Getting High in the Sky

It’s hard to come by days that are as awesome as today. To start, the weather was beautiful – blue skies speckled with clouds and lots of sunshine. My friend Marcus from Switzerland has been staying at Blackcurrant for the past couple days and had picked today to do his skydive! Lucky for him, the weather very much cooperated, and I was so excited that he was going to jump! As I wasn’t working, I decided to tag along to the Drop Zone with him, and our friend and fellow Blackcurrant cleaner, Hannah, decided to come as well to watch with me.

When we arrived at the Taupo Tandem Skydiving, I was immediately asked by my friend Brad (who works as a manager and tandem master at TTS) if I was skydiving. Correction, I wasn’t so much ASKED if I was going to do a skydive, I was more so TOLD that I was doing a skydive. I had actually considered it earlier in the day because it really was ideal weather for a skydive. I joked with Brad asking him if it would cost more to get him as my tandem master for the jump and he replied with a big grin and said, “You can get the skydive for free, but it costs $100 to jump with me!” Turned out, Brad wasn’t kidding… It didn’t take much to convince me past that point! I looked over at Marcus and was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m going again!!!!” Immediately, I had butterflies in my tummy and all the excitement and nervousness of my first dive came flooding back – I couldn’t believe I was going again!

And, that’s the story of how I came to do my second skydive from 15,000 ft and be strapped to the front of my #1 Favorite Tandem Master, Brad Rock :-D Not surprisingly, I was much more present during the second skydive. But, I was just as excited and smiley as I was the first time!! In the plane, Brad pointed out that we could see both the east and west coasts of New Zealand, Lake Rotorua, and the Coromandel Penisula. It was really cool to see the clouds in the sky as well! It really creates a different, more textured view of Taupo and the surrounding areas. Beautiful.

Brad and I were the last tandem to jump out of the plane. As we sat, perched at the edge of the plane with our legs dangling 15,000 ft above the ground, Brad goes, “You ready!?!” YES!!!! I felt a slight tip out of the plane and next thing I knew he pulled back a bit and goes, “No, I can’t! I’m too nervous!!” *!!!* I was like, Brad you bugger!! Seriously, if I could have reached around and popped him one, I would have but those darn harnesses just don’t make it easy! Just sitting there, about ready to jump out of the plane is a thrill in and of itself!! It's one of my favorite parts!! Before I knew it, my head was tilted back and out we went!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW. The freefall was so awesome!!! And, I actually remember it!! Brad and I did lots of spins, and I played around with my arms trying to maneuver them against the full force of the rushing air. It makes such a difference when your brain actually keeps up to speed with your body. ;-) About 5 seconds before Brad pulled the shoot, he pointed to a cloud and I glimpsed a circle rainbow! Apparently, our shadow made that! Where’s my camera when you need it???

The glide down was so nice as well. The views are just so spectacular from way up there! The shoot gets pulled at 5,000 ft so we still had quite a ways to sail. Brad goes, “Welcome to my office.” Definitely a job to envy.

Brad let me take control of the parachute for a while as well! So we did some super fast turns and some pause drifting in the air. That is a bizarre feeling to almost come to a stop in mid air! I didn’t expect to stop moving like we did, and the first time it happened, Brad goes, “Uh oh.” Uh oh is not a phrase I want to hear 3,000 feet in the air!! Sheesh ;-)

We did a standing landing verses a slid-in which was cool! I gave Brad a BIG hug for such an awesome and very entertaining dive! What an fantastic second jump!! There’s no denying it…I’m hooked. Brad, you have such a badass job!! Thanks a million!!! :-D