Never ever thought that I’m going to do this… but I did! Skydive in Taupo was just a breathtaking experience… literally I couldn’t breathe for about 10 seconds. Here is my experience of my first jump from a plane.
The decision to skydive was very spontaneous, like watching the movie Yes Man, except it’s a blonde girl in New Zealand saying yes to all the adrenalin activities and anything that has Lord of the rings sign on it.
We arrived at Skydive Taupo at about 2pm and had the sky shining bright for us. Then came the gear-up part! We put on our diving overalls, altimeters soft helmets, gloves and goggles. The next step was boarding the airplane – At that moment, I started feeling extremely worried and excited. The jumpmasters were talking to me, asking questions about my feelings. During the plane’s take off, all I could say was, “Wow!”. How amazing is having a job jumping out of a plane with silly “tourists” like me!
As we got higher and higher the first skydivers went out at 12,000ft. I of course decided to go higher (we even had to have an oxygen mask). We approched 15,000ft and it was time to fly! As I got strapped to my jumpmaster buddy we were slowly approaching the door. You will see the pictures, it’s not quite visible if I’m crying or just having my mind in a state of shock. My cameraman was already outside the plane. I was at the edge of the plane just remembering the final instructions and keeping in mind to smile at the camera – ha!
… I’m flying!
The scariest and most interesting seconds were the first seconds. For a few first moments I had a sense of falling. Then we were going faster and faster. My mouth was always very open – looked like I was amazed by the scenery, actually I was just grasping for air 😉 But after the parachute went open we started flying around and it was just indescribable. Cruising around lake Taupo and feeling like on top of the world.
I know this is a very common thing to do in New Zealand and that it’s very popular, but still it’s such a personal experience for yourself that I highly recommend doing it at least once in your life.Skydiving is not just falling, it’s flying and this is the closest of feeling free, liberated, unencumbered by a non-mechanical individual flight.
