Jumpers

Today I jumped out of a plane at 12,000 feet.

And it was AWESOME.

So, last night around 10, Laura and I decided that we wanted to go ahead and get to Queenstown today minus the crazy bus driver and 9 hour trip. Checking online, we found flights for this morning for $85 so we booked them and set our alarms for the 9 a.m. flight.

Queenstown is easily one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It's a little like Jackson Hole, Wyoming is the closest I can come with an American city. It's surrounded by staggeringly tall rocky peaks and has beautiful woods going up the side of many and has azure blue water in the middle of it all. The town isn't too big and the whole thing is like an amusement park for adults looking for adrenaline rushes. From "Canyon Swings" to bungee jumping to white water rafting... everything in between... they've got it all.

And, it's known for being the best place to sky dive in New Zealand. Maybe the world.

So, arriving at our hostel, we asked the friendly guy at the desk, Ben, about it. He strongly encouraged us to do it and before we knew it, we'd booked the 12:30 time at nzone, a local skydiving operation. Laura was terrified. I took a lot of pictures of her scared reaction. And she even went to far as to tell me that if she began to cry, I was still allowed to take pics to document the experience. Luckily, she didn't.

Skydiving isn't cheap. I wasn't particularly nervous about the jump part so much as the "will this kind of money be worth it?" part. It was $300 NZD a piece, but I swallowed, handed over my Visa and figured this is probably one of those once in a lifetime kind of things.

After getting a short instructional video and being told that we would be jumping with one other person - our "tandem instructor" - we rode the bus to the landing location, a small field outside of town. Getting there, we watched as probably about 40 people fell from the sky in random intervals while we waited for our turn. Laura and I were the last to be called.

Walking in, I met my tandem instructor. And let me say, it was $300 dollars well spent. There is "hot," and then there is "dark German guy dressed in Top Gun-ish flight suit, wearing polarized sunglasses hot." Volker, or Volk as I like to call him, was almost as good of a view as that from 12,000 feet. Laura is completely infatuated with her instructor, a british guy named James and Volk as well. In fact, she had the nerve to tell me that Volk was too short for me. (This may be true, but I'm not going to let that get in the way of our love.)

So, after Volk suited me up and James did the same for Laura, we were given a quick lesson on how to jump from the plane and then we hopped on the tiny plane where we literally had to sit between their legs as we ascended to 12,000 feet (like how I keep saying that? It was a long way up).

The view was beautiful. The plane was so small, but I was sitting next to the clear door so my view was totally unobstructed. Laura was still pretty terrified and kept randomly screaming the whole way, which was highly entertaining. Finally, we reached the point and I opened the door, as instructed by Volk. We scooted to the edge, I leaned my head back on his chest and he pushed us off.

And wow. I mean. Wow.

There is nothing like the feeling of free falling like that. Nothing. It doesn't feel real. It feels like you're watching it on TV with 100 mile per hour wind rushing at your face. It is the most bizarre feeling ever because you're flipping all over the place. After 45 seconds, Volk pulled the parachute and the world stopped rushing towards me.

The rest of the ride was pleasant. Almost like parasailing. Volk loosened my straps a little and let me briefly steer the parachute. Then he spiraled us downward, pointing out Queenstown in the distance. Finally, we smoothly landed, me on my bum, on the grass. We got up, Volk giving me a high five (and then a hug. again. totally worth $300.) and I watched as Laura and James landed behind us with Laura yelling enthusiastically.

So yeah, that was it. I then called my parents as soon as I returned to Queenstown (thanks Katie for being my phone operator for the night :)). They were none too pleased. In fact, I believe the word used most often was disappointed. And there was also some talk of me leaving Rosie an orphan. (Don't think this hadn't crossed my mind. I may have even left a brief will for Rosie tucked in my journal.)

So tonight we're taking it easy, because, well, I think that was enough for one day.