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canadian_turtleMood: 
|| Tired
Tune : Westlife - "Queen of my Heart"
July 8: OMG THAT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!!
Ahum, aaaanyway. After calling and emailing the Skydive company several times (in the week before I headed in their direction) without being able to actually reach them I was getting worried I wouldn't be able to do this while in Franz Josef. Ever since I first read about this particular skydive a few months ago in someone else's travel recap I had my mind set on doing it as well. Not only because it would (as I imagined) be an extremely thrilling and once in a lifetime experience, but also because the scenery where this particular dive takes place is surrounded by snowy mountain ranges and is overall just breathtakingly stunning; for me the perfect place to experience this.
I arrived in Franz Josef in the evening of the Tuesday afternoon, unfortunately too late to try and reach them again, so I had one last shot the following morning. Having checked the weather report I saw that Thursday would be a beautiful day so I was crossing my fingers that they would have any spaces left. I was very surprised that one I was finally able to reach someone in the office, and two they had one spot left for that same day at 12.30 in the afternoon! Not wanting to miss out I booked it immediately and only after hanging up the phone did I realise what I had just done... I did however not have much time to freak-out as I needed to make a booking for something else as well and after quickly browsing through the tiny township of Franz Josef (two streets, each about a five minute walk one-way) it was nearly time for me to get picked up.
Including me there were six girls doing the skydive at around the same time. The drive to the Skydive centre in Fox Glacier took about 20 minutes, which gave us enough time to briefly get to know one another and hype each other up about what we were about to do. Arriving at our destination we got split up into three pairs, as the plane taking us up was too small to fit us all at once. I got teamed up with a lovely girl from the UK called Sam and we were scheduled second (which I thought was perfect! Not having to be the first ones to go, but also not having to wait till last).
While the first two girls got into their gear we all tried to pay careful attention as we got told that doing a tandem skydive isn't as easy as just jumping out of a plane and falling down, but there are actually a few things we had to keep in mind, and several important poses we had to perform. One of these is called "the banana", which is basically tilting your head backwards, crossing your arms over your chest and bending the bottom part of your legs towards your butt - so, as you can guess, you're kind of shaped like a banana. This is the pose you have to take when getting off the plane. Then there was the happy-thumbs-up-i-am-scared-out-of-my-pants-but-i-am-not-showing-it pose for the wing camera right before jumping out, and the instructions on how to best land without falling flat on your bum.
With the first girls off we had about 20 minutes to kill before the plane would return so Sam and I got slowly into are jumpsuits, got checked up again (and again) by our instructors and just generally tried not to freak out. My instructor's name was Laslo btw (which reminded me of Laslo from Doctor Who!). As the plane returned me and Sam both had a quick test run with the different poses (see pictures) before we crammed ourselves into the tiny plane. First Laslo went in, right into the back corner, than I scrambled inside and he pulled me straight into his crotch (lol), I had my feet positioned right behind the captain's seat. Than the other instructor came in, positioned to my left from my knees onwards and he pulled Sam into the same position as Laslo had done with me. Then, finally, there was the captain and off we went.
The plane flight itself was amazingly scenic and lasted for about 20 minutes. We went over pure white mountain ranges (the snow looked so soft, I just wanted to jump right into it!), saw Mt. Cook (the highest mountain in New Zealand standing at 12,320 feet/3,754 meters) and Mt. Tasman, flew over Fox Glacier, saw lakes that looked like little dots of water scattered around the landscape and finally went near the ocean, on which (even at 2pm in the afternoon) the sun reflected a gorgeous orange glow on the water in the distance.
Suddenly Laslo told me it was time to put my camera away (I had a string around my neck and had to push it down into my jumpsuit) as apparently we were at our jumping destination. First Sam and the instructor were off and then I slid towards the open door from the plane. I figured I'd have a moment to mentally prepare myself, but nope, I had to go straight out, lol! So I leant out of the plane, bend my legs backwards, smiled bravely for the camera and got into position for the actually jump. And HOLY CRAP!
