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Wanderlusting Linley
I always hate writing my last blog entry after the holiday has ended. The rage I feel at no longer being on holidays seems to seep in. I truly ran out of time on Saturday and Sunday though and this is the first real chance I've had to sit down and blog. When I'm back at work. Of course.
Friday in Queenstown. As y'all would know by now, I skydived at the end of this holiday but it was quite the saga that lead to the simple event of rolling out of a plane. Allow me to rant to you about it.
The skydiving was originally booked for Tuesday, as part of my white-water rafting, suicide-copter and Shotover Jet combo. When I had phoned the tour company for some advice prior to making all these bookings, they had verrrrrry wisely advised me to book the skydiving early in the week as it was likely to need rescheduling due to weather and the more time I allowed, the better. This turned out to be the best advice I'd receive on the whole trip. Perhaps only second to 'Don't trust the Frenchmen at the Canyon Swing.'
Tuesday got off to a rip-roaring start, as you may recall. Wild helicopter ride up Skipper's Canyon (video here if you missed it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLl1KWZ l_ww ) followed by white-water rafting and the one and only Shotover Jet. (All the same video, by the way.) I was then meant to plunge from a plane after lunch. We were ferried out to the drop zone, greeted, suited up, partnered with our jump masters and had our greeting videos done. We were moments from getting on the plane when the super Jedi jump master called it off due to the wind picking up. No one with a brain complains when this happens because high wind has this way of blowing parachutes in on the people attached to them and everyone dies. So I just rolled with it, went back to the shop and rescheduled my skydive for Thursday. Same thing happened on Thursday. Weather turned a bit dodge and we were informed immediately on arrival at the drop zone that we wouldn't be jumping. Back to town we went. I'd already checked the weather for Friday and knew another southerly was rolling in so I didn't even bother rebooking for then. I rebooked for the first jump on Saturday morning.
For the future reference of those who would actually skydive, the weather gods are usually in a better mood first thing in the morning, so book your jump for then.
In order to help myself feel better about another skydive cancellation, I headed back to the Canyon Swing for another fling off the edge with the French git. (Although, this time it turned out to be one Brazilian git, one Kiwi and one Scotsman. Potent mix.)
Friday morning delivered a southerly, as predicted. It was delightfully frigid and frosty and I once again donned my ski jacket which I've never been so grateful to have take up 25% of my suitcase. I think I wore it nearly every day. Since I had nothing booked for Friday I actually managed a huge sleep in until almost 8am. Insane, right?
On my ten minute walk from my apartment to downtown Queenstown, I marvelled at little tiny spots of things in the air that looked like they were meant to be rain but were more floating down than falling down. Tiny, tiny visible white flakes that turned to water the instant they touched skin or clothing or ground. Something sort of like snow but not quite. Very gentle sleet. I was loving every minute of it. It made me smile.
With my relaxed schedule for the day I headed up the Gondola. Those of you who have been to Queenstown will know exactly where I mean. It's a very steep Gondola that goes up the side of a hill, right out of the edge of town. You can't miss it. The view from the visitor's centre at the top is nothing short of spectacular, even with some patchy cloud and sleet around. With the wind gusting up the hill at me, the sleet now blew upwards. I took a bunch of photos until my hands were too cold to mash at the buttons. Another thing I was oh so grateful to have packed was my pair of cashmere-lined leather gloves I bought in the Florence night markets seven years ago. :-) (Have I ever mentioned that I love travelling and buying stuff?!!) Ultra cozy and highly appreciated at that point. I donned the gloves and had a few whirls on the luge. It might look like it's for kids, but that is some gleeful fun! (Video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n0o0Iw dk5o ) I put the little cart on two wheels at one point and was informed afterwards that's really hard to do without flipping it. Go me!! Total fluke. I'm sure if I tried it again I'd come off and knock out all my teeth.
