10th November 2009
After yesterday’s disappointing weather which prevented us from doing the Alpine crossing we woke up this morning to a glorious day - typical!
I’d been thinking about doing a skydive for a while - something which had been brought back to the surface again after chatting to a guy in Hamilton a couple of days ago who had done one in Taupo. He raved about how great it had been, and it turns out that Taupo is one of the cheapest places you can do it. And we just so happened to be passing that way this morning. I’d already decided which of the three operators to go with, so we called in there about 10:10 this morning, to find that they had some slots free on the 10:30 flight. There were two drop heights available - 12,000 feet or 15,000 feet. Someone we met on the rafting day yesterday had recommended doing the 15,000 foot one as you get an extra 15 seconds or so of freefall, so that’s the one I opted for. With the decision made it was off to get kitted up, meet the guy who was going to be my tandem and board the plane.
There were about 12 of us squeezed into the little plane which was a very cozy fit, and then we took off and made the 15 minute climb to 12,000 feet where the first jumpers were going from. This gave us chance to see what was going to be happening soon to the rest of us as we saw them drop away off the side of the plane. Once they’d all jumped, the door was shut again and we continued climbing up to 15,000 feet and the door was once again reopened.
This time it was my turn! I was positioned over the edge of the door, with the camera guy hanging on to the outside of the plane, and then it was Ready - Steady - Jump! The camera guy fell away first with us close behind. I was expecting the sinking pit of the stomach feeling like when you do a big drop on a roller coaster, but I didn’t experience that at all. The first feelings were of the coldness (it was about -10 celsius at that altitude) and the noise and speed of the wind. Within a few seconds of dropping I was able to release my hands from the straps and feel the true “sky-diving” sensation. It was amazing!
On the way up in the plane the views out the windows over Lake Taupo and beyond were stunning, but I wasn’t paying too much attention to them now we were falling! There was a fair bit of interaction with the camera guy who was manoeuvring around us. All too soon we had reached 5000 feet and the cord was pulled and the parachute opened. The change was amazing. From deafening noise of the wind, to gentle serene descent within a matter of seconds. Now you could see the view a bit easier!
The descent from here to ground level did not take very long, but on the way down I was able to try the parachute and see how it was steered around. Then it was legs up ready for the landing. All over very quick but an amazing experience - one I would like to repeat again at some point in the future!
Here’s the full video of the skydive, complete with promotional trailers at the beginning and end - unfortunately I have no way of removing them here…
Once back on solid ground we headed into Taupo for some lunch at The Jolly Good Fellows, a recommendation from Trystan in Auckland. It’s owned by a guy from Abergavenny of all places, he wasn’t about, but we enjoyed a couple of nice British pints overlooking the lake with the mountains of the Tongariro Park in the background, well earned in some cases.
It was then on to Rotorua, where we are exploring for the next couple of days. On the way we stopped at Huka Falls, which are the largest falls on the Waikato River, the only river to flow out of Lake Taupo which is fed by five rivers in total. It is also apparently the most visited natural attraction in New Zealand, and it’s easy to see why, thousands of gallons of crystal clear lake water being squeezed through a 20 metre wide gorge and over a 20m drop. Every second up to 220,000 litres of water gushes through the gorge and shoots out over 8 metres beyond to create a beautiful blue/green pool.
The name Huka is the Maori word for ‘foam’, which is appropriate as the falling water and rapids certainly resembles foam, we did wonder about white water rafting it after our experiences yesterday, but when we saw the undercurrents and swirls at the end, decided that no-one probably has.
We then made our way a bit further down the road to a place called the Honey Hive. This was everything and anything to do with honey, from candles to mead and of course honey - tastings galore, topped off with a honey ice-cream. You even got to see the bees in action with a glass fronted hive.
Tonights accommodation is a lovely lakestay about 10 minutes outside of Rotorua and away from the famous sulphur smell of the thermal pools. A lovely place with views over the lake from the garden.