The bloody heater never came back on during the night so it was freezing this morning! I let Chris get out of bed first, he run the engine and made us a cup of tea to warm up, then still wrapped up in my duvet I climbed out of bed. He also made me a nice hot water bottle to cuddle while we drove to Fraz Josef, aw he's so good to me.

Before we hit the road Chris gave Apollo a call to tell them about our broken heater. He got transferred from one person to the other before finally having an argument. Some guy on the phone told Chris to use an extra blanket!!! He had a right go at him, then he took the guys name and reminded him it was -6 degrees outside! It took forty minutes to sort out before finally a lady at the Christchurch office admitted we should have been given a spare plug in heater when we took the van, she wasn't happy and asked us who served us. She went quiet when Chris told her it was herself! In the end she told us to buy a heater and she would refund it. Happy with that Chris put the phone down and we drove to Franz Joseph.

It took four and a half hours to drive there. It seemed to pass really quickly, for me, as usual I slept for most of the way. When I woke up we were arriving in town. We stopped outside a shop to get information when Chris noticed a flyer saying they were doing sky dives at 18000ft! Then inside there was a winter special offering 19000ft for the price of 18000ft! Originally we weren't planning on sky diving until Taupo but as it's the highest in the world Chris obviously wanted to do it no matter how much it cost! We wanted to book it for tomorrow but then the lady recommended we jumped today as the weather was perfect for it! There wasn't a cloud in the sky but tomorrow it could completely change. Suddenly I felt a rush of excitement and nervousness! We both looked at each other then said lets do it! So we booked our jump for 3pm. It was expensive, $549 each plus an extra $189 each to have a personal photographer with us to take photos and video. Oh well, I guess it's not everyday you get to jump out of a plane at 19000ft! We didn't have long so we quickly found a park to stay in around the corner called Terrace Cottages and booked for two nights. Then we looked for a plug in heater. 

The town was a lot smaller than we thought, there were only a couple of convenient stores and neither of them sold heaters! We thought it was strange considering how cold it gets here. Chris had to ring the Apollo office again to tell them we couldn't buy one, they weren't happy about it and Chris ended up arguing with a guy on the phone again! The guy wouldn't believe we couldn't buy a heater, even after speaking to the park owner! The next town that might have sold them was two hours away so there was no way we were driving there. Chris asked them to pay for a room but they refused. They had already admitted they should have supplied us with one so in the end they refunded $60 which was a day of rental of the caravan and then said they would send a courier to us over night from Christchurch! So stupid, it must of cost a fortune. Chris put the phone down then the park owner turned around and with a smile said he had a heater we could borrow! So it all worked out well, for us, we got money refunded and we get to sleep in a warm camper van tonight.

By then it was almost time for our flight so we had a quick lunch then walked to the sky dive office at 3pm. We got taken to the airfield straight away, Chris was really excited but I was still nervously excited. We weren't sure what to expect. The guy who drove us to the airfield was really friendly, he assured us sky diving is nothing like bungy jumping which made me feel a lot better. I felt like I could trust him. Ten minutes later and we had arrived. Our instructors introduced themselves then asked us to put jump suits on. We looked really funny in them and felt like big weebles. Lea, Chris's instructor was so tiny! We were both surprised she was jumping with him, she was smaller than me! My instructor was also named Chris, he was the opposite to Lea, he was really tall! They explained they had to get the combined weight right, the two Chris's would have been too heavy. 

Before we were ready to board the flight we met our personal photographers. They separated us then without warning they stuck a small camera in our face and did a cheesy video interview! I felt really guilty for not sending my dad a fathers day card earlier this year so I wrote "Love u Dad" across my hands and decided to dedicate the flight to him with a short message. Chris hated being interviewed and found the guy very annoying, when the guy asked Chris if he had a message for family back home he replied "No, not really" which made the guy feel a bit awkward after lol. 