I ate of the Ferg for lunch, as I'd been doing every day. I ate of the Ferg for dinner every night as well. Not only is there Fergburger, but right next to it is Ferg Bakery and they make beautiful pies. Vege pies, meat pies, all sorts of pies. So I would pie for lunch and burger for dinner. I managed to lose weight doing this. :-P There were two reasons for adhering to the Ferg-diet. Firstly, while there were many eating choices in Queenstown, they were all offensively expensive. I was not going to fork out $30 for Mexican when I didn't know for sure it was going to be better than Pink Taco. And that's a very high bar to reach. I was not willing to risk $30+ on any type of meal and have it be ****. Not when I could Ferg for under $15. Secondly, Fergburger wasn't exactly one burger. There was a huge array of choice there. I'm very much a food loyalist. Once I know I like something, and I know it'll always be good, I'm very happy to have it many times. Just realised that can be taken a multitude of ways... But I really am talking about food! So Ferg it was, every day. Happily. :-)
After Ferg, I picked up my rental car. Here's a word of advice. Never, ever buy an ex-rental vehicle. Why? Because someone like me probably drove it. I am... what's a good word... an "assertive" driver. Yes. Assertive. It was nice to have my own wheels for the last couple of days and not have to walk the Hill Of Death back to my room three times a day anymore. While it did my fitness and firming lots of good it was genuinely difficult after a day of madness. So zoomies in the car commenced. I took the road west then north to Glenorchy, where the horse riding had been on Wednesday. It's a particularly beautiful piece of road and follows Lake Wakatipu nearly the whole way. It dips and winds and climbs and basically does all the cool stuff you want when driving a manual car. :-D Then I finally stopped for some quiet time and did a little photography.
I think the thing I like most about travelling alone is this selected solitude. I love to do my photography in my own time, without anyone pressuring me to hurry up or assuming I'm done just because they heard the shutter go on the camera. It's very engaging for me and I love anticipating how my shot is going to look. Or figuring out what I need to change to make it look the way I want. Or lying on my stomach in the stones along the shore of Lake Wakatipu until I find just the right angle for my shot.
After my warp factor drive to Glenorchy, I drove back through Queenstown and out to the Remarkables ski area, and half way up the ski fields to a spot called Windy Point. It was well named. I was hoping to get some wide shots of the town and lake but the sun had dropped just a little too far for west-facing photos. That night I had my hot tub mellow time, which you would've seen on Facebook. Again, I soaked up the solitude and let the hot water knock out the knots in my muscles. After that, I grabbed my camera and tripod and headed for Coronet Peak in the dark to shoot my nightscapes. All that alone time was lovely and rejuvenating. It made me ready for Saturday.
I had to be at the skydiving shop at 8am. I walked down to town and got my Ferg Bakery latte on the way. (Ferg forever!) I was very hopeful that it would be third time lucky for my skydive. The skies were clear, the wind was down and it was crisp and cool. Perfect conditions! At 8:30 they trucked us out to the drop zone. We suited up, were allocated our jump masters, had our greeting videos done, and at 9:20 jumped into the plane. Those of you who have skydived will know there are no seats in those little planes. You just sit on the floor between the legs of the person behind you. My jump master - Nick - and I were first into the plane. This meant we'd be last out. As you'll have seen from my video (here if you haven't https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuYkESi hRMk ) the scenery on that flight up to 12,000 feet was mind-poppingly beautiful. I had a small amount of nervous anticipation going but nothing like the pure adrenalin-driven-but-gleeful fear I had at Nevis and Canyon Swing. :-D This was a breeze by comparison.
At 12,000 feet the ground is so far away you can't really be scared of the height. Your brain goes from "that would hurt if I hit it" to "we'd be dead from panic long before we hit that anyway so why worry". Also, you are strapped to someone who is doing all the work. You don't have to fuel or propel yourself out of the plane. Even if you did lock up and freeze in terror, it's fine as you don't have to use your legs. You're already on the floor of the plane.