It's hard to describe the actual experience, but I'll try my best as I'd love to have this recap to read it again later. First of all I closed my eyes for one second and when I opened them again I was falling (a lot faster than I expected!) upside down, the sea seemed to be positioned below the land and I was temporarily disorientated. Then we turned back around and I was able to actually see what was happening. I couldn't communicate with Laslo at this point as the wind was too strong, the noise too loud and the cold too piercing. I had my mouth open (no not because I was screaming! I was surprisingly calm tbh) and it was impossible to close because of the strong winds. It was also hurting my throat (I woke up with a small cold that morning so the wind wasn't very beneficial...), my jumpsuit was pulling everywhere and my ears were painful as well so this part of the jump wasn't very comfortable.
However, it was over pretty soon as I suddenly fell a hard tug on my shoulders, the parachute unfolded above me and it seemed like I was hanging still in mid-air. The wind was no longer a problem and Laslo told me to pop my ears. When I had successfully managed this he told me I could take out my camera and some clumsy seconds later (try pulling out a camera from underneath a jumpsuit, while wearing gloves and falling through the air!) I managed to do this and was able to really take in the absolutely amazing scenery around me.
We were falling (though it felt like we were hanging still) like this for a few minutes when Laslo asked me a question. Even after asking him to repeat it several times I was still unable to understand what he was saying (my ears were still a bit stuck I suppose) so he figured this was a 'yes' and I suddenly found myself going spirally downwards, going from left to right and back again (I realised later he had asked "Spiral??"), which, while thrilling, was also a bit nauseating. That was an interesting experience...
All too soon the entire jump from 12,000 feet/3,658 meters was over :( We were freefalling for about 45 seconds and then with the parachute for another 4 minutes, particularly the last part literally flew by without noticing. It was an incredible experience though - and I am mostly surprised, and pleased, I was hardly scared of doing this but was instead able to enjoy every single second of the skydive to its fullest :D
I woke up to a glorious sunny day (this is the view I had when walking out of my hostel)
Close-up of a snowy mountain peak
The plane we went up in
You can't see my thumbs up in this picture :( That's Laslo btw
A test thumbs up
And another one
At this point we were in the air on the plane so all the following pics are taken from the plane window
Fox Glacier
Laslo, me, invisible instructor, Sam
Mount Cook!
The thumbs, for real this time
The Banana
This picture and the following ones I made after the parachute went up
Sam in the distance
Me falling and taking pictures xD
And we're done...
I did it!YATTA!
After it was really over I took some pictures of the plane going up with the next people
|| Tired Tune : Westlife - "Queen of my Heart"
July 8: OMG THAT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!!
Ahum, aaaanyway. After calling and emailing the Skydive company several times (in the week before I headed in their direction) without being able to actually reach them I was getting worried I wouldn't be able to do this while in Franz Josef. Ever since I first read about this particular skydive a few months ago in someone else's travel recap I had my mind set on doing it as well. Not only because it would (as I imagined) be an extremely thrilling and once in a lifetime experience, but also because the scenery where this particular dive takes place is surrounded by snowy mountain ranges and is overall just breathtakingly stunning; for me the perfect place to experience this.
I arrived in Franz Josef in the evening of the Tuesday afternoon, unfortunately too late to try and reach them again, so I had one last shot the following morning. Having checked the weather report I saw that Thursday would be a beautiful day so I was crossing my fingers that they would have any spaces left. I was very surprised that one I was finally able to reach someone in the office, and two they had one spot left for that same day at 12.30 in the afternoon! Not wanting to miss out I booked it immediately and only after hanging up the phone did I realise what I had just done... I did however not have much time to freak-out as I needed to make a booking for something else as well and after quickly browsing through the tiny township of Franz Josef (two streets, each about a five minute walk one-way) it was nearly time for me to get picked up.
Including me there were six girls doing the skydive at around the same time. The drive to the Skydive centre in Fox Glacier took about 20 minutes, which gave us enough time to briefly get to know one another and hype each other up about what we were about to do. Arriving at our destination we got split up into three pairs, as the plane taking us up was too small to fit us all at once. I got teamed up with a lovely girl from the UK called Sam and we were scheduled second (which I thought was perfect! Not having to be the first ones to go, but also not having to wait till last).
While the first two girls got into their gear we all tried to pay careful attention as we got told that doing a tandem skydive isn't as easy as just jumping out of a plane and falling down, but there are actually a few things we had to keep in mind, and several important poses we had to perform. One of these is called "the banana", which is basically tilting your head backwards, crossing your arms over your chest and bending the bottom part of your legs towards your butt - so, as you can guess, you're kind of shaped like a banana. This is the pose you have to take when getting off the plane. Then there was the happy-thumbs-up-i-am-scared-out-of-my-pants-but-i-am-not-showing-it pose for the wing camera right before jumping out, and the instructions on how to best land without falling flat on your bum.
