I did it!
I’ve always wanted to do a skydive and I finally plucked up the courage to do it in Lake Taupo, New Zealand!
Now don’t get me wrong, I was sooo scared and could have quite easily backed out when we arrived but the staff at Taupo Tandem Skydive were so friendly and reassuring that I thought I just need to do this.
I put on my snazzy red jump suit and my harness so I didn’t die and then met my tandem master, Elad! He was amazing and looked after my scared self until we landed – at which point I then told him I loved him!
Getting on the plane, taking off and jumping was less scary than I first anticipated and in fact I was more scared sat on the sofas waiting to get kitted up.
Once on the plane (I was at the front next to the door as I was first to jump) I enjoyed the views and had to sit on Elad’s knee so he could attach me to him. You can really feel the tightness of the harness which is reassuring!
I continued to soak in the stunning views from the plane until I noticed the red light turn to green and the plane door open ready for me to jump out! We moved next to the door and without thinking, the next few words to come out of my mouth were, “shit, fuck, help”! A quick smile for the camera and next minute I was free falling in the air!
It was a surreal moment and it was difficult to take in all the views as at that point you are trying to absorb the fact you are flying! After 30-35 seconds the parachute went up and that point your harness feels a bit looser so I then instinctively told my tandem master not to drop me!
We then turned and looked at all the views and made our way down to landing. I asked him to stop turning as I didn’t like it (it made you turn around really fast I the air) but he told me it would get us down which made me feel better.
Landing was much more comfortable than I first imagined… I thought I would come crashing down on my bum but it’s really smooth and comfortable. My legs were shaking though so it was hard to move from the landing area but I went and sat down and watched everyone else in our group come down (there were 5 of us altogether including Ste!). I thought it would take ages for them all to come down but we all seemed to follow each other in quick succession.
So yeah, despite me being scared of a lot of things, from baked beans to walking across bridges, I managed to jump out of a plane from 12,000 feet!! It was an amazing experience and I’m still buzzing from it – even more so when I looked through all the photos and the video! Definitely one of the best things I’ve ever done. You can watch the video of both mine and Ste’s skydive below!