During the climb, the jump master sits back cool as a cucumber while you ask important questions like "When are you going to attach me to your safe and solid looking self?" and "Why are my goggles so loose?" The answer is always "I'll take care of it when the red light comes on." Oh, goody. A red light. That sounds comforting. But that's exactly what happens and it actually is comforting because at the point they start attaching your harness to theirs, they do it up so tight you can barely breath. And this is a reassuring feeling. You don't feel remotely like you could get away from them if you tried. You also don the sexy flying cap and put the goggles on which they tighten to the point of eye-bulge. During all this, my merry cameraman John was filming footage of me, as well as outside the plane at that stunning view, and us banking up over the Remarkables. Breath-taking!!
After that everything happens very fast. Since Nick and I were at the back, I got to watch everyone bail out. If anyone was scared witless there was no time for them to deal with it. Their jump master had them over the edge and out within seconds. Just as Nick was scooting me forwards along the floor to the gaping hole at the back of the plane through which I'd just seen a bunch of people disappear, John the cameraman called a halt. Something was wrong with the GoPro. The pilot gave us 90 seconds. John slid the roller door down and proceeded to play with the camera. He then gave a thumbs-up, snapped it to his helmet, and when the pilot green-lighted us, we were a go. John swung out the side of the plane like an acrobat and somehow just hovered there while Nick and I levered into position. My only job, I'd been informed, was to tuck my legs under the plane and push my hips out. The tucking of the legs is a nice feeling because you are still feeling something solid. The pushing out of the hips though means your only other point of contact with the world is your jump master's shoulders. You are suspended 12,000 feet up, attached to some stranger's shoulders and the underbelly of a flimsy plane. I remember Nick hooking his feet around my ankles, John hovering off to our left, still somehow in mid-air outside the plane like a winged monkey, we rocked back and forth once or twice - this was so John and Nick could count and jump at the same time - and then we rolled out.
IT IS THE BEST FEELING EVER!!!!!!!
SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!
Cue the massive sensory overload. I was immediately falling at about 200km/hr. The plane disappears from your peripheral vision at a great rate of knots as you roll over and it is very cool. The first sensation I became aware of was the below-freezing air rushing up my nose. It had a similar feeling to what I imagine it'd be like if a fireman turned the water hose on full-force up my nose. That aside, it's a huge rush and lots of fun. Nick tapped my shoulder to tell me to put my arms out, which I immediately did, but unfortunately it put enormous strain on my shoulder. I found it extremely painful. John was falling with us, doing all sorts of groovy swings and dives to film me from a bunch of angles. He also flew in and I grabbed his hand and we did a nice 360 degree spin. :-D With such a spectacular clear day, I knew the video would look wicked awesome.
I was in free-fall for about 45 seconds before Nick opened the chute and we then sailed down in glorious ease. I told him I was up for a thrill so he gave me some spiral dives. :-D We came in for a text-book landing, both of us on our feet. Helped immensely by Nick being a lot taller than me, I think. High fives and hugs all around and we were done. They told me my video and photos would be ready in three hours back at the shop. Yay!!
I had booked a scenic helicopter ride over a glacier for that afternoon and figured I could pick up my photos and video after that. Unfortunately, once again, due to the volatile Queenstown weather, the chop-chop was cancelled for the afternoon. I was a bit disappointed but bit it down and instead went to collect my photos and video. They greeted me in-store with the words "We have good news and bad news."
With an unpleasant sinking feeling in my gut, I asked them to go on. "Well, your photos are great but your video didn't turn out."
WHAT?
Sadly, it wasn't a joke in any form. The photos were lovely - hard not to be with that scenery - but the video of the free-fall hadn't worked. They got the greeting, the take-off, the in-flight stuff, the landing... But the actual cool bit? Where I'm falling through the sky? Nada. I didn't even try to hide my disappointment. I was so gutted. It sucked the wind right out of my happy little sails. I asked if more jumps were going ahead that day but they'd been called off due to the wind, same as the chop-chop. I asked to be put into the 7am jump for Sunday but had very few hopes of it going ahead as the weather was once again predicted to be too rough for jumping.
