Somewhere along the way in my planning of our New Zealand trip, I decided it might be fun to try skydiving. I'm not sure how this came about; I think it started as more of a joke. I knew I had to bungy jump while we were there, and we planned to do the canyoning and jetboat ride, so plenty of exciting activities were already on the itinerary, but I kept coming back to the idea.
Zack is screaming affirmations at himself to pump himself up!
Zack had already been skydiving in the United States, but it wasn't an exciting location (to avoid offending readers from a certain state, I won't say where!). He was willing to do it again in New Zealand, and I figured if I didn't do it there, I probably wouldn't do it anywhere else.
This was before the ear pain set in!
I always thought skydiving was out of the question for me, because of my numerous ear infections as a child and a few burst eardrums as an adult. I was most scared of the pain that would probably come with the pressure change during the freefall, and I've always avoided scuba diving for the same reason (pressure changes).
Zack perfected his Maori face!
I decided to give it a whirl, and I booked us to skydive on January 1. What better way to bring in the new year? Unfortunately, the rainy weather didn't agree with our plans, and we had to put it off for a few days. But on Friday, January 4, we did it!
My knuckles say "I love NZ, 2013."
We jumped with Skydive Paradise, whose location is near Glenorchy. That meant that we got awesome views of mountains, water, and even some Lord of the Rings filming sites. After a fifteen minute scenic flight, we were at our jump height of 12,000 feet. By the way, the third person on our plane was a 70-something year old grandmother who got a 15,000 foot jump as a birthday present from her grandchildren! Anyway, skydiving was actually less scary than bungy jumping, because the guy on your back is in charge, and you don't really have to do anything. The most frightening moment was probably when your legs are dangling out of the plane right before your instructor leans out and you start falling.
We were above a layer of clouds when we jumped. Zack went first, and it was kind of alarming to see him sitting in the plane one minute and then totally gone the next. I found it difficult to breathe during the freefall. And yes, one of my ears hurt. A lot. But once the parachute was pulled, I was able to equalize the pressure with some yawns and plugging my nose and blowing out. Then I could enjoy the amazing views. Wow; it was incredible! My instructor did some spins, and I just looked around and soaked it all up. I landed smoothly on my feet and waited for Zack to reach ground too (somehow I beat him down).
Skydiving was definitely one of the most amazing things I've ever done in my life, and I'd recommend everyone do it just once. I don't think I'd do it again, partly because of the ear pain, and mostly because I don't think I could have nearly as awesome of an experience as I did in New Zealand, but it was so, so cool. It was my favorite thing we did on this trip for sure (swimming with the dolphins would be second). I've included our videos below, but if you only have time or the interest level to watch one, Zack's is better. I'm in his anyway, and he makes fun faces! If you are even remotely considering skydiving at some point in your life, DO IT!!! I promise you won't regret it; I don't! Update: Shout out to my parents and aunt and uncle who did this exact same skydive today (Feb. 5). They are living it up in New Zealand!
After our afternoon Shotover Jet boat ride, we spent Thursday evening atop the Skyline gondola in Queenstown. After the gondola ride, we started out by seeing the Kiwi Haka show, which was an entertaining (though a bit cheesy) performance that showcased Maori singing and dancing. It was full of audience participation; here I am learning how to work the poi balls. Below is a video of Zack learning to do the Haka, which is the traditional Maori war dance done by the All Blacks rugby team before each game. It was here that Zack also perfected the Maori face that graced so many of our future pictures on this trip.
After the show, we enjoyed the views of Queenstown and rode the luge at the top two times, which was surprisingly fun and fast.
See the rainbows?
After our luge rides, we enjoyed the amazing buffet. There were so many choices, including tons of fresh seafood and yummy desserts. We considered this to be our traditional Christmas dinner, and we pigged out as the sun went down.
Going to the top of the gondola is a must-do in Queenstown. The show, luge rides, and buffet dinner added to the fun of the evening, and it was a New Zealand night to remember.
Milford Sound is considered a must-do when visiting the South Island of New Zealand. However, it's one of the wettest places in the world, and the day we visited was no exception to the usual rain.
