Sky dive in Franz Josef with some Photos

Well as the title suggests I did a sky dive. I'm on the west coast of the South Island. I'm near the Franz Josef Glacier. This is the best spot (apparently) to do a sky dive. I've been working myself up to doing one for the last few weeks. Out of the bus load of people (about 45) only two of us were going to do it. I'm glad the booking was for the day after we arrived in Franz Josef as I had a horrific hangover when we arrived (from the poo party).

I was picked up outside the hostel around 1ish. It was only me from the bus to be picked up as the other dude was doing his in the morning. There was four others in the car as we headed up the road to the Fox Glacier. We would be diving over the Fox rather than Franz Josef Glacier.

As there was five of us and i was last in the car I was jumping last. Usually two tandems go up in the plane and therefore i was jumping with the guide on my own....... I got kitted out in a lovely jump suit and fitted into a harness. I was starting to get pretty scarred as I was finally realising that there was no way back now. I watched and waited for about an hour as the other two couples got into a tiny plane and took off. You could see their parachutes in the distance. The guides spin you around in the parachute and this was said to make even the strongest stomachs quite sick. I made sure I told my guided (an oldish guy named rod) that i didn't want to do anything like that!!!!!! I had to sign a waiver and the waiver started along the lines of "even though parachutes are packed by trained professionals, parachutes sometimes fail to open or brake mid flight...." Jesus. What was i doing????

After i browsed the posters for the flying doctor, instructions for how to fall through clouds, etc etc...the time finally came to get in the plane. Rod got in first and i had to sit in his crotch at the back of the plane whilst he strapped me to him. I was asking myself why the hell was i doing this??? We took off and as the plane was so small i could see out of the large window/door. As we got higher and higher i started to hold on to the hand rails and started to take deep breaths. The plane flight alone was pretty terrifying and rod was talking to me and trying to calm me down.

We flew up past some clouds to be presented with a view of the glacier. It was absolutely spectacular. Really amazing. We then got a really good view of the top of mount Cook and Mount Tasman. I couldn't really make out anything on the ground (although I was looking though half shut eyes). The time was approaching to jump. We finally reached 12,400 feet. Rod said that we flew higher than Mount cook. Rod pushed me forward and opened the door. I felt panic come over me as I knew that i was going to have to be the first out of the plane. The wind was blowing in, making it really difficult to breathe. I slowly stepped out whilst holding onto the bar above the door. I let my feet go and dangle below the foot rest At this point i dared not to look down and was holding on for dear life!!!

Rod then pulled my hands down and i dropped and was dangling off of Rod. I was panicking and trying not to look down at all. I felt really helpless and in the control of Rod. He then tried to get me to look at the mounted camera on the underside of the wing. At this point i couldn't move.

I listened to Rod say "here we go" and we rolled out of the plane. I saw the plane fly away above us and felt the sheer force of the wind. I was supposed to be doing the Banana (hips down and feet and head back) but i couldn't breathe. When i opened my mouth it felt like it was going to rip from the force of the wind. We were dropping at 120 miles per hour for 45 seconds. It felt like 2 seconds.... Rod later said that he felt me squirming and panicking. He was really good and tried to pull my hands up.

I final put my head back and could breathe through my nose. I relaxed and looked down. It didn't feel like you were falling or that you were up high at all. It just felt surreal as your vision was just fall of landscape, nothing like I've ever seen. I then felt a smallish pull and everything went quiet. I could hear rod and i looked down again. The river was like a silver stream and we were facing out to sea. I then had to pull my legs up so that my straps could be pulled under my legs. I was now sitting in the parachute and was able to relax and take in the views. It was an amazing experience. We were in a huge valley, with the Southern alps on both sides, the silver river running through the middle and the sea out west.

I started to chat to Rod and he was giving me some information about the landscape. It felt like we were floating. It was a bizarre feeling and it didn't feel like we were getting any closer to the ground. We practiced the landing. Basically we where going to land on our bums and so I practiced lifting my legs up (not that easy in a harness).

I never fully relaxed throughout the experience as I was worried that i would fall out of the harness. I just couldn't get past that fear.

I could feel the speed of the decent now and the ground was coming up fast. Real fast. I could make out the sheep on the farm below. I had the feeling that we were going to really hit the ground with a huge bump. We then pulled our legs up and landed. It was a really soft landing. Phew. I have never been so relieved in all my life!!!!! Rod unattached me from him and he said I could stand up. I found my feet and was quite shaky. My hands were going and I felt light on my feet. I sat in the car and i apologised for being a wimp. Rod laughed and said i was fine.

