Thriller - Tandem sky dive
I always thought the US and Europe were more adventurous than any where else in the world. My knowledge about New Zealand was fairly limited until I moved to Australia last year. I found out that New Zealand leads in some of the most thrilling adventures in the world. Apparently Bungy was invented in the outskirts of Queentown by AJ Hackett a few years ago.
Vivek and I have been touring the South Island of NZ for the past 10 days and have a few more days to go. We started off at Christchurch and moved to the North of the South Island to Kaikoura and Nelson and then to Westcoast and Central South Island that comprises Westport, Grey mouth and Queenstown.
We noticed that almost all the cities we went to offered sky diving, kayaking, diving and helibikes. Generally helibike involves going up a hill on a heli and coming downhill on a bike! Queenstown offers additional thrillers namely rafting, shotover jets, swing, bunjy, dog boarding(!) and various heli combos.
We decided to do Skydive at Motueka, which is near Nelson, mainly coz it is the cheapest on the whole of South Island. The dive involved going up in the air at a height of about 13,000 feet and free falling for about 15 seconds before the chute opens to help you have a smooth landing. Our dive was a tandem dive which meant we had a qualified sky diver tied to us and the chute tied to him. Apparently one can become a qualified sky diver after 10 jumps.
Vivek and I geared up and were taken up in a tiny plane with a few other people. Besides the four of us there was one photographer and two other divers that I believe were in training. For an extra (read expensive!) charge we could have hired a photographer to film us on our way down!
The journey up was a tad bit boring. It took about 20 minutes to reach that height. Once we reached 13,000 feet our tandem divers opened the door of the plane and sat on the edge of it as we sat in their lap (remember we were tied to them!). They pushed us a bit out of the plane and suspended us in the air with their hands as the camera on the wing of the plane took our pictures.
As soon as the quick photo session was over they jumped off the plane with us. As I write this article I can feel my breath race coz the feeling of falling of the plane at 13,000 feet with nothing to hang on to is like a close brush with death. The next 15 seconds were spent tearing down the white clouds that were freezing as hell. Just when I thought my arms and ears were about to be ripped off my body, we had an opening and could finally see the land. Almost immediaterly the chute opened and we were pushed back in to the air with a jerk followed by a smooth sail. This lasted about 10 minutes and gave us the opportunity to look at the picturesqueYoung Ranges that surrounded Motueka and the rivers emerging from them.
My diver was quite entertained by my enthusiasm (read screams and shrills) so decided to treat me to some chute tricks. I saw Vivek's chute land on the ground and knew I was next. I had anticipated a bumpy skid through the ground but the landing was actually quite smooth.
Vivek jumped off the plane before I did and my heart sank as I saw him disappear in to the clouds. The good thing about the sky dive is that the tandem divers jump with us so it is not up to us to take the initiative to jump off the plane. Plus once you are at a height of 13,000 feet, you pretty much want to get it over and done with so inspite of a panick attack you are most likely to jump off the plane.
But all this changes once you decide to SWING over a canyon.......
Vivek and I have been touring the South Island of NZ for the past 10 days and have a few more days to go. We started off at Christchurch and moved to the North of the South Island to Kaikoura and Nelson and then to Westcoast and Central South Island that comprises Westport, Grey mouth and Queenstown.
We noticed that almost all the cities we went to offered sky diving, kayaking, diving and helibikes. Generally helibike involves going up a hill on a heli and coming downhill on a bike! Queenstown offers additional thrillers namely rafting, shotover jets, swing, bunjy, dog boarding(!) and various heli combos.
We decided to do Skydive at Motueka, which is near Nelson, mainly coz it is the cheapest on the whole of South Island. The dive involved going up in the air at a height of about 13,000 feet and free falling for about 15 seconds before the chute opens to help you have a smooth landing. Our dive was a tandem dive which meant we had a qualified sky diver tied to us and the chute tied to him. Apparently one can become a qualified sky diver after 10 jumps.
Vivek and I geared up and were taken up in a tiny plane with a few other people. Besides the four of us there was one photographer and two other divers that I believe were in training. For an extra (read expensive!) charge we could have hired a photographer to film us on our way down!
The journey up was a tad bit boring. It took about 20 minutes to reach that height. Once we reached 13,000 feet our tandem divers opened the door of the plane and sat on the edge of it as we sat in their lap (remember we were tied to them!). They pushed us a bit out of the plane and suspended us in the air with their hands as the camera on the wing of the plane took our pictures.
As soon as the quick photo session was over they jumped off the plane with us. As I write this article I can feel my breath race coz the feeling of falling of the plane at 13,000 feet with nothing to hang on to is like a close brush with death. The next 15 seconds were spent tearing down the white clouds that were freezing as hell. Just when I thought my arms and ears were about to be ripped off my body, we had an opening and could finally see the land. Almost immediaterly the chute opened and we were pushed back in to the air with a jerk followed by a smooth sail. This lasted about 10 minutes and gave us the opportunity to look at the picturesqueYoung Ranges that surrounded Motueka and the rivers emerging from them.
My diver was quite entertained by my enthusiasm (read screams and shrills) so decided to treat me to some chute tricks. I saw Vivek's chute land on the ground and knew I was next. I had anticipated a bumpy skid through the ground but the landing was actually quite smooth.
Vivek jumped off the plane before I did and my heart sank as I saw him disappear in to the clouds. The good thing about the sky dive is that the tandem divers jump with us so it is not up to us to take the initiative to jump off the plane. Plus once you are at a height of 13,000 feet, you pretty much want to get it over and done with so inspite of a panick attack you are most likely to jump off the plane.
But all this changes once you decide to SWING over a canyon.......