Because our kayaking trip was cancelled, we took a scenic boat cruise of Milford Sound instead. When we saw these kayakers braving the cold, windy, wet weather, we were quite glad we weren't among them.
Milford Sound is beautiful, even in the rain. There are tons of waterfalls, enormous mountain peaks, seals hanging out on rocks, and gorgeous views along the whole trip. There's not much else to say about it, so I'll leave you with a few pictures of our wet trip.
The boat you can see (which is a large boat) might give you an idea of the size of the mountains.
On January 2, we were scheduled to kayak at Milford Sound. Unfortunately, with all of the rain, the road to Milford had been closed for a couple of days and we didn't know if it was going to open back up in time. Well, it didn't open in time for our 9am kayak trip, so that was cancelled, but it did open at 11am, so we were able to drive there from Te Anau for an afternoon scenic boat ride (more on that in the next post). I'd say that the drive to get there was just as, if not more beautiful than Milford Sound itself. I think the rain actually added to the amazing sights.
One of our stops along the way was Mirror Lakes, which (when it's not raining) has a lovely reflection of the mountains in the water. We didn't get to see the reflection, but the lupins were pretty. Lupins are the pink and purple wildflowers that you see everywhere when driving around New Zealand at this time of year. I couldn't get enough of them!
Because of all the rain, the water levels everywhere were high. This rushing river was super loud, and I could see why the road had been closed for a few days, as the bridge looked like it could easily be flooded.
The rain did make for spectacular waterfalls all over the rocks. It reminded me of my trip to Uluru, where it never stopped raining but gave us a unique viewing experience. This picture is just before you go through Homer Tunnel (over a kilometer long!), and the one below is the view just after going through the tunnel.
Another stop along the way is called The Chasm. You do a short walk through an extremely green forested area to see swirling water rush through deep rock holes. It was pretty cool.
These birds are called Keas, and they are the world's only alpine parrots. You see them hanging out in parking lots on the way to Milford Sound, because the tourists feed them. We even saw one Kea trying to chew on the molding of a car roof. The owner of the car didn't like that too much!
Even though it was a long, wet drive, the road to Milford Sound was one of the prettiest I've seen. I wish we could go back and experience it in the sunshine as well!
We made it back to Melbourne late last night, so we're getting back into the swing of things today. I have plenty of stories about our crazy time in Byron Bay, but I'll save those for when my parents come back through (they are in New Zealand right now) and I can use some of their pictures. Anyway, I also have some posts in the works about the Australian Open and Luna Park. But tomorrow I'll get back to the posts about our trip to New Zealand and try to finish those up by the end of next week!
We are currently stranded in Byron Bay. Our flights were cancelled, there is no way for us to get to Sydney until at least tomorrow, and the rain and wind haven't let up for three days. Oh yeah, and the power went out about an hour ago. So much for our glorious beach vacation/ Australia Day/birthday celebration! I'm down to 7% phone battery, so I should go now. Hopefully we'll get home tomorrow and my family will be able to get to New Zealand somehow.
We were above a layer of clouds when we jumped. Zack went first, and it was kind of alarming to see him sitting in the plane one minute and then totally gone the next. I found it difficult to breathe during the freefall. And yes, one of my ears hurt. A lot. But once the parachute was pulled, I was able to equalize the pressure with some yawns and plugging my nose and blowing out. Then I could enjoy the amazing views. Wow; it was incredible! My instructor did some spins, and I just looked around and soaked it all up. I landed smoothly on my feet and waited for Zack to reach ground too (somehow I beat him down).
Skydiving was definitely one of the most amazing things I've ever done in my life, and I'd recommend everyone do it just once. I don't think I'd do it again, partly because of the ear pain, and mostly because I don't think I could have nearly as awesome of an experience as I did in New Zealand, but it was so, so cool. It was my favorite thing we did on this trip for sure (swimming with the dolphins would be second). I've included our videos below, but if you only have time or the interest level to watch one, Zack's is better. I'm in his anyway, and he makes fun faces! If you are even remotely considering skydiving at some point in your life, DO IT!!! I promise you won't regret it; I don't! Update: Shout out to my parents and aunt and uncle who did this exact same skydive today (Feb. 5). They are living it up in New Zealand!
