and that would be highly embarassing for everyone involved. So, I left it for Peter to conquer the skies alone. He didn't seem nervous at all, more excited. From what he's told me and from what you'll see below, he had a blast! I'll try to get some photos in here from the event.
We had a mellow day in Wanaka yesterday and the wind this morning is pumping - Peter says it's a 4.2 day and he's puzzled about why no one is windsurfing on the Lake in town. Maybe later. We're heading out for another backpacking trip tomorrow so I'll write more when we return.
Hope all is well.
Love,
K & P
Peter's commentary about his skydiving experience...
Yesterday we woke up in Dunedin, which is pronounced done eeeeeee din and checked the surf, as we had a great day surfing the day before only to find it not looking so good. So we hopped into the van and headed for Wanaka. A 3 hour drive later (the book said 5.5 so we were excited to be there in 3) we arrived at the Wanaka airport. Dropped into the Sky dive Wanaka office and made a booking for.... 1. We had about an hour to kill... So we headed into Wanaka for a quick bite to eat. We headed back to the airport. I put on the clown suit and harness and prepared to jump. We packed into a little plane and took off. The flight up was a bit cramped, think 8 people in the back of a small station wagon, but I had a great view and the mountains, rivers, lakes and planes were amazing. We could see Mt Cook, the tallest mountain in NZ and also Mt. Aspiring which is a perfect pyramid. It took about 15 minutes to climb up to 15,000 feet which was our jumping altitude. The first time I checked the altimeter because I thought we were pretty high we were at 4,000 ft. As we climbed we momentarily leveled off at 12,000 feet and two people hurled themselves out the plane. The door shut again and we continued up. At 15,000 feet everyone else jumped out of the plane which left just me and the guy strapped to my back. We smiled for the wing mounted camera. (you can see the picture at http://www.skydivenz.com/) and the did a back flip out the plane. As you jump you have to scream as your breath sort of leaves you otherwise and you forget to breathe in. Hanging out the door before we jumped and the first 5 seconds of free fall was a bit scary. Once you stabilize in the free fall position it doesn't feel like your falling at all. It feels like you are floating. It is actually pretty calm and peaceful. The ground doesn't rush at you, I actually was looking around at the mountains and the guy strapped to my back would spin us around so we got the full 360 view. 50-60 after we jumped the chute pulled and we were then cruising down. When the chute came out I was surprised at how gently it slowed you down. No yank at all. After a few turns we were down on the ground with a perfect landing. When I landed the guy asked how it was. I said maybe I shouldn't have done it because now I'm going to have to do it again!
We arrived in Lake Wanaka yesterday afternoon and had a look around. But, not before Peter went SKYDIVING! I'll include his commentary below. I think that I thought about it too much and therefore I kept my feet firmly on the solid ground. I kept thinking how it would feel as I was hanging out of the plane door at 15,000 ft. Even standing on the ground thinking about it made my stomach queasy, so, I figured that feeling would be magnified by about 10 million if I were in the plane. Additionally, I was afraid I might lose control of my basic bodily functions and that would be highly embarassing for everyone involved. So, I left it for Peter to conquer the skies alone. He didn't seem nervous at all, more excited. From what he's told me and from what you'll see below, he had a blast! I'll try to get some photos in here from the event.
We had a mellow day in Wanaka yesterday and the wind this morning is pumping - Peter says it's a 4.2 day and he's puzzled about why no one is windsurfing on the Lake in town. Maybe later. We're heading out for another backpacking trip tomorrow so I'll write more when we return.
Hope all is well.
Love,
K & P
Peter's commentary about his skydiving experience...
Yesterday we woke up in Dunedin, which is pronounced done eeeeeee din and checked the surf, as we had a great day surfing the day before only to find it not looking so good. So we hopped into the van and headed for Wanaka. A 3 hour drive later (the book said 5.5 so we were excited to be there in 3) we arrived at the Wanaka airport. Dropped into the Sky dive Wanaka office and made a booking for.... 1. We had about an hour to kill... So we headed into Wanaka for a quick bite to eat. We headed back to the airport. I put on the clown suit and harness and prepared to jump. We packed into a little plane and took off. The flight up was a bit cramped, think 8 people in the back of a small station wagon, but I had a great view and the mountains, rivers, lakes and planes were amazing. We could see Mt Cook, the tallest mountain in NZ and also Mt. Aspiring which is a perfect pyramid. It took about 15 minutes to climb up to 15,000 feet which was our jumping altitude. The first time I checked the altimeter because I thought we were pretty high we were at 4,000 ft. As we climbed we momentarily leveled off at 12,000 feet and two people hurled themselves out the plane. The door shut again and we continued up. At 15,000 feet everyone else jumped out of the plane which left just me and the guy strapped to my back. We smiled for the wing mounted camera. (you can see the picture at http://www.skydivenz.com/) and the did a back flip out the plane. As you jump you have to scream as your breath sort of leaves you otherwise and you forget to breathe in. Hanging out the door before we jumped and the first 5 seconds of free fall was a bit scary. Once you stabilize in the free fall position it doesn't feel like your falling at all. It feels like you are floating. It is actually pretty calm and peaceful. The ground doesn't rush at you, I actually was looking around at the mountains and the guy strapped to my back would spin us around so we got the full 360 view. 50-60 after we jumped the chute pulled and we were then cruising down. When the chute came out I was surprised at how gently it slowed you down. No yank at all. After a few turns we were down on the ground with a perfect landing. When I landed the guy asked how it was. I said maybe I shouldn't have done it because now I'm going to have to do it again!
1 comment:
dude, i now want to go skydiving -- sorta, kinda, maybe. nice job pedro.
great job blogging you 2. kerry, thanks for the nose pic - looks GREAT!
happy turkey day. we are in seatown watching football for you.
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