Another good night’s sleep, so good to be in a quiet room. There was a new occupant in the bunk above me, a Canadian girl from Bamf, Savannah. Her first day of travels, she had come direct from Auckland Airport and planned to travel and work indefinitely. This was her first time away from home and she seemed confident and assured. We chatted for ages which again held up the blog, but which is more important eh?
This morning I woke up refreshed – wall to wall sunshine outside (did I say that yesterday?) and clear blue sky. This was just as well because it was the day of my Skydive!
I had equipped myself with a packet of muesli by this time – which was safely installed on the hostel kitchen shelf with my name on it, so a bowl of this plus a flat white and I was ready for anything. The little group that waited for the skydive minibus appeared to be terrified. They were literally shaking in the jandals! I was fairly ok, just a little nervous, but that’s all good 🙂
Lambs to the slaughter…..
We arrived and I was one of the first three to be kitted out in suit and harness, hat and goggles, and some preliminary instruction. We would be going up in threes, in tandem with an instructor. Without going into too much detail, we climbed to 16,000 feet, way above the clouds and into the stratosphere and we had to wear oxygen masks. I thought, flip me, this is over half the height a passenger jet flies at and we were tightly packed into this tiny little draughty plane with no seats and no door. Hey ho! Eventually we were given the signal… the 5 sign and then out we went one by one…… WOW! My ears were popping a bit with the air pressure but I felt I was flying. We were in freefall for a whole minute and then the parachute opened and we just seemed to hang there, although we were still floating down. I even got to steer the thing by pulling on ropes at either side. It was just like that feeling when an aeroplane tips and turns…. Just AWESOME!!!
I have a dvd and loads of pics on cd but can’t access them at the mo!
Needless to say we landed safely and I can honestly say that was one of the best things I’ve ever done….. another first!
I got back to Paihia late morning and decided just to chill out for the rest of the day. I found myself chatting to a bird artist in the outdoor craft market and we exchanged websites.
The day was still very warm although there was some cloud about which helped keep the heat of the sun at bay. I enjoyed a toasted bagel chicken salad by the beach before wandering back to the hostel to sort out my funds which had greatly diminished after the Skydive!
En route, a voice called out ‘hi Mo’ from an outside bar area near the hostel. Luke and one of the other lads (I think his name was Anton) were enjoying a huge filled roll each and a lager.
I bought a beer and joined them. It was so interesting hearing about their work and travel experiences. One of them hadn’t been home for 3 years after completing his degree. He left with very little money and a work permit, and had found the most amazing jobs with luxury accommodation just through chatting on his travels. I wish I had done this years ago!
Anyway I’m off to check out the spa now……
Another great barbie this evening with a free large glass of red wine…. wayhay!
I noticed Daniel was watching the Grand Prix qualifying circuits and we got chatting about F1 (as you do). He is a keen Schumacher fan but was gobsmacked when I told him my daughter worked for Lotus Renault and wanted to hear all about this in detail. We chatted all evening and vowed we would watch the Indian Grand Prix together in Auckland and both sincerely hoped we would have better luck with the accommodation there this time!
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