If we never have to hear the sound of that phone alarm ringing in our ears again it will be too soon. We peered outside only to be welcomed by bloody clouds again. Perhaps the sky diving school had different ideas on what was cloudy and what wasn’t? We didn’t know, so we called the 0800 number anyway to see if we could confirm our seats on the one way ticket to 15,000 feet!

Our new friend!

Arse, we had been postponed until 12:30 again. What to do now? We went for a walk along the lakeside. Lake Wanaka is supposed to be quite a scenic part of the south island but we didn’t get the impression we thought we would. It was pretty grey and cold, but at least it wasn’t windy. As we wandered up the path we admired the calm, undisturbed water and slowly found our way next to it. Before long Alex had seen an excellent stone for skimming across the surface and managed so many skims we lost count. Alex tried to teach the technique to Claire but after fifteen minutes we gave up and walked back with a new companion. A dog had seen us playing and wanted to join in; no owner to be seen and we like to play so a game of ‘Throw a Stick and Retrieve and Throw Another Stick so They Drop the First Stick’ commenced.

Waiting to see if the clouds would ever go away!

Lunch was a couple of Kiwi fruits for Alex as he was trying to keep the weight down for the possible dive, as Claire snacked onto some crisps. Our nerves were a bit on edge because the clouds were starting to break up and the call needed to be made in half an hour. The call was made, but they didn’t answer. Were they trying to make us more nervous than we had already made ourselves? It didn’t matter, Claire needed the loo while Alex waited by the phone patiently. He called again……… It was on!

Gulp, this is really happening! No excuses now!

We made the short drive to Wanaka Airport and found the “Sky Diving Lake Wanaka” office building; we entered and approached the desk. We booked in with the lady on reception and made our way into the video room for a quick 5 minute video brief on the do’s and don’ts plus information on the film and photo options on offer. During this time we filled in the paperwork and chose our soundtracks to accompany our Sky diving films, all the time wondering why they had not weighed Alex as he is clearly boarder line?!?

Small aircraft have a bad saftey record!

As we handed in our forms, it was time to be weighed. Oh no, will it all come to nothing? Was it going to be another wasted journey? Alex weighed in at 99.6 Kgs and Claire luckily just made it with her weight to. There was no turning back now, or we would have to forfeit our deposit.  It still hadn’t sunk into our minds and it didn’t seem real. This was actually happening! We didn’t fully believe it till we were suited up in our jumpsuits, harnesses fitted and we were heading to the plane with our underpants firmly wedged. We were followed by our jumpmasters and cameramen, as we had both paid for a DVD and photo package, as proof to show everyone on our return.

Earwig O!

So into the plane we climbed and quick as a flash we had taken off and were in the air. Oh my goodness, we were about to throw ourselves out of a plane that at least appeared to be in perfectly good working order. Had we thought this through? The view from the plane was amazing and you could see so much, Lake Wanaka, Mount Cook, Mount Aspiring and national park, and so many other lakes, mountains, rivers and beautiful scenery. You can see why people have recommended us to sky dive here. We were quiet nervous but excited, as the dive masters did their best to keep us calm and distracted. Claire’s dive master was a right joker, saying how he had never skydived before and then went on to say that he hadn’t had any broken legs for a few days, just what you want to hear.

Mc Nuggets Away!!!!

When they told us we had reached 3000 feet, we didn’t believe them as it already felt so much higher, and we still had to go another 12000ft! They did a good job of informing us of what we could see out the windows and letting us know the progress of our ascent. During this time they also give us our additional gear to wear including gloves, hat and goggles and of course the most important part connecting themselves to us! By this stage there were about six million butterflies flying around in our stomachs.

Ground, here I come at 200kmph!

Two other jumpers were about to exit the plane first as they were only doing a 12,000ft dive. At this time we were provided with oxygen masks as a requirement if going up to the massive 15,000ft. It can get a bit disorientating and make you light headed with the air being so thin. The oxygen kept us alert and we both felt fine.

To Claire's Mum and Dad, sorry, it was all Alex's idea! This one's Claire!

The moment had come, 15,000ft had been reached, and Alex was first to go! His cameraman was already perched out of the plane and all eyes were on Alex! He slid along the bench seat and was asked to place both legs out of the plane. Holding onto his harness with dear life he stuck out his legs, he was now suspended in the air, only Mac, his best buddy in the world at that time, was attached to him. Behind him was Claire, eagerly looking at what was going on, but not really concerned with Alex’s wellbeing because it was all happening so fast. Then it was only Claire left! Where had Alex gone, he was there a second ago!

To Alex's Mum and Dad, you knew this day would come!

Before she knew it, Claire was sliding forward. Where was her cameraman? Was he already outside? Apparently! Claire was now a lemming, reporting for duty! As she poked her legs out of the plane the wind took her completely off guard, it was seriously cold and before she knew it she was tumbling outside in the 15,000 feet arena.  By this stage Alex had been tapped on the shoulder which meant he could free his hands and was probably about half way through his sixty second drop and would have reached maximum velocity, which is 200Kmph or 60 metres per second.

All I want is a little space around me!

Claire got the same tap on her shoulder and intended to set her arms free into the fast, ice cold breeze; however her arms involuntarily kept hold of the harness as she was frozen into position, almost scared to move. Suddenly there was a second tap to encourage her to release her hands and she did. Alex was in full swing with his mouth wide open, screaming and shouting all sorts of curses and realising that 200Kmph gives your mouth frostbite. His cameraman was dancing in the air around him and coming in for close ups, but all he got was Alex’s mouth moving at 200Kmph incoherently!

The view was breath-taking!

The only way to describe the view is to get you to imagine looking out of a jumbo jet window down to the ground and zoom in about halfway then add a panoramic wide angle. Except you are pumped full of a natural high! Absolutely first class!

Time to slow things down a bit!

The air was smashing fast into Claire’s face with ferocity while she was free falling. She was finding it hard to smile and make any sort of real facial pose for the camera. The wind was so strong, that it kept her body in the free fall position. Everything was happening so fast, and Claire was trying to absorb all the surroundings while looking at the camera and trying to act cool. All this was going on while Alex was about to be Chuted, and Chuted he was. The sudden tug at the inner-thigh was actually a relief, mainly because it missed the family jewels! To be honest, it has nothing to do with size; family jewels are always safe with ‘Sky-dive Lake Wanaka’!

Safe landing!

Mac, the man, showed Alex exactly where Claire was, about 1,000 feet above! Alex waved but it was all in vein! Claire was high! All of a sudden, Alex started spinning, round and round and round! Claire was also ‘Chuted’ and was relieved that it worked and she could now enjoy a slower pace of scenic viewing, she was blissfully looking around when suddenly she also started spinning. This spinning made Claire feel a bit nauseous but she put it to the back of her mind and enjoyed the rest of the ride down.

The Snugs, together again!

Landing was far easier than you could have imagined! The instructions given to us were, to just stick out your legs straight in front of you and feel your arse slide on the smooth green grass! No awkward landing and tumbling just refined and delicately glided onto the green grass. We collected our DVD’s and watched them on the TV they provide for customers; we look mental and Alex looks particularly chubby in his jump suit.

Turned out to be a lovely day!

With the adrenaline still flowing through our veins we went back to the campsite and felt a big weight had been lifted off our shoulders. We do not expect we will do a sky dive again in a hurry if ever! What will our parents say? Only time will tell! The rest of the day was slightly less action packed than the first half, we talked and chuckled about what had gone on and hit the pillow late after a few glasses of wine. We deserved a lay-in in the morning!