SkyJump

As me, Justin, Chris, and Stu are all on a similar time scale and on the Kiwi Experience we all went down to the Kiwi Experience office to sort out our Itinerary! We managed to get that sorted and are all together up until Queenstown in the South Island which is wikkid! Were all leaving Auckland on 6th as there was no bus on a sunday and heading to Whitianga.

The Auckland Sky Tower is a 5 minute walk from out hostel and we had seen on the shuttle bus from the airport you could do a 192m / 630ft jump from the top it. This is New Zealands highest base jump by wire and looked like a good starter to build us up for a sky dive so me and Chris decided to give it a go. We went up the Sky Tower to get kitted out in a jump suit and harness before getting in the lift to the top. It was dark by this time and the whole city was lit so the views were amazing, I really like seeing a city at night as all the lights look unbelievable. Anyway Chris wanted to jump first so they double checked our harnesses and then he went off to take the plunge while I watched in a room next to the platform. I heard him shout something just as he dropped, which I think was a swear word haha! I couldn't see him land but they started to retract the cable so I knew he had got down. Now right at this second the rain started to hammer down and you could see it hitting off one of the near-by lights, this was just before I was about to be hooked up 100% sods law! It wasnt actaully as bad as it looked when I got out onto the platform where I had my photo taken woohoo!! I then got the countdown 3...2...1... and then lept off the platform which was quite scary but once I had jumped it felt like a piece of cake. About 5 metres down I was stopped so another photo could be taken before dropping again 187 metres to the platform below. I didnt look down at all as I was so busy taking in the views and the jump was amazing a really unforgettable experience. I made a perfect landing and had given my camera to Stu so he could take a video of me coming down which was ok but it was a bit too dark to see me for about two thirds of the fall. The Airtime was approximately 16 seconds with a plummet speed of around 75kph!

We then went to get the gear off and collect our certificates and photos. I was a bit dissapointed to find out my mid-air shot hadnt come out so got them to put my sole picture onto a cd for free. The other photo before the jump came out well, but I will just have to wait until I find a computer where I can upload it onto here.

Being lazy again we all went to get pizzas from dominoes before the Lions game started which were going to watch in the bar downstairs and then have a wander around Auckland to see whats about.


Everyone will be pleased to know that a new camera has been sorted for me which I will hopefully be collecting within the next week so I can start taking pics again :D