Lake Taupo – Climbing and Falling

After Rotorua the three of us navigated our way down to Whanganui Bay to do some climbing. There were only about 3 turnings to remember to get there, yet somehow we managed to go wrong at all of them, with James trailing at the back of the convoy, the only one with a Sat Nav. Ridiculous. Eventually we managed to get there, even after negotiating the questionable road down to the bay (4x4 recommended, but Ron took it in his stride). Even though the campsite had no running water (therefore facing three days of not showering) the location and the view of the lake from my tent made up for it…

My Tent and My View at Whanganui Bay

The next three days we spent climbing round the area; highlights including leading my first 21 (though then being unable to lead a 17 showing just how wildly inconsistent my climbing ability is at the moment!) and doing an epic multi pitch 16 on trad called “Tibia” (which involved being shoved in awkward chimneys, catching Nathans sunglasses out of midair on the second pitch, having a unexplainable panic whilst bridging up the third pitch on top rope and almost getting caught short of rope on our abseil back down).

Jammed in a Chimney Climbing at Whanganui Bay

Abseiling Down to a Ledge, Which the Ropes Dont Quite Reach...

We spent the evenings huddled in tents or cars trying to stay out the wind and chatting to other climbers. I also rather luckily managed to replace my shoes seeing as mine had holes in the toes. A girl at the campsite had the same shoes as mine, in my size, used once and too small for her in the back of her car. So I bought them off her, pretty lucky for both of us.

After three days of climbing and not washing (other than a VERY quick swim in the lake with Grupple the rope in an attempt to give him a bath) we were pretty ready to get back to running water. So next on the agenda was Taupo, where we set up at a hostel called Rainbow Lodge. From there I booked my Sky Dive, the main reason I was there (other than to shower).

After a sleepless night in a 4 person shared dorm (1 very loud snorer, 3 unhappy awake people) I was on my way to the airport (a shed and a plane in a field) to do my Sky Dive. After a brief DVD introduction, deciding what kind of extortionate media we wanted to pay for, putting on our jumpsuits and harnesses, meeting our Tandem partners and grabbing an attractive hat/goggles combo. We were all shoved in the plane (literally sat on top of one another) and on our way climbing to 15,000ft.

Nerves didn’t really start to kick in until suddenly the plane door opens, you take off your oxygen mask and you think to yourself “frig I’m about to jump out a plane! I’m sure its not logic to be doing this… Don’t think about it, don’t think about it, turn and smile at the camera, don’t look out the door, don’t look out the door, OH MY GOD IM FALLING OUT A PLANE!”

Smile at The Camera, Dont Think About Jumping out the Plane

After several confusing seconds of tumbling around, getting used to the wind in your face, figuring out how to breath and trying to cope with how fast your travelling, you’re the right way up again and just continuing to fall. Then the camera man comes to take some shots (in my case you ignore him for a bit trying to look down, even though the instructor is trying to get you to look up into the camera), then you flail your arms around a bit, have a brief stint of pretending to be super man, then your parachute gets pulled and the fall is over (65 seconds in total, but it feels like its about 20)

Few Seconds of Tumbling and Disorientation

Free Falling from 15,000ft and Having Fun. Honest.

Pull the Chute and the Free Fall is Over

You then spend the next 10 minutes or so parachuting down to the landing pad and actually being able to take in the beautiful scenery. You also get to experience the brief second of pure terror when your tandem partner loosens your harness without telling you and you think your about to drop off him, and then having a bit of mild manic laughter. Then its time to lift up your legs, land and recover.

Finally you all sit and watch the DVD, cry a bit over how much money you just paid to free fall for a minute (but know that really, it was worth it), pick up your “free t-shirt” (most expensive free t-shirt in the world) and then go and sit and doze in a field all afternoon, looking and the sky and remember falling through it.