One, Two, Jump!

Tuesday 5 March

When asked about their favorite experience during our time away, both Tevka & Torin have said it was skydiving. Instead of joining them, Todd & I decided we would let the girls share the rush with each other while we stayed on the ground.

They got a jump on skydiving in New Zealand since it’s permissible for people under 18 to do a tandem dive…as opposed to here in the U.S. where even parental consent is not enough.

Two places in NZ are most recommended for skydiving – Lake Taupo on the North Island and the Abel Tasman area on the South Island. Rather than waiting longer, we opted to schedule the jump before we left the South Island and get a vantage point that would allow them to see beaches, ocean and parts of both islands. Torin found a decent price (or maybe I should say an “epic deal”) with Skydive Abel Tasman through Bookme New Zealand a website that provides appealing discounts to area activities, especially if you’re willing to go at off-peak times. The 10am slot combined with an hour-long drive stretched our ability to pack up and leave our lodging, but we did it! And like most NZ adventure activities, we discovered the company builds in time for arrival and paperwork.

After watching a pre-flight video, being pitched various photography packages and signing waivers, the girls got suited up.

They were each assigned a professional tandem master. Tevka would go with Richie and Torin was paired with Dan. Their jump partners weren’t on hand yet, though – they would soon be floating down with the prior skydivers.

We hung out for awhile and waited for the airplane to come back.

The weather was beautiful and the excitement continued to build.

Finally the tandem masters were back!

The girls each got a final briefing…

…then they headed to the airplane.

They would have a 20-minute flight (or so I thought), then jump and freefall for 45 seconds before the parachutes were pulled and they would float down for three to five more minutes.

Todd & I stayed on the ground and heard the rest after-the-fact….it went so fast! As it turned out, 20 minutes was the total time, from when they taxied away until the chutes were crumpled on the ground and Todd & I realized that was indeed Tevka & Torin who had just landed.

Here’s how it went in Tevka’s words:

“Met Richie my tandem dude. Piled into the plane. We all sit on their laps which is really funny. I watched Torin zoom outta the plane and then it was my turn. Banana formation. I jumped out of a plane! The free fall was mind-boggling. Crazy views – South & a little bit of the North Island. That flew by (45 seconds) and then we were parachuting. Did some turns. 13,000 feet later we were on the ground. The coolest thing I’ve ever done!”

They were back on Earth and thrilled with the experience!

I loved their big grins – and those old-style leather helmets! We all thought they looked ready to blast out of a cannon.

Next time I’ll go along for the mind-boggling experience – tandem skydiving looks like a blast!