I went....SKYDIVING

February 5, 2011

Where to begin….

Well we left Wellington and headed to Nelson, NZ.  Since Wellington is in the North island and Nelson is in the South island, we had to ride a ferry across the Pacific to get to the south island.  The ferry we rode was the largest boat I have ever been on in my life!!!  I felt like I was on a cruise ship!  There was a cafeteria, a bar, a movie theater, and so much more!  I was so excited, running up to the sun deck and back down to where our group was sitting.  When the ferry first started moving I was fine, but it didn’t take long and I wasn’t feeling too well.  Luckily a friend had some Dramamine and I quickly recovered.  The ferry ride lasted approximately 3 hours.  I saw some of the most beautiful scenery that I have ever seen before! 

            While on the ferry I learned that skydiving was a day away.  My stomach turned at the thought of it, and I just wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do it.  Skydiving was all I could think about – and I was nervous!  I tried to just forget about it, but it didn’t work.  I knew I was going to do it; I was just so scared.  I am not really sure why, I thought it would be safe, I just didn’t know how I could handle being so high up in the air, free falling to the ground. 

            We arrived in Nelson at the hostel and quickly settled in.  The hostel was not as large as the one in Wellington, but there were still lots of people here.  The following morning we were planning on leaving around 11am to the skydiving place.  I was up early and decided to take my mind off of things and walk around town.  Walking around Nelson was great!  I love this town!  It is perfect!  Very quaint and neat.  It is perfect.  I would love to live here someday!!! (Don’t freak out mom J)  When it was time to come back to the hostel for breakfast, I quickly learned that skydiving was a no-go for the day because of the weather.  I let out a huge sigh of relief.  I was glad to have one more day to just try to calm myself down about it.  The option for the day was to go on a wine tour, but the sun came out and I wanted to go to the beach!  So myself, Kristen, Matt, and Eric all headed to the beach.  I drove the big red van (only getting lost a couple times) and we headed for the beautiful beach.  It was perfect, the sun was out, the waves were small, and the water was great!  I immediately went walking down the beach to search for sea shells (Kristen if you are reading this I am sure you are laughing at this part… but you know it’s true!)  I found so many neat ones, but I couldn’t take them because there were still living things inside of them.  I did end up finding a sand dollar, and a crab shell that I kept, they are very neat! 

            One of the coolest parts about the beach we were at was that it was unique with its high tide/low tides.  When it was low tide, the water would recede approximately 2 miles!  So it was like the beach just disappeared!  When it was high tide, the beach would come back.  We stayed at the beach for most of the afternoon, and literally watched as the ocean disappeared! 

            The worst part about the beach… I did put some sunscreen on, however, I did not put it everywhere… and apparently there is no ozone layer here…  I got fried.  (Kristen, I am sure you are laughing at this as well…. But let me tell you, it was at least 10x worse than PCB.)  I usually get burnt in MN summers, and it can be sore, but it’s not the end of the world… Here I got toasted, to a crisp!  My legs and back are so red, I didn’t even know my skin could turn this color!  (Mom and dad don’t worry, I got plenty of aloe lotion and strong sunscreen for the rest of the trip!!!).  I can’t sit certain ways, and it hurts to walk.  I have definitely learned my lesson about the New Zealand sun… it is much stronger than in MN. 

            Even though the sunburn was terrible, it may have been a good thing; I was/am in so much pain that I couldn’t think about skydiving which was rescheduled for the following day.  I wasn’t even thinking about the skydiving, at all!  The time came to load the vans to head over to the skydiving place and even on the way there I couldn’t think about it because I was in too much pain riding in the vans.  Once we got there, I got all signed up to jump.  Next thing I know, I hear my name along with Kristen’s name.  We were going to be the first ones to go!!!  We got all geared up (in a jump suit and a harness) and met with our guides.  My guide was “Scruffy”.  He was really cool and chill about the situation, and made me feel very comfortable.  I also met my cameraman, Matt.  He was super excited about the trip, and got me all fired up! 

            As we were walking to the plane, Kristen and I decided I would jump first.  This meant I would be the first skydiver out of the whole entire Pacific Challenge group!  I was scared, but ready for the challenge!  The plane we road in was so small.  With the six of us, it was a very tight fit, with Kristen and I sitting on the laps of our guides.  We continued to fly higher and higher, and the view was spectacular!  I still wasn’t nervous, as all I could think about was the pain of my sunburn.  After getting so high, something hit me on the head.  I turned around to see Scruffy working with an oxygen mask… That made me panic a bit, as I had no idea why I would need that… But I was told not to worry, and eventually we just put them on because we were so high up and it was good to keep the oxygen flow. 

Finally it was time, and the door opened.  That is when it hit me, and I was like “no way, I am NOT doing this!”  I had no choice, Scruffy brought us to the door and hung me over the edge of the plane… I looked down 16,500ft and was scared out of my mind; I could barely see a building, everything was so small.  I felt like as soon as I left that plane, I would drop straight to the ground.  I wasn’t ready, but Scruffy was, and he pushed us out of the plane with Matt right next to us!  I don’t even know what my initial feeling was, I can’t describe it, something I have never felt before.  It was so insane to be so high up in the air.  Surprisingly, it didn’t feel like I was falling at all.  It felt as though I was flying myself, like a bird in the sky.  It was AWESOME.  I was free.  The view was so astonishing, as I could see the ocean, mountains, valleys, and everything in-between.  I wish I could tell you all what it was like, but I can’t.  I don’t think I could ever describe the sensation, the awesomeness of the situation.  Please, if you ever get the chance, try it!  It is the most amazing experience ever!  I am so thankful for being able to do something like this.  The highest skydive in New Zealand, with the best view you could possibly imagine.  I couldn’t ask for anything better!  Once the parachute was pulled, things slowed down a bit, and I began feeling motion sickness from all of the turning we did as we were landing, but it was so worth it.  When I dropped to the ground I had people cheering me on and taking pictures.  It was so great to tell myself “I did it!!!”  I felt so good!  I am so proud of myself, and it makes me think I can do anything!  If I could do it again, I most definitely would!  No doubt in my mind! 

            Now that the skydiving is over, we have more excitement coming our way.  Tonight we had to pack our backpacking packs for a camping trip.  We are leaving Nelson tomorrow morning and heading to Abel Tasman to kayak into a remote island where we will be camping for two nights.  I have been told this is the most beautiful spot on the trip (which seems hard to believe because I have seen so many beautiful sceneries.)  I am so excited for it though.  We kayak for approximately 4-5 hours, and when we reach our destination we are camping on the beach which crystal clear water.  We will be catching fish and finding muscles to cook over the camp stove, and we will have lots of time at the beach and hiking by waterfalls.  I am a little nervous about my sunburn, as this trip will be outside the whole time, but I have lots of sunscreen, so I should be ok.  I am really looking forward to this three-day adventure we have next, and after that is swimming with the wild dolphins. 

            I hope everyone at home is doing wonderful!  I miss you all and love you all!  I will try to get my skydiving video up, but it’s so hard to put pictures/videos on the Internet here because each place with Internet only lets you use a certain amount of megabytes.  I will see what I can do though J 

Getting ready to jump!  Scariest part by far!!! 

The view I had... Amazing! 

Notice the look of terror on my face!!!  haha

BEAUTIFUL.

WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!

The camera man held my hands and spun us around!!  It was great! 

And I was safely back on the ground :)