Nay and I have always talked about
doing it and once we hit Queenstown we knew that it was on. What we
didn’t know, was that it wasn’t going to just be the two of us….
As you’ll have seen from the pictures
there is a more distinguished gentlemen with a tache in a third
photo. We knew something was up when the lady said that the total
came to $900 bucks…I’m no Pythagoras but even I know that at $300
a dive, $900 doesn’t quite match for two of us. I turn round
confused and was confronted by a dad with a huge grin! THE OLD MAN’S
GAME AND THE GAME IS ON!
A line I remembered from the disclaimer
– “despite best efforts there is a possibility that you may be
injured or killed as a result of this activity. Accidents can and do
happen”……Reassuring?
(signing disclaimers...)
The firm who threw us out where
absolutely awesome. My master jumper was Scott, who had been jumping
in Queenstown for over 10 years. Naomi was paired with Wesley, also a
Kiwi. Dad was hooked up with a massive German who probably having
heard that there were three Brit’s up next fancied a bit of payback
for old times sake. We each had our own cameraman who would jump with
us as there was no way in hell we were not going to have the whole
ordeal recorded so that we can show future generations when they try
to make out that Grannie and Granddad aren’t cool. Suited and
booted we climbed into a 10 seater plane…with no seats. Just a
spongy floor to kneel on. We sat in between the legs of our jump
masters in that weird conga formation that you’ll have seen at
weddings on the floor.
Too be honest I was more apprehensive
of the little plane than jumping out, as I get a little jumpy flying.
The view was immense. We were climbing in a snowcapped mountain basin
just outside Queenstown. You could see for miles. The sun was
blasting down and there was the odd fluffy cloud in the sky, which I
couldn’t wait to swallow. We’d opted to jump from 12,000 feet and
embrace a freefall of 45 seconds at 200kmph, otherwise known as
TERMINAL VELOCITY.
Soon we were at altitude and the
sliding door at the back of the plane was opened. The first two
blokes were Chinese and you could see the whites of their eyes as
they grimaced whilst being virtually thrown out by their masters.
Suddenly I felt Scott begin to push me forward, and as I started to
go with him I just caught a glimpse of Dad disappearing out the
plane!! I remember looking round to Nay and shouting “MY DAD JUST
JUMPED OUT OF A PLANE!”. I didn’t know weather I was scared about
that or just excited to get out there with him. Almost instantly my
legs were then hanging off the edge. I remember thinking – “Look
at the cameraman, look at the cameraman. If you don’t you’re
going to be
pissed off paying all that money for
photos is the top of your head”. We rocked back and forward once,
twice and then on the third time OUT!
I can’t describe the next 45 seconds.
I don’t suppose you can to anyone who hasn’t done it. It is truly
unreal, and to my massive surprise not at all frightening – just
bliss. Pure happiness like I cannot explain.
All I remember was staring at my
cameraman. He was dancing in the air and pulling out all sorts of
moves for me to copy. My video is more like an audition for Strictly
Come Dancing than a skydive but I guess it made for good photos.
After what seemed like a very short time falling my cameraman waved
goodbye and fell away as Scott opened our parachute. Fortunately,
they worked for all of us. We glided down to the landing zone for
about 6 minutes with an incredible view but very dry mouths. It
literally felt as if I had been eating sand all the way down. The
glide must have been a little rocky because both Nay’s and my
master said they were struggling to get us down because it was quite
windy. Ours was the last jump of the day due to the wind swell.
Even now 2 days later I still can’t
really process it. I still feel like I’m walking on the clouds. So
massively proud of Nay, Dad and myself for not trying – but DOING!
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