I got up at 5:30 on Sunday morning and opened the curtains to wind and heavy cloud. Wanted to scream in frustration. The skydive shop confirmed my suspicions and said jumping had been put on hold until 9am. I went for a drive and phoned in at 9am and was told it was now on hold until 11am. With a due sense of dread, I put my name down for the 11am group.
Why dread? Because I was checking in for my flight back home at 1:10pm. And given the 11am group would be scheduled to arrive at the drop zone at 11:50am and take off at 12:20pm, I was shaving it ridiculously close with only 50 minutes to fly to height, skydive down, get my video processed and drive to the airport. :-P But it wouldn't be Linley if I wasn't living on the edge.
I swung past the skydive shop at 11am. I walked in the door and they said "The 11am jump is a go!!" I swung around and headed straight for my car with the words "On my way!"
Now let me be clear. I wasn't getting a free jump here. They weren't compensating me in any way for the failed video, sadly. I got a $40 refund out of the $500+ I'd spent on the skydive and video/photo package. Borderline offensive, really. But I have this stubborn streak some of you may be a little over-familiar with and when I want something, not a whole lot will get in my way. Including money.
I arrived at the drop zone and the crew were already well aware of my situation. They knew my video from the day before had failed and were determined to get me in the air and get another one. :-) We checked in, suited up, did greeting videos... and the wind started picking up. Argh!!! All eyes turned to Sasa, the super Jedi jump master. I told my jump master - this time a guy named Blair - that if we were taking off even five minutes later than scheduled, I had to pull out. I had no wiggle room on the clock. But Sasa gave a go, and we piled into the plane.
This time I was to be first out. It was a bit cheaper to jump from 9000 feet, so given the extraordinary cost this was reaching, I took the lesser option. This also meant, quite terrifyingly, that I was seated next to the CLEAR roller door in the side of the plane that we were to jump out. For the whole trip to 9000 feet, including steep banks and climbs, I was next to that totally not pinned shut flimsy roller door that I could see straight through to the earth. Now THAT was disconcerting. As we were bouncing down the grass runway and into the sky, Blair asked if I was feeling alright. I said I was perfectly fine except for that flaming roller door. He laughed and agreed it did take some getting used to. Easy for the guy with a parachute on his back to say.
It ended up being a text book jump. At "red light" Blair hooked me up and snapped my goggles into place. Nikki, my camera chick, did the winged monkey thing and hung out the side of the plane while Blair slid me to the edge. We rocked out on "two" and suddenly we were falling. :-) I had told Blair beforehand about my shoulder and he said I totally didn't have to put my arms out if I didn't want to, or couldn't. That's why my arms look a bit odd in the video. But it was a super sweet experience, and as you'll have seen, the video came out a treat. I clipped it together from the two jumps to get the best of both. :-)
I hit the ground running, raced back to the hangar and de-suited. Nikki took my video straight in and within ten minutes, they had it prepared. I expressed much love and gratitude and bolted to the car. I got to the airport, dumped the rental and raced to check in on the stroke of 1:10pm. Not bad, Nzone Skydiving, not bad. :-D
While I remain unimpressed that I had to pay for two full-freight jumps and videos when it was not my fault it didn't work, and it's *only* because it didn't work that I jumped twice, I am grateful for the way they slotted me into the schedule. Once I'd checked in at the airport I phoned the skydive shop and thanked them. They informed me that my group - my jump - was the only one that went ahead. The group after me got cancelled due to the wind picking up. Chances are someone who'd booked that spot missed out on a jump so they could give it to me. In that sense, they went out of their way for me and I do appreciate it.