Our instructors went through a few safety rules with us then finally we were ready to get on the plane, they asked us who wanted to go first and before Chris could answer I shouted "ME!" I didn't want any time to worry about the jump like I did on the Nevis bungy platform. So we climbed in, there were eight people crammed into the tiny plane, Chris sat on a chair in front of Lea while I was sitting on the floor next to the door. There was a really exciting buzz, it felt good and we were both really relaxed. It took about twenty minutes to climb up to 19000ft. We really enjoyed the scenic views on the way up, because it was such a nice day with hardly any wind we were able to fly right over the snowy mountains and the glacier. The views really were incredible, we were so high we could actually see the curve of the earth. Our video photographers kept asking us how we were feeling, they did a great job of recording our experience. At 10000ft we were given oxygen masks which was cool. That's when we knew we were nearly there. Strangely I wasn't afraid at all, perhaps because I knew I was strapped to a professional, I had complete trust in him. Chris was smiling the whole time, he really couldn't wait to jump! 

Suddenly just then we were told to take our oxygen masks off and put goggles on. Then the whole side next to me opened up! I refused to look down but instead kept my gaze on my photographer who was hanging on the wing like a monkey! Within seconds I started to feel a little dizzy, from the lack of oxygen but before I knew it my instructor pushed my forehead back, told me to arch my body like a banana then pushed his weight onto me forcing us out into a flip! I screamed with excitement until I had no breath left! Then I suddenly felt so cold! The wind against my cheeks was freezing but it only lasted for a short moment! I looked down, up, all around me! The sensation was amazing, like nothing I had felt before and definitely nothing like a bungy!!! Just then my photographer was in front of me, he took some great shots as he wizzed close then far away again, then he grabbed my instructors hand and threw himself underneath me, then with a big push he forced himself further below us to take more shots. at one point my top lip got stuck to my teeth which had dried up in the wind, I had to blow out of my mouth to free it lol. 

The views were great, I really enjoyed every second of the free fall, then suddenly the parachute opened which I didn't enjoy as much. We were gliding down, before the ground below appeared to look like a map, I couldn't judge the height, but now I could see houses and make out people as we got closer. I was worried the parachute might fail at any time, then my instructor asked me if I liked roller coasters? I said yes then he spun us in circles and did a few moves which did make me feel like I was on a fair ride, a very high one. I saw Chris higher above us in his parachute, I waved at him and he waved back. I started to relax then and my instructor gave me control of the parachute until it was time to land. We seemed to pick up speed as we came closer to the landing field, he asked me to raise and hold my legs up so we could land on our bums. It didn't quite end like that, I was too weak to keep them up so my heels caught the ground which sent us tumbling over each other, it was actually more fun crash landing! 

I watched Chris as he and Lea came down to land, he held his legs up and they landed perfectly. Chris looked so excited, I knew he would love it. We went straight over to each other and I asked him how his sky dive was. He said his trainer was coming off as they were moving to the door! Lea had no idea so he had to quickly do it up before they jumped, no doubt it definitely would have come off! He said he loved the part where they rolled out of the plane, he wished he could have done more flips but he didn't think to ask, which was a shame because Lea told him after she would have! 

Chris also loved the views and said he didn't find it hard to breath at all like some people had told him. Chris was more adventurous and braver than me, he said Lea did some movement with her hands and legs which sent them spinning as they were free falling! He said he thought that his free falling time wasn't long enough, he wished it could have lasted longer but that would probably have sent him straight into the ground killing them! He said he waved at his photographer a few times then his parachute went up! Unlike mine he said his went up and it felt soft, he expected it to be a hard pulling feeling. When we were floating down Lea did some really steep turns with the parachute which he thought was fun, then he got to hold the handles and be in control. He did a spiralling, steep right hand turn, spinning then about five times! 

Before they could come down to land Lea had to adjust some straps to move Chris up higher. He had to stand on her feet and pull his shoulder straps tighter himself, thats when he noticed me waving at him from below. Then he came into landing. He thought it was an amazing experience and wanted to go straight back up. 

We got back in the van and drove to the air strip where we started. We took off our jump suits and collected our stuff before thanking our instructors and photographers. It was quite late in the day now so we have to wait until tomorrow to collect our video and photos.  

Back in town we went into a shop to book an ice explorer heli hike over the Franz Josef glacier tomorrow. Chris wanted to do an ice climb but there wasn't one available yet, it was still being set up. Im glad, I wouldn't of wanted to do it.

We went back to the camper van and put some dinner on then Chris went down to the petrol station and rented some dvds. He got a soppy film for me but I had already seen it so he made me come back to the shop and pick one myself. 

It had been a really fun and busy day, hopefully tomorrow will be just as fun. For the rest of the evening we watched our dvds and then went to bed with our little heater on.