Living The High Life In Taupo

Incredible

So I'v been living in Taupo for a month now. It's nearly time for me to leave. I have almost finished my work with GNS studying volcanoes and I'm soon off to Auckland to work with the University there, to continue my ambition in volcanology. It will be a shame to leave Taupo, it feels like home to me now. We are such good friends with the people in our hostel, and most of the locals too because there is a real, small-town atmosphere here. I'll be leaving Darren here too when I leave - he is staying on but we have already decided to meet up after I have finished in Auckland. Where we will go - who knows but I'v been living like that for such a long time now (not knowing what the hell is going on from one day to the next or where I will end up tomorrow) that it's just part of my life these days. I will also miss this beautiful part of the country - with the largest lake in the Southern Hemisphere sitting in my backyard, and views of three volcanic peaks from my hostel balcony - why would I want to leave. Those views are heightened when I take my one and a half hour walk to work. At first it was a bit of a pain - treking that far to work each day and these days I often get a lift in, but I will those miss those walks - especially on my return leg when your perched up high on a hill looking down as the sun sets over Taupo and the Tongariro Mountain peaks.

However - enough of all that. As it's soon time for me to depart Taupo - there was still one main thing here that I had not done - and that was Skydiving. Taupo is considered the Skydiving capital of the world as well as one of the cheapest places to launch yourself out of a plane. It is also one of those things that I have wanted to do since I was a kid. In fact my good friend Darren and another friend Alexander Shaverin had planned on doing one back in England when we were in our teens - but it never quite happened for reasons I can never quite remember. Unfortunately Alexander isn't with us anymore but with Darren joining me on the other side of the globe, we thought we would do it as a tribute to our old friend.

In a twist of irony - Darren and I did our skydive jumps seperately. He works during the weekend and I only have those two days off. On the one day we tried to book it together - it got cancelled down to bad weather. Darren had completed his jump two days ago and had loved every minute. So I decided, with weather on my side this time - that it was my turn. Today I booked myself in for a 15,000ft skydive - the highest comercial jump you can do. Let me tell you how incredible it is. By a long way it's one of the most unbelievable things I have ever done. Putting bungy jumping to a mere walk in the park - leaping out a plane and freefalling for 4.6km (2.8 miles) is like nothing else.

First your harnessed up - then I met my tandem master - his name was John - he was Brazillian and he had done over 6,000 jumps before - I was happy about that. We had 4 others crammed into the small aircraft and before you realise whats going on - the plane is taking off. It takes about 25 minutes to climb the 15,000 feet. With me was also my camera-man. I had the full photo and dvd option - so not only was a camera attached to John's arm (handycam) but I also had a seperate camera-man jumping just to get photos and a dvd of me (smiling hopefully). It was a scenic flight up as I chatted to John about his skydiving life (a new ambition now formulated in my head). The lake (even for it's immense size) now appeared a mere pond as we climbed above the clouds. I was the first jumper. The doors open, the camera-man hangs out the side of the plane - you move to the end - your legs hanging over the side and you take that first look down and realise what your doing is completely insane. You turn briefely for your exit photo and then the tandem master rolls you out.

The first few seconds are the best. I mean the whole experience is just fantastic - but just with the bungy jumps - it's those first moments that you savour. You spin and roll before stabilising. The thought that your falling 200km per hour didn't really cross my mind at the time. It's just an amazing feeling. All you feel is wind, but what you see is everything. From this height you can actually see the South Island of New Zealand - and if I squinted I was sure I could see Mars. I played around in freefall with my camera-man and John, having fun and smiling to the camera. You realise how quickly things on the ground start to increase in size as you continue to fly back to Earth. The whole freefall at this height lasts 60 seconds. Thats 1 minute of pure adrenaline, before the tandem master pulls that very important cord, letting the parachute deploy. You feel a slight tug and suddenly you slow to a gentle decent.

This part of the expereince is just as amazing. You now get to take a good look over the incredible scenery laid out before you. Lake Taupo dominates below, and the snow capped Ngauruhoe and Tongariro loom in the distance. It's a gentle fall and I was allowed to take control of the parachute, steering us both - he obviously doesn't know me or he probably wouldn't have let me take control. We eventually make it to safe ground - on our arse's.

While waiting for the photos and dvd's to be processed I got chatting to two of the workers at Taupo Tandem Skydiving (TTS) and got offered two jobs. I'm leaving Taupo soon - but I said if I ever return that I would give them a call. Don't worry mum - the job doesn't involve jumping out of a plane, one was working at TTS and the other in a hostel. I'll keep both in mind.

It was a life dream to skydive and now i'v done it - it didn't disappoint at any stage. I would make it a hobby if I had money to. Although me and Darren didn't do it together we both (in our own ways) dedicated our jumps to Alexander Shaverin who is still sorely missed by us both.

If your ever thinking about doing a skydive - then stop thinking and just go - you won't regret it. It is the biggest adrenaline rush of your life and although I am safely back down on the ground now I still feel like i'm walking on clouds..............