That brings me to the end of one wild week in Queenstown. Do I want to go back? Stupid question. Of course I do. :-D I'm itching to just bug out over Christmas or something.
Or maybe plan the next adventure. ;-)
Friday in Queenstown. As y'all would know by now, I skydived at the end of this holiday but it was quite the saga that lead to the simple event of rolling out of a plane. Allow me to rant to you about it.
The skydiving was originally booked for Tuesday, as part of my white-water rafting, suicide-copter and Shotover Jet combo. When I had phoned the tour company for some advice prior to making all these bookings, they had verrrrrry wisely advised me to book the skydiving early in the week as it was likely to need rescheduling due to weather and the more time I allowed, the better. This turned out to be the best advice I'd receive on the whole trip. Perhaps only second to 'Don't trust the Frenchmen at the Canyon Swing.'
Tuesday got off to a rip-roaring start, as you may recall. Wild helicopter ride up Skipper's Canyon (video here if you missed it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLl1KWZ l_ww ) followed by white-water rafting and the one and only Shotover Jet. (All the same video, by the way.) I was then meant to plunge from a plane after lunch. We were ferried out to the drop zone, greeted, suited up, partnered with our jump masters and had our greeting videos done. We were moments from getting on the plane when the super Jedi jump master called it off due to the wind picking up. No one with a brain complains when this happens because high wind has this way of blowing parachutes in on the people attached to them and everyone dies. So I just rolled with it, went back to the shop and rescheduled my skydive for Thursday. Same thing happened on Thursday. Weather turned a bit dodge and we were informed immediately on arrival at the drop zone that we wouldn't be jumping. Back to town we went. I'd already checked the weather for Friday and knew another southerly was rolling in so I didn't even bother rebooking for then. I rebooked for the first jump on Saturday morning.
For the future reference of those who would actually skydive, the weather gods are usually in a better mood first thing in the morning, so book your jump for then.
In order to help myself feel better about another skydive cancellation, I headed back to the Canyon Swing for another fling off the edge with the French git. (Although, this time it turned out to be one Brazilian git, one Kiwi and one Scotsman. Potent mix.)
Friday morning delivered a southerly, as predicted. It was delightfully frigid and frosty and I once again donned my ski jacket which I've never been so grateful to have take up 25% of my suitcase. I think I wore it nearly every day. Since I had nothing booked for Friday I actually managed a huge sleep in until almost 8am. Insane, right?
On my ten minute walk from my apartment to downtown Queenstown, I marvelled at little tiny spots of things in the air that looked like they were meant to be rain but were more floating down than falling down. Tiny, tiny visible white flakes that turned to water the instant they touched skin or clothing or ground. Something sort of like snow but not quite. Very gentle sleet. I was loving every minute of it. It made me smile.
With my relaxed schedule for the day I headed up the Gondola. Those of you who have been to Queenstown will know exactly where I mean. It's a very steep Gondola that goes up the side of a hill, right out of the edge of town. You can't miss it. The view from the visitor's centre at the top is nothing short of spectacular, even with some patchy cloud and sleet around. With the wind gusting up the hill at me, the sleet now blew upwards. I took a bunch of photos until my hands were too cold to mash at the buttons. Another thing I was oh so grateful to have packed was my pair of cashmere-lined leather gloves I bought in the Florence night markets seven years ago. :-) (Have I ever mentioned that I love travelling and buying stuff?!!) Ultra cozy and highly appreciated at that point. I donned the gloves and had a few whirls on the luge. It might look like it's for kids, but that is some gleeful fun! (Video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n0o0Iw dk5o ) I put the little cart on two wheels at one point and was informed afterwards that's really hard to do without flipping it. Go me!! Total fluke. I'm sure if I tried it again I'd come off and knock out all my teeth.
