Kiwi travels by Lemmo

The day after the Tongariro Crossing, we drove to the nearby Lake Taupo - the skydiving capital of New Zealand (and the world apparently).  The weather was glorious so I decided what better way to enjoy the scenic views than whilst hurtling at over 200 km/p/h towards the ground.  Brilliant.  After suiting up and meeting my 'Jump Master' - the guy strapped behind me who would kindly be operating the chute - and the 'Camera Guy' - funnily enough, the guy with a camera strapped to his helmet who would kindly be filming the whole experience - I was loaded up into a small shell of a plane with my fellow jumpers.  The trip up was surprisingly quick and before I knew it I was dangling out of the door staring past my feet and 15,000ft down to the Lake and town below.  At this point I was told to smile at the camera.  I managed more of a wide-eyed look of pain and anguish.  Then we dropped.  After the first second of stomach turning aaaaaaaggghhhhh, my senses kicked back to life and I absolutely loved the feeling of freefall.  The camera guy dropped into view and he grabbed my arm and spun us round.  He then dropped below us and turned onto his back so he was facing us.  This guy was about 2 foot below me as we were hurtling towards the ground and my Jump Master and he were grabbing each other and spinning us round some more.  Unbelievable!  66 seconds later our chute opened and the brakes applied.  I was allowed to steer us back home, doing some tight spirals as we dropped downwards.  He took over the controls and landed us softly and safely.  Awesome!

The whole experience was fantastic and the rush is just impossible to describe.  For those that ever have the opportunity to do this - DO IT!  You will not regret it.  (If in Taupo, I went with Taupo Tandem Skydiving, who were really great - professional and providing fantastic film and photos).

Tom