13,000 ft Above Gorgeous

Nelson, NZ. Our destination for Wednesday night,. After unloading our stuff and getting roomed with the most ridiculous people ever [in a good way of course] we met in the tv lounge of our hostel to talk about tomorrow's activity: SKYDIVING! We signed our lives away and it was set. Tomorrow was the day. We would put on a jumpsuit, strap on a harness, and jump from a plane, flying through the clouds above one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world.

7:30 am. Pick up time. Everyone else in my room had gotten up for a 6 am pick-up, so an hour and a half later, it was just me getting ready and mentally prepared for what would be happening in the nest few hours. Loaded into a caravan, that resembled the CVNZ one, we drove off to Abel Tasman Skydiving, in Nelson, NZ where we would "Jump the Five," mountains, two national parks, Motueka River, golden Beaches and oceans.

Just as I got there, I saw some of the group from 6 am raving about how unreal of an experience it was. After the first group from my time went, my name was called and it was my turn to get geared up and meet my tandem skydiving partner [clearly I was not doing this alone]. Jumpsuit. Harness. Hat. Goggles. Gloves. Ready to go. I finished getting ready as I watched a few guys packing chutes behind me. Makes you feel good when you actually see the person packing it. I crossed my fingers and hoped he did it right.

I headed out to the front lawn to watch the first group jump. You could barely see them as they jumped and it just kept getting me more and more excited about what I would be doing as soon as they landed. After their feet hit the ground, a camera-guy ran over to me.

"Are you Becky?!" he asked with an intense amount of enthusiasm.
"Yeah, that's me!"
"Sweet as, come with me."

He started filming me and asking me what I was doing, what I was thinking, and if I had any comments for my friends and family back home. Go big or go home just popped into my head so I said it. With that I met my tandem partner. He introduced himself, checked my harness, and gave me the 411 about what to expect when jumping and how to do it. With that, it was time. With a camera following my every move, I hopped onto the plane and we were off.

There were three jumpers, three tandem partners, and two camera-guys crammed into this little plane. Nice and cozy. The ride was amazing: a 20-minute flight up and up and up above that which is amazing NZ. Every so often, my tandem partner would strap up part of my harness to his and show me his altimeter to show me how far up we were: 2,000 feet, 5,000 feet, 7,000 feet, 11,000 feet, 12,000 feet.

"Strap your hat on. We are getting ready!"

ON went my extremely stylish hat/helmet thing. At 13,000 feet, the door of the plane opened to the right of me. I was first. My camera-guy was first. He hopped onto the bar outside the plane to film my jump. Then out went my feet. My butt. Then my entire body was hanging out of the plane, as my tandem, [partner sat on the edge holding us up. One rock. Two rock. And we were out.

It was unbelievable. A few flips at first and then 50 seconds of free-fall. I kept putting my head down because all I wanted to do was see the amazing landscape below me. You could see it all. No wonder they call it jumping the five. Every so often my tandem partner would lift my head up for the camera so I could get pics while in the air. After 50 seconds, the chute was pulled and the camera-guy became a little dot. With that, I had five minutes of parachute falling and then we were going in to land. And just as soon as it started, it was done. Once again the adrenaline was pumping. It's funny though, I can't really compare it to bungy jumping. They are so different, but both outstanding and I cannot wait until I get to do it again.

After leaving the skydiving place, we headed back to the hostel just to get picked up right away for our next activity: QUAD BIKING!! We headed over to Happy Valley, where I sat on a quad, driving for the first time ever! It was awesome. I found that out I am a bit of a speed junkie, which made riding a whole lot more fun and Zane, who was my riding partner, had just that same amount of fun.

With that, Thursday was over and so was our tour of NZ's south island. We woke up this morning ready to take on the north island, our last week on the ISV adventure tour and our last week of ISV all together. We sat in the bar of the Interislander, the NZ ferry in between islands, watching a hockey game, and getting ourselves stoked for what this next week would bring. National museums, white-water rafting, zorbing, black-water rafting, glow worm caves, Maori ceremonies, and a final week of memories with my new friends.