I ate of the Ferg for lunch, as I'd been doing every day. I ate of the Ferg for dinner every night as well. Not only is there Fergburger, but right next to it is Ferg Bakery and they make beautiful pies. Vege pies, meat pies, all sorts of pies. So I would pie for lunch and burger for dinner. I managed to lose weight doing this. :-P There were two reasons for adhering to the Ferg-diet. Firstly, while there were many eating choices in Queenstown, they were all offensively expensive. I was not going to fork out $30 for Mexican when I didn't know for sure it was going to be better than Pink Taco. And that's a very high bar to reach. I was not willing to risk $30+ on any type of meal and have it be ****. Not when I could Ferg for under $15. Secondly, Fergburger wasn't exactly one burger. There was a huge array of choice there. I'm very much a food loyalist. Once I know I like something, and I know it'll always be good, I'm very happy to have it many times. Just realised that can be taken a multitude of ways... But I really am talking about food! So Ferg it was, every day. Happily. :-)
After Ferg, I picked up my rental car. Here's a word of advice. Never, ever buy an ex-rental vehicle. Why? Because someone like me probably drove it. I am... what's a good word... an "assertive" driver. Yes. Assertive. It was nice to have my own wheels for the last couple of days and not have to walk the Hill Of Death back to my room three times a day anymore. While it did my fitness and firming lots of good it was genuinely difficult after a day of madness. So zoomies in the car commenced. I took the road west then north to Glenorchy, where the horse riding had been on Wednesday. It's a particularly beautiful piece of road and follows Lake Wakatipu nearly the whole way. It dips and winds and climbs and basically does all the cool stuff you want when driving a manual car. :-D Then I finally stopped for some quiet time and did a little photography.
I think the thing I like most about travelling alone is this selected solitude. I love to do my photography in my own time, without anyone pressuring me to hurry up or assuming I'm done just because they heard the shutter go on the camera. It's very engaging for me and I love anticipating how my shot is going to look. Or figuring out what I need to change to make it look the way I want. Or lying on my stomach in the stones along the shore of Lake Wakatipu until I find just the right angle for my shot.
After my warp factor drive to Glenorchy, I drove back through Queenstown and out to the Remarkables ski area, and half way up the ski fields to a spot called Windy Point. It was well named. I was hoping to get some wide shots of the town and lake but the sun had dropped just a little too far for west-facing photos. That night I had my hot tub mellow time, which you would've seen on Facebook. Again, I soaked up the solitude and let the hot water knock out the knots in my muscles. After that, I grabbed my camera and tripod and headed for Coronet Peak in the dark to shoot my nightscapes. All that alone time was lovely and rejuvenating. It made me ready for Saturday.
I had to be at the skydiving shop at 8am. I walked down to town and got my Ferg Bakery latte on the way. (Ferg forever!) I was very hopeful that it would be third time lucky for my skydive. The skies were clear, the wind was down and it was crisp and cool. Perfect conditions! At 8:30 they trucked us out to the drop zone. We suited up, were allocated our jump masters, had our greeting videos done, and at 9:20 jumped into the plane. Those of you who have skydived will know there are no seats in those little planes. You just sit on the floor between the legs of the person behind you. My jump master - Nick - and I were first into the plane. This meant we'd be last out. As you'll have seen from my video (here if you haven't https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuYkESi hRMk ) the scenery on that flight up to 12,000 feet was mind-poppingly beautiful. I had a small amount of nervous anticipation going but nothing like the pure adrenalin-driven-but-gleeful fear I had at Nevis and Canyon Swing. :-D This was a breeze by comparison.
At 12,000 feet the ground is so far away you can't really be scared of the height. Your brain goes from "that would hurt if I hit it" to "we'd be dead from panic long before we hit that anyway so why worry". Also, you are strapped to someone who is doing all the work. You don't have to fuel or propel yourself out of the plane. Even if you did lock up and freeze in terror, it's fine as you don't have to use your legs. You're already on the floor of the plane.
