In the morning we had an included ride in the shot over jet which was really fun. It's a really fast jet boat that goes through big rock formation and drives about 3 cm away from the sides of the rock. Definitely a thrill ride!
After the jet boat we went to a little town called arrowtown and had a snack in a bakery there. It was a really cute little town!
Next was the biggest event of the trip: Skydiving. The day before I had been thinking "Ok, this is gonna be awesome, nothing to be worried about!" But when I woke up that morning all I could think was "Why the hell did I sign up to do this again?" We met at the skydiving office in the city and I literally had to slow down my breathing to stop myself from hyperventilating. We paid and signed all the paperwork and then got driven out to the dive site. Luckily we were the first plane so I didn't have too much time to psych myself out. They got us into our skydive suits and we got into the plane to fly up to 15,000 ft. The options were either 9000, 12000, or 15000 ft but I figured if I'm going to do it (probably only once ever) then I'm just gonna do the highest and get it over with. As we start going up in the plane I was freaking out a bit but trying not to think about it. I had been the last person to get into the plane so naturally was going to be the first one to jump out since I was right by the door. There was a guy in our plane who was training to become an instructor or something so when we reached 12,000 ft the door opened and he just disappeared out of it. And that's when the tears started coming. At that point (as I was crying) my only thought was "I'm such an idiot for signing up for this." Backing out at that point was never going to be an option for me but I was definitely wishing I had never decided to do it in the first place. We finally got up to 15,000 ft and it was my turn to jump. They opened up the door and my instructor (who I was strapped VERY tightly to thank god) shuffled us over to the door and sat on the edge so I was essentially hanging down from his harness over 15,000 ft of nothing. I of course freaked out and was screaming and yelling that I didn't want to do it but there was no turning back, he threw us out of that plane.
 |
| #noregrets is the Contiki slogan so we all wrote it on our hands as a bit of a joke. Although, clearly from my face I was feeling the regret at this point. |
 |
| Yep, freaking out. |
For about 2 or 3 seconds it was the biggest regret of my life. I actually thought maybe I had died for a second since I had no idea which way was up and all I could feel was my body hurdling downwards at 200 km/hour. But then, we got upright and I saw the face of the photographer (they send another guy out with you to take pictures and video) and I realized that I was actually alive and then it quickly turned from the biggest regret to the biggest feeling of accomplishment ever. It doesn't even feel like falling once you reach terminal velocity. It's impossible to explain to anyone who hasn't done it but even though it was the scariest thing I've ever done in my life I had never felt so safe and alive. After 55 seconds of free fall the instructor pulled the parachute and my first thought was "awe the parachute bit already?" quickly followed by "wait that means the parachute actually worked and we're going to live so yay." I kinda just floated there in the parachute for a couple minutes and then had a very smooth landing down back at the dive site. If you ever want to feel on top of the world, skydive. I promise you there is no better feeling in the world. I will 100% skydive again in my lifetime.
 |
| Yeah whatever, just flipping out of a plane here |
 |
| Ok, at this point I could honestly show the no regrets and mean it |
 |
| Top of the world |
After skydiving we went back into town and had a celebratory Fergburger (a really famous burger place in Queenstown) and then headed back to the hotel to relax for a while. I went back into town after showering and changing to pick up my skydiving photos which turned out awesome (as you can see above)! The group went out for drinks and food that night but a few of us went back to the hotel kinda early to get some rest after a very exciting day!
 |
| The best tour group I could have ever hoped for |
No comments:
Post a Comment