Day 22 + 23 - Taupo - Rotarua

We arrived at Taupo airport just outside the main town and left our friends to go to the hostel. We had a short briefing and signed our consent forms and waited nervously around for what seemed forever. Yes today we skydived/Skydove…
We were called through to the prep area and were given our big red jumpsuits stepped into our harnesses and picked out a hat and goggles to protect ourselves from the wind. We were then strapped and tightened by a very strong small man, straps under the legs over the shoulders and around the waist, lifejackets and a big warning sign on the back of us making sure we knew that what we were doing was incredibly dangerous. The prep room was a little hanger where on one side there were staff re packing parachutes and tidying things up and on our side we had all the paraphernalia for jumping. Shoots suits and all manner of lifesaving brica brac. Every 10 minutes or so you could hear a place taking off, landing or flying around. And if you looked up you could usually see some distant skydivers. Very Exciting!

I could make this last forever, and I probably will as Holly will add her two cents too. But bear with me I’m still coming to terms with the fact that I jumped out of a perfectly good plane with a guy strapped to my back.

We walked towards the plane giving the camera lady a little wave and waited our turn to enter the plane. We were introduced to our camera people mine was called Steve, a small looking George Clooney and Holly had a lady. We stepped into the plane and everyone sat backwards except Holly, who was right next to the door facing everyone sitting on the floor. We took off and our little plane fought it’s way up to 12,000 feet, about a 20 minute scenic plane ride. On the way the guys were all joking around switching clips on each others harnesses and goofing around. We were being filmed in the plane too for reaction shots for the video. It was quite difficult to remain composed and to think of something to do while the camera was on you. Holly’s guy kept pointing different things out the window to her, amazing scenery. So once we reached 12,000ft the door opened and the plain violently slowed its speed, this was it!!
Holly was first out with her camera lady hanging onto the outside of the plane getting some more reaction shots, and after the count of 2 she fell out. The plane jumped up after every person left it and I slid my way down to the front and hoisted myself and the man attached to me out to the door of the plane. It is a very strange feeling sat at the edge of a plain that far up knowing your about to jump out, after two I fell out and experienced falling like I’ve never experienced before. Like a roller coaster ride but you have no idea where the track goes. You get butterflies in your stomach but only for a few seconds until you are tapped on the shoulder and you can put your arms out. Eventually we levelled out and posed for the camera man, looking back at the photos he has a grin on his face and I look as though I’ve just fallen out of a plane. It was incredible. Absolutely incredible. We spiralled and twirled around for a few minutes untill we came to a comfortable stop. Holly was the first to jump of the three of us and she was the last one to land. She had a sweet slow ride up there. Her ears were killing her the whole time and they are still plugged. We went into a movie room after and watched our movies and looked at our photos. We had a good laugh at Holly’s, they are pretty terrible. It is an experience we could do again.

It’s fair to say that nothing compared to what we had just done for the rest of the day. We spent the night hanging out and eventually slumped off to bed when the adrenaline subsided. We’ve got an easy day tomorrow heading up to Rotarua.

Kia Ora Friends,

David & Holly


Air Poo: A term used for a fart/fluffy/toot
It's a hard way to learn not to pass gas on the bus when you squeeze a little one out and you hear the bus driver shout over the speaker system "someone's done an air poo!!"