Taupo

After taking planes, trains and automobiles, I decided it was time to try my hand (fnar, fnar) at hitching. I hiked down the main drag exiting Rotorua and within about 2 minutes of sticking my thumb in the air I was sitting in a comfy 4x4 hurtling towards Taupo. The guy who gave me the lift was responsible for health and safety at the local logging company. He told me it was all a load of bullshit and that the loggers should know how to look after themselves without him having to tell them...

Taupo is famous for 2 things: Trout and Skydiving. An incongruous combination.

Yes, lake Taupo has more Brown & Rainbow trout than any other lake in the world and due to some reason unbeknownst to me, Taupo is THE place to skydive in NZ, if not the world.

So folks as you can probably guess, I wasn't to be denied my chance of jumping out of a fully functional plane. So I signed up - it is the first form to the best of my knowledge which right after your name, wants to know the name, address and telephone number of your next of kin - very reassuring. There was the choice of 8000, 12000 or 15000ft and of course those of you who claim to know me, will have correctly assumed that I went straight to 15000ft. We arrived at the aerodrome, donned our sexy jumpsuits (so that's where the word originated...), stuck an industrial strength harness on and jumped onto the tiny plane with our tandem instructor. The journey up was uneventful, except for the fact that you could see a look of wild panic in some faces and a general air of "what the f**k am I doing here" hung heavily in the unpressurised cabin.

The first group bailed out @ 12000ft and that was a shock in itself - seeing people being sucked out of the plane like a tissue into a vacuum cleaner. Most of the instructors did some kind of backflip, triple axle exit which made the rest of us left on the plane look at each other and smile faintly. 5 minutes later and we were up to 15000ft, the green light above the door started to flash and before I could blink the first people were being jettisoned out the door. I was paddy last, we knelt down in front of the door, turned around for our last "exit photo" (the one the next of kin gets posted when your air exit turns into a speedy ground entrance) and even before the weak smile had left my face I was doing a double front flip, thundering towards the ground at approximately 200kmh with a small Bostonian strapped to my back.

It was amazing. Incredible. Just unbelievable. Think the wildest rollercoaster ride of your life, multiply by 4000 and you still aren't close. You can't even hear yourself scream as the air rushing into your lungs at 200kmh makes it rather difficult to make any sound. 50 seconds later and the freefall was over and my instructor pulled the cord and it felt like we shot back up (obviously impossible considering laws of gravity etc.). Way below us we could see lake Taupo glistening and some of the volcanoes in the distance. 2 minutes later and the instructor had enough confidence (or was mad enough) to let me steer the parachute. So I started doing all sorts of rolls and spins and was then promptly removed from control by a rather unnerved yank. We landed safely, on my bum, which was a rather ignominious end to my trip, but the smile didn't leave my face until about 8 hours after.

Do it again? Most definitely.