Free Falling

Where Rotorua is the land of Mordor (in Lord of the Rings terms), the route to Taupo takes you towards mount Doom. The scenery is almost distracting in its beauty, and despite wanting to catch up on some sleep i couldn´t bring myself to miss any of the surroundings. we stopped to wander through Wai-O-Tapu (sacred waters)´thermal wonderland´ where the most obscure and ´unnatural´ colours (not to mention smells) greeted you as you walked along the paths.

Almost luminous orange rocks, lime green stone, and even a small pea green coloured lake, aptly named ´the devils bath´. Almost like landing on some unkown planet where the landscape is not quite what you are familiar with, and somehow felt foreign and fantastic. Despite this, it was nice to leave the slightly sickening smells behind as we boarded the bus to travel onwards and downwards to the Huka falls, which were spurting out water at an impressive rate!

i didnt get too long to take the falls in properly as myself and some others in our group had decided to literally take the big leap and go skydiving! lake taupo is relatively famous, in new zealand at least, for being one of the most spectacular spots to jump from, and is actually the crater of a collapsed cone or ´cadista´ of a volcano. surrounding the lake are a number of mountains, including a famous site, known to most now as mount doom.

i chose to jump from 15,000 feet, and for posterity and proof to all of you that i actually did take the plunge, i got photos and a video. surprisingly enough, i wasnt scared as they went through the procedures, got our flattering jump suits on and strapped all the gear on. jittery excitement seemed to take over all other feelings, making me out to look a little manicly insane in the video!
my ´jumpmaster´ was Ian, a lovely guy from Wales, who made me feel very relaxed, and we made easy conversation as we were slotted one behind the other into the little plane that would take us up. The journey up to the 15,000 point took about 25-30 minutes, and before long i was shuffled forward with my legs dangling out of the plane, and absolutely no going back!

for the first 10 seconds of free fall i had what can only be described as a blank numbness where all you know is that you are no longer safely enclosed in your plane, and that your body is falling at an unbelievable rate. im pleased to say i didnt swear blue murder as i can imagine might have been one of my first reactions, but lots of whooping and screaming and ´oh yeahs´ made up my free fall vocabulary. the only thing to really do from 15,000 feet then, is to make the most of it, for the 1 minute 15 seconds that you have!

the photos show the curviture of the globe at that height, but i was much too busy looking down to the ground to properly have appreciated that magnificent view. once the parachute opened it was all about drifting down (which included some sickening spins on the parachute, my own fault for asking Ian to go all out) and staring in awe at the landscape below. snow capped mountains, baby blue skies, glorious green fields and the crystal glittering lake taupo. All in all an absolutely immense experience, and i would go back up there in a second. being able to take in the world from that height, and at such a beautiful location will be unforgettable!

I’m a little behind on my blogging, but will catch up soon, and add some more photos when my card reader decides to work for me.

with lots of love,

Rx