Welcome to the North Island

After a crazy night out in Queenstown, it was time to head to the North Island for the last few days of my trip. I caught the local bus to the Queenstown airport, and was left with far too much time to kill in a place with only a few terminals. However, the non-existent security line certainly made me happy.

My flight had a stop-over in Christchurch on the way to Auckland. The travel agent neglected to mention this when she booked my ticket, and I guess I failed to notice. It did mean that the journey stretched out to most of the afternoon and evening, but at least Quantas provides pillows and tea on their flights, unlike any of the Aussie discount carriers.

Driving into downtown Auckland felt like I had flown to another country, not merely to another island in the same country. Here there are freeways and traffic, as can be expected of a city of 1.2 million people, even if it is in New Zealand :) Booking into a girls' only floor at my hostel didn't prove to be such a great decision. Although the bathrooms were very nice, I was in a room with 4 Dutch girls who were screaming and carrying on as if they were at a high school slumber party. Who knows, perhaps they were. Once again I got to play the bad cop by asking them to be quiet or taking their carrying on elsewhere.

This morning I caught the bus for Taupo, a town located on the edge of Lake Taupo, the largest lake in NZ. It was formed by a massive volcanic explosion approximately 26,000 years ago (good thing NZ was uninhabited at the time) which spewed out 800 cubic km of ash and debris. By comparison, the eruptions of Krakatoa (1883) produced 8 cu km and Mt. St. Helens (1980)just 3 cu km.

It's quite an impressive lake, both for its size and the mountains/volcanic peaks visible on the far shore. The lake also makes quite an impressive setting for a skydive!! I had not come to NZ planning to jump again, but seeing videos of others' trips inspired me. After all, it had been 8 years since my first skydive.

I wound up diving with 2 German guys and an Aussie who had just started working at the jump center. My instructor, Mike, was from England. Unlike my jump in the US, where we underwent several hours of instruction prior to jumping, these centers suit you up, tell you the proper position for take-off and free-fall, and leave the rest to your instructor. I wonder if it's because they figure we really don't want to know, or aren't as concerned about the liability issues.

We went up in a bright pink plane which held 4 jumpers and their tandem instructors. I was worried about sitting backwards for the flight up, but it turned out to be fine. Since I wasn't nearly as nervous this time, I was happy to look around at the lake and surrounding fields. All the same, I was happy not to be diving first (I went third).

We did a back somersault out of the plane and went into free fall. I kept my hands on the harness until the tap on my head told me I could spread them out to the side. Unlike my first dive, I remember all 45 seconds of free fall (from 12,000 to 5,000 feet), and it was awesome. I was able to look all around at the landscape unfolding underneath us, and to feel all the air rushing by my face. Since you are falling so fast, it helps to clear your ears as often as possible.

Mike opened the parachute just as we entered a layer of clouds. The biggest change in the transition from free fall to floating is the silence: it's very quiet up there when the wind isn't rushing by your head at 200 kph. I love the sensation of floating in the air; it truly does feel as though you are flying. What I didn't love, however, was when Mike started doing really tight turns while chasing one of the other parachutes. I had no problem with the free-fall, but this made my stomach want to rise right up into my mouth.

I felt a little shaky for about 30 minutes afterwards, and needed to completely unblock my ears, but it was a fantastic experience. So much more rewarding than my first dive, since I had gotten over the initial fear and was able to relax and enjoy it.