So what's left after jumping from 134 and 440 feet? How about jumping from 12,000 feet? It seemed like a logical step, as well as a great finale for my weekend of celebration. However, I woke up this morning with my stomach turning. In my mind I kept imagining dangling from the side of an airplane, staring down at nothing. I spent the entire morning doing anything possible to avoid thinking about the jump, but finally the time came to head over to drop zone. We started by watching a DVD of previous jumpers and strangely, as soon as I saw them jumping I knew everything would be okay. Everyone looked so happy, it looked like it was impossible not to have fun.
The whole event went off without a problem. Sure, my insides were all tied up in knots as 10 of us stacked up inside an impossibly small plane, my face pressed up against the glass panel that would slide back once we hit 12,000 feet. But unlike bungy jumping, you don't have to do much. Your master diver directs you around and basically pushes you through the door. All you need to do is attempt to smile so the pictures don't look too strange (sadly, I failed that task).
I splurged for the photo/DVD combo pack too, so you can see some pictures over here. I really like my inability to control my facial muscles as I'm dangling out the side of the plane, the "look out I might lose my lunch" expression as we started falling, and me being way too excited about holding the camera man's hand in flight.
I went into the whole experience thinking "make sure you enjoy every second, this is a once in a life time opportunity!" I definitely enjoyed the whole thing, but I'm not sure it was actually a "once in a lifetime" thing. I may be up there again someday. But for now I'm happy to have both feet planted firmly on the ground. I've accomplished everything I wanted to do here in New Zealand. And although I'm starting to feel a little sad about leaving, I can't wait to see Australia!
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