Freefallin

It was another early start to catch the bus to Taupo via Waitomo. In Waitomo they have a couple of tourist attractions centred around the caves that permeate the area. We stopped in this tiny little spot (popn about 50 people) for 3 hours so I, like most people on the bus, decided to take a guided tour of one of the caves. The reason the caves here are so popular is the resident gloworms. We took a walk through the cave dimly lit by candlelight and saw tiny little specks of light on the ceilings and walls of the cave. In a sense its like looking at stars on a clear night. I think they are unique to NZ too so pretty neat. Between this and a bit of mooching around we filled our time here and were soon on our way to Taupo through heavy rain. This didnt bode well for my planned activity the following day – skydiving. We got to Taupo in the afternoon and considering the weather a few of us stayed in and chilled at the hostel.

In the morning the nerves came on as it sunk in I would be jumping out of a plane later that day. I was scheduled for a 10.30am jump and I got picked up at the hostel a half hour before that. The banter in the car was good, everyone seemed in good form. Then, when we arrived at the centre we chose which package we wanted to do. After some deliberation I chose 15,000ft with a dvd and photos of the freefall. It was more money than I had planned on spending but I reasoned that I may never do something like this again and without the dvd and photos I may not remember it as its all over in a flash. This decision made we were introduced to the plane we would be flinging ourselves out of shortly, it was yellow and had teeth painted on the front. Then we suited up, met our tandem masters and cameramen and get our harnesses tightened up. Then it was time to go. By this stage everything is moving too quickly for you to dwell on what you are doing. Suit, harness, tighten harness, gloves, hat and goggles, then a tap on the shoulder and you are heading for the plane. I was first (bar my tandem master) into the plane so I would be one of the last jumpers. On the way up my tandem master, seated directly behind me kept chatting away and giving instructions which again kept my mind from dwelling on the swift approaching moment. We eventually reached 12,000ft and two people jumped out. Here things began to sink in. I realised just how high we were up and how freaking cold it was, and we still kept going up. Now all the clasps and belts get checked and and I get attached to my tandem guy. Hat gets clipped on and goggles go over my eyes. The plane levels out and we shuffle to the opening door. My cameraman has climbed out and is hanging on the side of the plane. I'm now sitting on the edge of the plane, legs tucked under the belly of the plane looking out at the great expanse in front of me. A quick smile at the camera that takes a pic of you just before you jump then its head back, 1, 2, 3 and.........

My first thoughts upon leaving the plane were along the lines of “OHF$%^&INGHELLWHATTHE&^%$AMIDOINGITSXXXXINGHIGHUPICANTBREATHEWHYCANTIBREATHEIMGONNADDDDDIIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!” (Good luck reading that) or something like that. Jumping out of a plane tends to make concentrating hard for some reason. The freefall was a complete blur but by looking at the dvd afterwards I was able to remember a couple of things. One was the feeling of impending doom as you plummet very, very, very quickly towards the ground and the other is the struggle to draw breath. I got so scared I forgot how to breathe. We began to level out and the cameraman came over, smiling, and reached out to shake his hand. I’d been told that during the freefall I should focus on him so that I get the most out of the dvd since the camera is in his helmet but when you’re up there the dvd is the least of your worries. There was lots of spinning around and waving at the camera before he backed away and then THUMP! The parachute gets deployed and you suddenly aren’t flying face first towards your death, you start to float quite peacefully. For the first time I was able to take in the scenery. Lake Taupo is bigger than Singapore and at 5,000ft you can see the whole lot plus all the rolling green fields around it and even some mountains in the distance. At this point my heart rate was slowing down a little bit and I remembered how to breathe again but when we started to do some turns my heart did skip a beat as we sped up our descent a fair bit. A couple of minutes floating around and a few turns later and we are approaching to land. Feet up and a nice soft landing and its all over, feet back on terra firma again. As a group all the jumpers then did another piece for the dvd and then it was time to strip off all the gear. At this point I realized I couldn’t hear a damn thing, this would go on to last a full 24 hours. After I had the gear off I went into the video editing room and watched the video of my freefall. I look as terrified as I felt. Then I paid up, got my certificate, dvd, photos and a free t-shirt and it was back on the bus to the hostel.

For the rest of the day I just tried to relax at the hostel as adrenaline was still buzzing around my system and my ears were still not working. Then in the evening I crashed and my body’s immune system crashed with me. The flu set in. I had a bit of a stuffy nose going skydiving but I came back with a full blown case of the flu. Im guessing flying up 15,000ft in an unpressurised plane then dropping the same distance in minutes may have played a part. However I got it I was laid up for the next day and night in Taupo with it. As a result I didn’t see much of the town but it will always be the place I did my (first?) skydive. Totally worth it!