Apparently he does about 7 jumps a day and they start from 6 in the morning!!! I said he was barmy for doing it and he laughed. I had the shakes for the next few hours!!! I can't quite believe i have done it. I didn't have anyone forcing me into it and i did it completely on my own back. I just could have easily not put my name down on the booking sheet.

Its either one of the bravest things i have done, or the stupidest.

You hear the sound of the plane every so often, taking more people up the mountain for a dive. It reminds me of the experience and I thank god that I came out of it in one piece.

Westport and the Poo bar

Lake Nelson
Lake Nelson
Lake Nelson Me all dressed up
The boat
On the boat headed to the river One of the many water falls that fed into the river Sit down fool...
On the river
ride back to the van
West coast
West coast
West coast

Road carved into the side of the mountain
West coast

West coast
West coast Cove
Blow hole
Punakaiki
west coast
Pancake rocks
Pancake rocks
Pancake rocks

My boobs
Me avec tarty dress

lame

Well today was an interesting day indeed....

We started off en-route to Westport. The drive was really scenic and the road we took took us through the mountains and around some of the Nelson Lakes. We stopped off to buy provisions for a picnic lunch. We stopped for the picnic by Lake Nelson. It was a beautifully sunny day and it was really good just sitting there absorbing the scenery!!! We then made our way straight through to Westport. Westport is a small town with a main street that has a few pubs, stores etc on it. I booked myself to have a go on the river boat the next day!!

The river boat is a speed boat that takes you cruising up the buller river. During floods the river's volume is second only (in the southern hemisphere) to the Amazon. As we are in Autumn here, the river wasn't too high which made for a really interesting boat trip. We got into our wetsuits and jumped on board. The boat was then towed by a tractor through a farm to the river. We must have looked a sight!!! The boast had heated handles that kept you warm, as even though it was sunny and warm the speed of the boat made it quite chilly. The boat isn't a conventional boat, but has two engines attached to pumps that suck water in and jet it back out again, thus pushing the boat along. This technique means that the boat can travel down parts of the river that are only 10 cms deep!!!!!

The boat was cruising at nearly 60 mph, and at some points it was difficult to breathe easily!!! The driver ripped up the river and was giving it some by basically driving into the sides of the valley and then turning away at the last minute. He also would apply the breaks. The breaks were basically two "buckets" that were lowered over the jets - this stopped the boat in its tracks!! When the breaks were applied the whole boat was showered in water!!!! The driver then started to spin the boat. He would apply the breaks and spin the boat 360 degrees in less than 2 seconds. It was pretty amazing. I didn't feel sick once!!! (major achievement). We finally got back to the spot we started from and had to climb out of the boat and over a huge mountain like pile of unstable rocks to get into the van that was waiting for us. Was is it with these activities - either getting from or to the activity is always worse than the activity itself!!! A girl smashed up her leg on the rocks....

We then headed towards Lake Manipuhua (i think that's how its spelt???). The drive took us through a simply breathtaking road that is rated among the top 10 drives in the world!!! We are driving along the coast part way up the mountains with beaches and crashing waves on one side and beautiful rain forest covered mountains on the other! Brilliant. The road was so narrow and windy that we were driving on the wrong side of the road for long parts of the drive!!! We stopped for a number of pictures and the weather outside was perfect. We were lucky really as the west coast is also known as the wet coast (as two in every three days it rains here apparently!!!)

We then stopped for lunch at a spot called pancake rocks (for obvious reasons). This was a lovely little spot and the waves and caves were amazing. There were also blow holes - which i tried to capture on film.

After a brilliant lunch we headed onto the Lake. We were staying at an 84 year old's lodgings that only the KIWI bus is allowed to stay at. Les (the 84 year old) is still very much the owner and manager. We heard stories from our bus driver about Les taking no crap so we just had to smile and laugh. It was difficult to understand him and he looked like a small elf. He cooked our stake dinner (for all 94 of us!!). He was also up and about at the bar at 2 in the morning - amazing. Not sure I'll be that active when I'm his age. Anyways getting back to earlier.... our next stop was in a small town so that we could buy some fancy dress for the party Les hosts every night. (KIWI buses run every day of the year!!!).