With the first girls off we had about 20 minutes to kill before the plane would return so Sam and I got slowly into are jumpsuits, got checked up again (and again) by our instructors and just generally tried not to freak out. My instructor's name was Laslo btw (which reminded me of Laslo from Doctor Who!). As the plane returned me and Sam both had a quick test run with the different poses (see pictures) before we crammed ourselves into the tiny plane. First Laslo went in, right into the back corner, than I scrambled inside and he pulled me straight into his crotch (lol), I had my feet positioned right behind the captain's seat. Than the other instructor came in, positioned to my left from my knees onwards and he pulled Sam into the same position as Laslo had done with me. Then, finally, there was the captain and off we went.
The plane flight itself was amazingly scenic and lasted for about 20 minutes. We went over pure white mountain ranges (the snow looked so soft, I just wanted to jump right into it!), saw Mt. Cook (the highest mountain in New Zealand standing at 12,320 feet/3,754 meters) and Mt. Tasman, flew over Fox Glacier, saw lakes that looked like little dots of water scattered around the landscape and finally went near the ocean, on which (even at 2pm in the afternoon) the sun reflected a gorgeous orange glow on the water in the distance.
Suddenly Laslo told me it was time to put my camera away (I had a string around my neck and had to push it down into my jumpsuit) as apparently we were at our jumping destination. First Sam and the instructor were off and then I slid towards the open door from the plane. I figured I'd have a moment to mentally prepare myself, but nope, I had to go straight out, lol! So I leant out of the plane, bend my legs backwards, smiled bravely for the camera and got into position for the actually jump. And HOLY CRAP!
It's hard to describe the actual experience, but I'll try my best as I'd love to have this recap to read it again later. First of all I closed my eyes for one second and when I opened them again I was falling (a lot faster than I expected!) upside down, the sea seemed to be positioned below the land and I was temporarily disorientated. Then we turned back around and I was able to actually see what was happening. I couldn't communicate with Laslo at this point as the wind was too strong, the noise too loud and the cold too piercing. I had my mouth open (no not because I was screaming! I was surprisingly calm tbh) and it was impossible to close because of the strong winds. It was also hurting my throat (I woke up with a small cold that morning so the wind wasn't very beneficial...), my jumpsuit was pulling everywhere and my ears were painful as well so this part of the jump wasn't very comfortable.
However, it was over pretty soon as I suddenly fell a hard tug on my shoulders, the parachute unfolded above me and it seemed like I was hanging still in mid-air. The wind was no longer a problem and Laslo told me to pop my ears. When I had successfully managed this he told me I could take out my camera and some clumsy seconds later (try pulling out a camera from underneath a jumpsuit, while wearing gloves and falling through the air!) I managed to do this and was able to really take in the absolutely amazing scenery around me.
We were falling (though it felt like we were hanging still) like this for a few minutes when Laslo asked me a question. Even after asking him to repeat it several times I was still unable to understand what he was saying (my ears were still a bit stuck I suppose) so he figured this was a 'yes' and I suddenly found myself going spirally downwards, going from left to right and back again (I realised later he had asked "Spiral??"), which, while thrilling, was also a bit nauseating. That was an interesting experience...
All too soon the entire jump from 12,000 feet/3,658 meters was over :( We were freefalling for about 45 seconds and then with the parachute for another 4 minutes, particularly the last part literally flew by without noticing. It was an incredible experience though - and I am mostly surprised, and pleased, I was hardly scared of doing this but was instead able to enjoy every single second of the skydive to its fullest :D
I woke up to a glorious sunny day (this is the view I had when walking out of my hostel)
Close-up of a snowy mountain peak
The plane we went up in
You can't see my thumbs up in this picture :( That's Laslo btw
A test thumbs up
And another one
At this point we were in the air on the plane so all the following pics are taken from the plane window
Fox Glacier
Laslo, me, invisible instructor, Sam
Mount Cook!
The thumbs, for real this time
The Banana
This picture and the following ones I made after the parachute went up
Sam in the distance
Me falling and taking pictures xD
And we're done...
I did it!
After it was really over I took some pictures of the plane going up with the next people
