Twizel Skydiving!

So the van passed it's WOF (NZ equivalent of an MOT) and away we went, considerably less well off than when we had arrived in Dunedin. Anyway, we didn't let that get us down for too long and we headed out towards a small town called Twizel on the way to Mt Cook. The weather was looking particularly fine; some may have said perfect for skydiving, which is exactly what the skydive instructor Mercier said when we rang to book, except with a slightly more Austrian accent like "Arnie." Two tandem freefalls were promptly booked for the following morning and I spent the rest of the evening wondering why on Earth I'd just agreed to such a thing. At first I put it down to having a pushy girlfriend but in the end realised that actually it seemed like quite an interesting thing to do. So away we went! Jos went first, leaving me on the ground to contemplate my fate in solitude. Fortunately she landed OK which instilled me with a great deal of confidence. With jumpsuit and harness fastened and after having to listen to Mercier make bad jokes about parachutes not opening/ planes crashing etc it was my go. The flight took us up to 12000ft, and after about 30 minutes of awesome views of Lake Pukaki and Mt Cook I got pushed out.

AMAZING. Just do it. If you haven't done it, do it. If you've done it you'll know what I'm on about. After the landing I could bearly walk straight with all the adrenalin flying round my body and brain and stumbled back towards the onlooking Jos whilst laughing hysterically and trying to talk but generally not making much sense.

Unfortunately the cameraman wasn't there that day but I took my camera with me stuffed inside my suit. Got some pics from the plane before jumping and a couple after the chute opened. The freefall however, I just spent shouting and laughing!