The theme was a choice of "bad taste" or "P". After much debate i was going to be a prostitute!!! Not sure why i chose this but all the other P's i could think of sounded pretty lame and there were prizes at stake here people (really good ones, e.g. bungee jumps, canyons swings, sky dive packages etc). We had just over an hour to buy our costume and we stopped off at the salvo second hand shop. I browsed the racks and found myself a black lacy bra, bright pink tight top, long black shirt (that i cut down to a suitable hooker length), and a matching handbag. The whole lot only cost 6 dollars - or 2 quid to us Brits!!!. I then practically ran (in a Challenge Anika fashion) to the kids store where I found a lovely Blonde Afro wig. That in the bag i headed to the ladies shop and bought some thigh length black tights! My last stop was at the 2 dollar shop to buy some make-up to finish off the outfit. Costume sorted i made my way to the stinking hot bus.

We arrived at Les' place and I settled my nerves with some beer. I had two jugs in the space of an hour and was already drunk before 6pm. We then had a steak dinner courtesy of Les and and headed off to get ready. At this point I was having second thoughts, but decided what the hell. I got dressed but needed to go to the loo, so I ran to the loo in my boxers and wig/make-up. Needless to say I encountered a number of people on route who had a good old laugh (more of this to come....)

I finally finished putting on my outfit and made my way into the bar. Pretty much everyone was looking and laughing and people were asking to take photo's right, left and centre!!! I had filled my bra with water balloons and got quite a few questions about them. Some people had a bit too long a feel for my liking!!! I continued to drink the night away. The only hick-up was that i dropped my camera and it now will not work!!! Absolutely gutted. Without sounding like a big head I was definitely one of the best dressed there. In their faces, fools.

I had a really good time and was in bed at 3.30 ready to get up at 6!!!! They didn't announce any winners that night nor the day after and I think the whole "prizes" thing was a big con. I'm gonna have to write a strongly worded letter of complaint.

Needless to say I had the hangover from hell the next day. Horrific hangover....

Nelson

View from the ferry

View from the ferry

View from the ferry

View from the ferry

View from the Ferry

View from the Ferry

Centre of NZ
Centre of NZ
View inland from the centre of NZ
View of the city from the centre of NZ
View towards the sea from the centre of New Zealand

Tide was nearly 5 metres high and the jetty was totally submerged! - We had to climb into the water taxi.
View from the water taxi
Water taxi was populated with Kiwis Water taxi continuing it's journey

The following are pictures taken of Abel Tasmin National Park

We left the North Island early in order to catch the ferry. It takes three hours to cross the Cook Strait and the ferry was pretty huge. They had a few cinemas on board and a few places to eat. It was pretty easy sailing and the views again was pretty spectacular. We boarded the bus mid afternoon and headed towards Nelson. I am staying a few extra nights here as Nelson is the gateway to the Abel Tasmin National Park. It is supposed to be one of the best spots in New Zealand. I booked myself for a walk the next day.

That evening I walked up the hill behind the hostel to the centre of New Zealand. The sun was setting and the views of Nelson were pretty special. Some people were sitting up there having dinner and it really did seem the ideal spot to spend the evening!

The next day we left at 7 in the morning for our walk of the park. It was hard work getting up that early as we had had a few early mornings before hand....

The day started with a coach ride to the edge of the park. We then got a water taxi to the start of the trail we were doing. The water taxi was good fun and we were speeding through the water and it was fairly bumpy going....

The walk takes about 5 hours and we end up at the coach stop. I learnt my lesson (finally) and wore my attractive sandals. Glad i did as from the get go it was pretty steep going. The weather was absolutely lovely and there wasn't a cloud in the sky!!! The track was carved out of the mountainside and so we were walking mostly in the shade of the surrounding forest of pine and fern trees. The track followed the coast and so every view had the sea in it!!! The sea changed colour from a bright green to a dark blue, depending on the tide and what was at the bottom of the sea. It was beautiful. So glad I got up early for the trip. I can see why its one (if not the best) walks in New Zealand.

Every so often you just had to stop to take a few pictures. I was doing the walk with someone from the bus and so we were chatting all the way along. We stopped after a while for lunch and the spot we picked was a beautiful beach. The sea was green and the sand golden. Kayakers were paddling around the coast and all was right with the world. We did the walk in around 4 hours and it was one of the best days yet. I was pretty knackered that night!!!!!