SKY DIVING!!!!! Claire and i had always said we wanted to do a sky dive- but the day came round so much quicker than we thought. Queenstown is renound for its extreme sports, but Taupo is the best place for skydiving. The scenary is absolutely stunnning here, and fortunately the weather has been blue sky and sunshine since we arrived! As we approached Taupo LJ said that he had spoken to the skydive centre and they were too busy to jump all of us but we could do it on sunday ( it was currently Friday). So we were a bit gutted because we had psyched ourselves up all the way there, but we were also quuite releaved not to have to deal with it that instant. We went into the skydive centre to pay for our jump ( on sunday) when LJ came and found us to say that in fact we would be jumping in the next hour!! It was realyl surreal. I somehow got separated from the rest of the girls, so was jumping before them in a different plane- but i was just so excited and strangely not at all nervous! We got all kitted up, jumpsuit harness- life vest in case we crash into the lake, goggles on- tandem partner and camera man, and i was off! I don't think it ever hit me that i was heading up to 12000 ft to jump, i was just so so excited. We were being filmed the whole time, and just as i was waving to get on the plane i noticed i didn't have a seat and was squatting on the floor by the door- i was the first one to jump!! AAAH i couldn't wait!! My tandem man was hilarious, kept joking about with me a lot , on the flight up he kept showing me the altitude on his watch, at 5000ft he would open the shoot, then at 11000 ft he asked me to sit on his lap and he clipped me on, then i put my goggles down, and he said to hold onto my shoulder straps, and rest my head on his shoulder, he slid open the door, and i had to hang my feet over the ledge then we jumped out freefalling- it was fantastic!!!!! I have never felt anything like it and the view was amazing, the camera man hovered in front of me and we did lots of thumbs up and posing for the dvd hee hee Then my shoot was opened and we were lurched upwards, and then just floated down and i could see the mountains and the lake- it was wicked. We also got to do lots of spins round in the air too, before we cruised back to land! I'm totally hooked- i still can't believe i didn't get any nerves, but none of our group did, i think its because it was just sprung on us and we didn't really have time to think about it! Fantastic- i'm definitely doing another one ( not this trip though- money is seriously racing out of my account!!)! That night LJ came to our hostal bar and we all headed out to some bars and to a club which was fantastic! Claire and i didn't stop dancing until about 3am- it was so good, lots of good music and plenty of random locals who were very entertaining and our whole bus was in the zone!