We truly have packed the most epic outdoor activities into one short week on the North Island. After sea kayaking, surfing Raglan, caving/abseiling, white water rafting, and hiking....Danielle & I undertook one of the best experiences of our lives! We went skydiving in Lake Taupo @ 15,000 feet. When we booked our stop over in NZ, right away I said that the one thing that I was going to do while I was here was to skydive because it was cheaper than Australia and the views are just spectacular. Our whole trip I have been waiting for the day to come and when it finally did arrive, I was so ready to jump out of that plane. We left Rotorua around 12:30, almost not getting onto the bus because of a few errors in our online booking, but once we got that all figured out, we were on the bus and headed for Taupo for a few nights and to do some skydiving. Danielle and I were semi-excited on the bus, just thinking about it, but I don't think it really actually set in until we were in the limo that picked us up from the hostel to go skydiving. I don't know if the limo ride made people more nervous or excited for the jump. With nine people in a car, all heading to go skydiving, knowing that within the next hour we will all have to jump out of a plane, there were a lot of nerves and emotions there. Andrew, Danny, Tom and Mark all decided to go skydiving as well and we all kept doing the hand check to see who's hand was the most unsteady. We were all pretty good at concealing how we were feeling. The guys actually admitted being a bit nervous and even considered backing out for a split second. I'd say that Danielle and I were pretty calm until we had to choose what height we were going to jump from. Then Danielle started to break down a bit. Her nerves were increasing and she started to feel nauseous, which Andrew thought would be cured with chocolate. Believe it or not, this time chocolate would not solve it! After some deep breathing and calming words from her friends, Danielle relaxed a bit and was ready to go. Initially, trying to save money, we planned on only doing the 12,000 ft. jump...but Danielle was an easy target to be sucked into doing te big jump, AND getting the DVD of it all. Not to be outdone, I joined Dan up there at 15,000 feet in the little pink airplane. Of course we were the lucky ones that got to go first out of our group, so we got all decked out in our coveralls, harnesses and snazzy flying caps, practiced the flying banana and were ready to go. Up we went in the airplane to over 15,000 ft. and then our tandem partners and then it was time to jump. When I was told to put my feet out of the plane, I was thinking "are you kidding me?!", but nothing was stopping me. I can't even describe the feeling of the free-fall from the plane. It's something that can only be experienced to be understood. Oh my gosh! Seriously - one of the coolest things either of us have ever done. Absolutely incredible! Insane, but serene, as we sailed down in tandem-mode. And yes, our parachutes DID open (Thank you Lord)...and Dan may have thrown out a swear as we dove down...forgetting that it was all on DVD waiting to be seen by her mom & dad at home. Oh dear! No regrets. Once we made it safely to ground, we were both on a high, not able to wipe the smiles off our faces and eager to try it again. It's such an exhilarating and addictive thing to experience! Definitely was well worth the money and hopefully if you are lucky, Danielle will let you watch her DVD to give you a better idea of what we are talking about.
Jod & Dan
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