Skydive at Taupo

Travelling through New Zealand in May is definitely not the best time, reasons centrally revolving around inescapable facts such as it being winter and the weather being cloudy and cold. Except, we seemed to have had a halo of blue skies and sunshine follow our orange bus, and the drive from Rotorua to Taupo was no exception. Since the forecast was changeable, we were given hours to prepare for our skydive; a good thing instead of letting the anticipation build up too much - better to book and jump!

We were all kitted out with the blue jumpsuits, harnesses and of course an instructor complete with parachute, and we were off 12,000 feet above the gargantuan Lake Taupo, apparently the size of Singapore. The plane ride of fifteen minutes really gets the adrenaline going, but the most difficult part is looking over the edge of the plane's exit, seeing the Tasman Sea on one side, the Pacific on the other, and jumping out. After that, well it's all gravy - just try your best to take in the scenery and enjoy hurtling towards the ground at 200km/h. We all sat in the cinema room watching each others' videos and having a laugh at our weird phrases we came out with and silly facial expressions. What a day - if any of you are planning or are in New Zealand at the moment, don't leave this fantastic country without doing a skydive.