Skydiving
- Written by
- Kim Rademakers
When I said ‘yes’ to the opportunity to do a skydive, it was such a spur-of-the-moment reaction, that I didn’t really consider what I had signed myself up for. It wasn’t till a little later that I thought ‘am I crazy?’
I arrived at Taupō Tandem Skydiving secretly thinking maybe it would be too windy to dive – but it wasn’t, and it was time to go.
As I suited up, I had a bit of an out-of-body experience. I was paired with an instructor called Hamish and was relieved to hear he has over 20 years skydiving experience – phew! Hamish reassured me all would be well and to sit back, watch the safety video, and enjoy the perfect skydiving conditions.
I also recall seeing a man in his late 70’s gearing up for a skydive behind me. That’s when I knew that if he could do it, so could I!
Up, up and away!
On take-off it actually felt like a regular flight for the first couple of minutes, and I almost forgot what I was about to do because the scenery was so breathtaking. It’s wasn’t until the side of the plane opened up that reality struck and I realised there was only one way out!
I was second in line to jump and watching the first diver’s reaction was terrifying – I’ll admit it. So, when it was my turn to stand at the door, I knew I just couldn’t look down. Even though I was strapped to Hamish (he was actually the one sitting on the edge of the plane, while I was effectively dangling out of it) it didn’t make it any less scary! In the final minutes before jumping I remember thinking, “Just hurry up and jump already!” The suspense was really getting to me and I do think that this part of the journey was the scariest – sitting and waiting to fall.
What goes up, must come down
The free fall was nothing I had ever experienced before. I did have a moment of pure panic when I thought, “What have I done?” But after that I couldn’t stop smiling and was trying to look around and take in as much as possible before it was all over. It was one of the most ‘freeing’ feelings ever.
When the parachute came out it was quite a heavy jolt and made a loud flapping noise as it unravelled. After that, everything went quiet and a huge sense of accomplishment came over me.
In my opinion, the view made the whole thing so worth it. I couldn’t believe I could see all the way over to Mt Taranaki! I also got a better idea of the sheer size of Lake Taupō – it’s huge.
Once we landed on the ground, I was really proud to have gone through with something so crazy. I feel like I can really conquer anything after completing that! So, if skydiving is on your bucket list, I definitely recommend ticking it off.