During the climb, the jump master sits back cool as a cucumber while you ask important questions like "When are you going to attach me to your safe and solid looking self?" and "Why are my goggles so loose?" The answer is always "I'll take care of it when the red light comes on." Oh, goody. A red light. That sounds comforting. But that's exactly what happens and it actually is comforting because at the point they start attaching your harness to theirs, they do it up so tight you can barely breath. And this is a reassuring feeling. You don't feel remotely like you could get away from them if you tried. You also don the sexy flying cap and put the goggles on which they tighten to the point of eye-bulge. During all this, my merry cameraman John was filming footage of me, as well as outside the plane at that stunning view, and us banking up over the Remarkables. Breath-taking!!
After that everything happens very fast. Since Nick and I were at the back, I got to watch everyone bail out. If anyone was scared witless there was no time for them to deal with it. Their jump master had them over the edge and out within seconds. Just as Nick was scooting me forwards along the floor to the gaping hole at the back of the plane through which I'd just seen a bunch of people disappear, John the cameraman called a halt. Something was wrong with the GoPro. The pilot gave us 90 seconds. John slid the roller door down and proceeded to play with the camera. He then gave a thumbs-up, snapped it to his helmet, and when the pilot green-lighted us, we were a go. John swung out the side of the plane like an acrobat and somehow just hovered there while Nick and I levered into position. My only job, I'd been informed, was to tuck my legs under the plane and push my hips out. The tucking of the legs is a nice feeling because you are still feeling something solid. The pushing out of the hips though means your only other point of contact with the world is your jump master's shoulders. You are suspended 12,000 feet up, attached to some stranger's shoulders and the underbelly of a flimsy plane. I remember Nick hooking his feet around my ankles, John hovering off to our left, still somehow in mid-air outside the plane like a winged monkey, we rocked back and forth once or twice - this was so John and Nick could count and jump at the same time - and then we rolled out.
IT IS THE BEST FEELING EVER!!!!!!!
SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!
Cue the massive sensory overload. I was immediately falling at about 200km/hr. The plane disappears from your peripheral vision at a great rate of knots as you roll over and it is very cool. The first sensation I became aware of was the below-freezing air rushing up my nose. It had a similar feeling to what I imagine it'd be like if a fireman turned the water hose on full-force up my nose. That aside, it's a huge rush and lots of fun. Nick tapped my shoulder to tell me to put my arms out, which I immediately did, but unfortunately it put enormous strain on my shoulder. I found it extremely painful. John was falling with us, doing all sorts of groovy swings and dives to film me from a bunch of angles. He also flew in and I grabbed his hand and we did a nice 360 degree spin. :-D With such a spectacular clear day, I knew the video would look wicked awesome.
I was in free-fall for about 45 seconds before Nick opened the chute and we then sailed down in glorious ease. I told him I was up for a thrill so he gave me some spiral dives. :-D We came in for a text-book landing, both of us on our feet. Helped immensely by Nick being a lot taller than me, I think. High fives and hugs all around and we were done. They told me my video and photos would be ready in three hours back at the shop. Yay!!
I had booked a scenic helicopter ride over a glacier for that afternoon and figured I could pick up my photos and video after that. Unfortunately, once again, due to the volatile Queenstown weather, the chop-chop was cancelled for the afternoon. I was a bit disappointed but bit it down and instead went to collect my photos and video. They greeted me in-store with the words "We have good news and bad news."
With an unpleasant sinking feeling in my gut, I asked them to go on. "Well, your photos are great but your video didn't turn out."
WHAT?
Sadly, it wasn't a joke in any form. The photos were lovely - hard not to be with that scenery - but the video of the free-fall hadn't worked. They got the greeting, the take-off, the in-flight stuff, the landing... But the actual cool bit? Where I'm falling through the sky? Nada. I didn't even try to hide my disappointment. I was so gutted. It sucked the wind right out of my happy little sails. I asked if more jumps were going ahead that day but they'd been called off due to the wind, same as the chop-chop. I asked to be put into the 7am jump for Sunday but had very few hopes of it going ahead as the weather was once again predicted to be too rough for jumping.
