The Sky Dive

After the rain and complete cloud cover of the previous day, we woke the morning of the jump to clear sky`s and the rising sunshine. Once again we had perfect weather just when we needed it, so jammy. After we filled out all the obligatory `there is a risk of serious injury or death` forms and watched some previous jumps in the waiting area, it quietly dawned on me I was about to fall from a flying tin can then hopefully float down to the floor attached to MC Hammers trousers.

Five minutes later we were suited up and given the opportunity to write something on the palms of our hands to show the camera on the way down, John went for `Hi Mum, Teb for `Arh yeh` (a popular phrase in NZ). I went for ` Will it open?` which in retrospect, might not have been that funny...

After a quick ride to the airstrip we crammed into a tiny purpose built skydiving plane and spiraled our way to 15,000 ft. There were 9 of us in total, us three, our new best mates who we were strapped on to, and three camera men taking photos and filming us individually, which was sweet. The green light came on, it was time to jump!

As you jump out the plane you just spin and you have no idea where the hell you are, and its a weird sensation, then you level out and get the tap from the instructor to let you know that you can let go and start to pretend your flying! The free fall was over minute long and was amazing, then the chute gets released at around 6000 ft.

When the chute was released it was a massive jolt on the whole body, and my head felt like it exploded. The pressure was immense, it took me a little while to focus on what was around me. Beneath us was the huge lake Taupo, surrounded by snow caped mountains on one side and the town on the other. We floated back to the landing zone, right behind the company building, for a perfect landing.

One of the girls from the office came out quickly to greet us.

"Are you guys alright?" she asks, Juddy the instructor says

_{"Yeah fine, I didn`t tell him."}

_{"You didn`t tell him!?!"}

_{I`m like didn`t tell me what? She points to the rope handles on the floor, "They`re from your first parachute, it failed and you had to ditch it, you came down on the reserve!"}

_{Flipping heck, I laughed. Writing "Will it open?" on my hands maybe wasn`t a great thing to do!}