We woke up feeling exhausted and left
Christchurch around 10a.m., we couldn’t wait to get out of there. We chose to
drive to Greymouth via Arthur’s Pass and onward to Franz Josef, totaling 407km. It was a beautiful sunny day, which was
perfect for driving and pictures.
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| This is the car that took us from Bluff to Cape Reinga |
We got into Greymouth much earlier than we
had expected so we hit up a library for some free Wi-Fi (I have a very old
smartphone that makes online bookings almost impossible). Once we had arranged
and booked our hostel stay and skydiving adventure for the next day, we were back on the road.
Originally we were planning on taking a bus to Franz Josef since it was off our
path and we already had 4 unused buss tickets, but the buses were fully booked
and we did not want to postpone our skydive (bookme.com has great deals but
they’re only good for certain dates – we couldn’t match our cheaper skydive
dates with the bus dates).
On
our drive through Arthur’s Pass I saw a Kiwi bird and was so sad that I missed
an opportunity to snap a picture of it. Amanda doesn’t think I saw one but I
know of no other animals that look like it, so I’m going with that was what I
saw. Once we got into Franz Josef, we checked into our hostel, had a good
dinner and went to bed early for a good night’s sleep – you will want to have
had a good rest before jumping out of a plane after all.
The
next morning we both felt like killing time until 2:30p.m. would be impossible,
we were both too excited to sit still. By 2:00p.m. we checked into the skydive
office to get weighed and sign all the necessary paperwork; you know, that “no
liability” stuff in case you die kind of paperwork. Unfortunately, clouds had started to come
in over the glacier so the jump was postponed by half an hour. Thankfully it
did not have to be postponed any further and we were brought to the jump site
for briefing and gearing up. There was only Amanda, me, and two other guys who
were jumping that afternoon. Only one of the guys had ever jumped before, we
were all going to jump at 15,000 feet.
Once
all your gear is on, each jumper goes through a briefing of what to do when the
jump takes place with each of our instructors. Then they do a short film
interview before we board the plane. The airplane is quite small, there was
only enough space for Amanda, her instructor, me, my instructor, and one
instructor with an in-training instructor (the two guys had to wait until we
got back before they would go up). The two other instructors jumped first and
they just disappeared; they fell so fast I couldn’t believe it. Then, it was my
turn. The most nerve-racking part was propping yourself onto the edge of
the plane with your legs hanging over. Then, you rock back and forth and prop
your head back against your instructor and bend your legs back, so your in the
shape of a banana. Then you fall. Nothing seems real until you no longer feel
the bottom of the plane under your butt, and you realize that it is too late – there’s no turning back and you are seriously falling in the sky. We started to fall backward and all I
could see was the sky and sun; I kept thinking, "this doesn't seem right". Then we did an awesome backflip and we started
to fall face forward. It doesn’t feel like you’re falling as fast as you really
are (when you watch someone else fall it looks like it won’t take long before
they smash into the ground). We were in free-fall for a total of 65 seconds,
but it felt longer. Then the parachute opens and all of a sudden you think that it didn’t feel
as long as you had just thought a moment ago.
Once
the parachute opened it was time for some crazy 360° spins. My
instructor let me hold onto the straps and put us into spins, but I’ll admit
that my arm strength is pathetic so I needed his help to spin us really fast; it
was good fun. The views from that height are breathtaking! I recommend spending
the extra money for photos because there is no other way to get those shots.
The whole experience made me think that being a bird would be the best choice
in case of reincarnation into animals, just saying. Although our landing was
not as elegant as that of a bird. Upon landing, we skidded on our butts. If you
have not gone skydiving at least once in your life, it is something I highly
recommend as I have never experience that many different emotions at once;
plus, the views and wind/sun on your face is well worth it. Keep in mind, the wind here
was super cold because it was winter when we did our jump and we chose
to do it at Franz Josef Glacier. I don't know why we decided this, I
personally hate winter and can't handle too cold and/or snow. Yes, I know,
I'm a pathetic Canadian.
Anyhow, afterwards
Amanda and I were discussing what our next adrenaline adventure should be but
we were having difficulties coming up with ideas. The only more extreme thing I
could come up with was going to the moon, but if you can think of anything else
(hopefully not as expensive as the moon) let me know!
We
went back into town and had some dinner as a Chinese/Thai/Indian restaurant and
stayed in our car at another campground. The next morning we did the Franz
Josef Glacier Valley hike: a 1.5 hour (return) walk to see the glacier. You can
hike the actual glacier as well but it’s quite expensive; you need to take a
helicopter that drops you off on the glacier – they’re organized group
hikes. Since the skydiving adventure took a big bite out of our budget we did
not do the helicopter/glacier hike. The hike we did gets you to about 500
meters away from the glacier, but you do get a good view of it. The glacier has been receding quite a bit as where we were standing was where it used to be only back in 2008.
After the hike we drove up
the west coast on our way to Nelson.
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