I got up at 5:30 on Sunday morning and opened the curtains to wind and heavy cloud. Wanted to scream in frustration. The skydive shop confirmed my suspicions and said jumping had been put on hold until 9am. I went for a drive and phoned in at 9am and was told it was now on hold until 11am. With a due sense of dread, I put my name down for the 11am group.
Why dread? Because I was checking in for my flight back home at 1:10pm. And given the 11am group would be scheduled to arrive at the drop zone at 11:50am and take off at 12:20pm, I was shaving it ridiculously close with only 50 minutes to fly to height, skydive down, get my video processed and drive to the airport. :-P But it wouldn't be Linley if I wasn't living on the edge.
I swung past the skydive shop at 11am. I walked in the door and they said "The 11am jump is a go!!" I swung around and headed straight for my car with the words "On my way!"
Now let me be clear. I wasn't getting a free jump here. They weren't compensating me in any way for the failed video, sadly. I got a $40 refund out of the $500+ I'd spent on the skydive and video/photo package. Borderline offensive, really. But I have this stubborn streak some of you may be a little over-familiar with and when I want something, not a whole lot will get in my way. Including money.
I arrived at the drop zone and the crew were already well aware of my situation. They knew my video from the day before had failed and were determined to get me in the air and get another one. :-) We checked in, suited up, did greeting videos... and the wind started picking up. Argh!!! All eyes turned to Sasa, the super Jedi jump master. I told my jump master - this time a guy named Blair - that if we were taking off even five minutes later than scheduled, I had to pull out. I had no wiggle room on the clock. But Sasa gave a go, and we piled into the plane.
This time I was to be first out. It was a bit cheaper to jump from 9000 feet, so given the extraordinary cost this was reaching, I took the lesser option. This also meant, quite terrifyingly, that I was seated next to the CLEAR roller door in the side of the plane that we were to jump out. For the whole trip to 9000 feet, including steep banks and climbs, I was next to that totally not pinned shut flimsy roller door that I could see straight through to the earth. Now THAT was disconcerting. As we were bouncing down the grass runway and into the sky, Blair asked if I was feeling alright. I said I was perfectly fine except for that flaming roller door. He laughed and agreed it did take some getting used to. Easy for the guy with a parachute on his back to say.
It ended up being a text book jump. At "red light" Blair hooked me up and snapped my goggles into place. Nikki, my camera chick, did the winged monkey thing and hung out the side of the plane while Blair slid me to the edge. We rocked out on "two" and suddenly we were falling. :-) I had told Blair beforehand about my shoulder and he said I totally didn't have to put my arms out if I didn't want to, or couldn't. That's why my arms look a bit odd in the video. But it was a super sweet experience, and as you'll have seen, the video came out a treat. I clipped it together from the two jumps to get the best of both. :-)
I hit the ground running, raced back to the hangar and de-suited. Nikki took my video straight in and within ten minutes, they had it prepared. I expressed much love and gratitude and bolted to the car. I got to the airport, dumped the rental and raced to check in on the stroke of 1:10pm. Not bad, Nzone Skydiving, not bad. :-D
While I remain unimpressed that I had to pay for two full-freight jumps and videos when it was not my fault it didn't work, and it's *only* because it didn't work that I jumped twice, I am grateful for the way they slotted me into the schedule. Once I'd checked in at the airport I phoned the skydive shop and thanked them. They informed me that my group - my jump - was the only one that went ahead. The group after me got cancelled due to the wind picking up. Chances are someone who'd booked that spot missed out on a jump so they could give it to me. In that sense, they went out of their way for me and I do appreciate it.
That brings me to the end of one wild week in Queenstown. Do I want to go back? Stupid question. Of course I do. :-D I'm itching to just bug out over Christmas or something.
Or maybe plan the next adventure. ;-)
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