New Zealand South Island autumn holiday - day 6 I jumped off the plane
Queenstown is the skydiving capital in NZ. There are 2 operators in Queenstown, Skydive Paradise and NZONE, there's also another operator in Wanaka, Skydive Wanaka, which is the sister company of NZONE.
Skydiving is weather dependent activity, the weather was very bad during our stay in Queenstown and no skydiving activity at all, though I made the booking with NZONE weeks ago before the trip. I didn't give up, I called Skydive Wanaka and found out that they were open for the jump so I called a taxi (my partner need the car to take the Shotover Jet) and paid $200 for it just to bring me to Wanaka airport to catch their last flight on my last day in Queenstown. Sound expensive right? I just wanted to make sure I did skydive in NZ so I decided to pay for it no matter what.
Skydive Wanaka offers 3 options, 9000, 12000 and 15000 ft. I took the 15000 ft package at $439 and camera flyer package (additional $229) so total cost was NZ$568.
My good looking tandem master. I don't remember his name.
Everyone was suited and booted, sat on the floor with not much legroom. About 12 people in the plane including tandem masters and cameramen. The ride up was ok and incredibly beautiful. To my surprise, I was relatively calm and collected, but ... only at that point of time.
The last go in, the 1st jump out. Fortunately I was the 2nd in the queue to jump. I wouldn't want to be the last to see how others jumped out and screamed. As the altitude climbed, I lost my cool.
And Juuuuuuuuump!!!! The first few seconds was the most horrifying part of the whole experience.
After a few seconds, I didn't feel like I was falling anymore but instead it felt like I was floating in an anti-gravity chamber.
Before I knew it, my dive partner pulled the parachute after 60 seconds of free fall and all the excitement was over. A minute of free fall was really short.
Safely back to the earth. It was an amazing experience.
How did I go back to Queenstown since I did not drive? Taxi again? No no no no .... I was lucky as one of the Skydive Wanaka staff got me a free ride from their colleague who was going to Queenstown as well. Sorry, I couldn't remember their name but I appreciate their kind offer. Thank you.
Interested to visit New Zealand? Check out my itinerary and click here to read day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, day 6, day 7, day 8, day 9 trip report.
My good looking tandem master. I don't remember his name.
Everyone was suited and booted, sat on the floor with not much legroom. About 12 people in the plane including tandem masters and cameramen. The ride up was ok and incredibly beautiful. To my surprise, I was relatively calm and collected, but ... only at that point of time.
The last go in, the 1st jump out. Fortunately I was the 2nd in the queue to jump. I wouldn't want to be the last to see how others jumped out and screamed. As the altitude climbed, I lost my cool.
And Juuuuuuuuump!!!! The first few seconds was the most horrifying part of the whole experience.
After a few seconds, I didn't feel like I was falling anymore but instead it felt like I was floating in an anti-gravity chamber.
Before I knew it, my dive partner pulled the parachute after 60 seconds of free fall and all the excitement was over. A minute of free fall was really short.
Safely back to the earth. It was an amazing experience.
How did I go back to Queenstown since I did not drive? Taxi again? No no no no .... I was lucky as one of the Skydive Wanaka staff got me a free ride from their colleague who was going to Queenstown as well. Sorry, I couldn't remember their name but I appreciate their kind offer. Thank you.
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