Sky Diving in Tauranga

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My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

It was Matt’s idea to go Skydiving in Tauranga. He said I should do it there and he would come with me. I can’t remember how I justified thinking that skydiving would be a good idea– maybe that I would be tied to someone else who knew what they were doing and that I wouldn’t have to decide when to jump. I was excited and terrified of the idea in a thrilled sort of way. The story can be told in one post, but the process took months. First it took forever to get to New Zealand, then I had to learn too late that you have to book these things in advance– you can’t just show up and find someone to take you sky diving. Then I was IPM. Then Matt told me to get a group together, which I tried and failed to do because people wanted to go but couldn’t commit, cause they had to work. So finally I just signed up. Matt started being flaky, so I went by myself.

My pickup time was in the afternoon, so I did the activities in the morning. I was so busy that I didn’t really have time to anticipate what I was about to do. I knew intellectually what I had committed to, but I couldn’t feel the anticipation. At the morning trivia, I told the guests what I was going to do that afternoon, so if I wasn’t around that evening, it was because I went splat– but I did reassure them that I will have died happy.

A French guy picked me up in a Hatchback car and we chatted on our way to the little airport. I asked him about his journey and how he had gotten into skydiving– it turns out that he did a lot of his training in Lodi California, very near to where I grew up (I mean, since we were in New Zealand and he was from France). I found it so fascinating that the things he did a couple of times a day were peak, once-in-a-lifetime experiences for his customers. It was hard to remember that myself– we did the same cruise over and over again with different people, but for a lot of them, this was their once a year vacation. The two ladies he had taken up that morning were on the Golden as well– a mother and daughter. The daughter was terrified of heights and was a complete mess going up, but once they jumped, she had a great time. I ran into them later on the ship.

We arrived at the airport and got geared up.

I would be jumping with a kid who had already done a whole lot more thrilling things than I had. It was a little cloudy, so we were waiting for the weather to clear. It would be about half an hour up to 12,000 feet and then 5 minutes down. I took before pictures and posted them on Facebook. There was fast WiFi, so I downloaded things and called my mom and my friend Emily, who I would have loved to come sky diving with me. With the guys, we went over the choreography of how to jump out of the plane– arms crossed, banana body and then cactus arms. We waited some more. I was chatting with the guys about where we went on the cruise. I had gone swimming with the dolphins a couple of days before in Akaroa. We would be going to Auckland then next day– did I know I could jump off the sky tower there? That would be a pretty incredible week — swim with dolphins, jump out of a plane and then jump off a building. I should probably pace myself. Finally, the guys decided to go for it– hopefully the clouds would clear by the time we got up there.

I was trying to figure out when the fear would flare up. I had been in small planes growing up– my aunt was a pilot. Then there was the week where I’d gotten a flying lesson with my aunt Phyllis, gone in on a hot air balloon ride with my aunt Wendy, and I’d gone to see Flight of the Conchords at Redrocks Amphitheater with my mom (that was a concert, but it was still a form of flight). I ended that week with a flight of beers to taste at a brewery near my house. Those things hadn’t been as scary as the zip lining in St Maarten that went all the way from the top of the mountain to the bottom. The scariest part of that had been sitting in the chair waiting for the gate to open. Once I was falling, I loved it. I didn’t realize how fast I was going until my cheeks started flapping in the wind.

We pretzel braided our limbs inside the tiny plane and taxied toward the runway. I tried to convince myself to get nervous, but it still didn’t seem real yet. Then there were 3 loud bangs. We pulled over. The pilot made some phone calls. It was Sunday so there wasn’t a mechanic available to check out the engine. They didn’t want to take the risk without being completely sure that everyone was safe, and neither did I. I was happy to postpone. This was December and we would be back. We rescheduled for February 7th, which I later had to reschedule again to February 20th. Safety First!

February 20th

After an incredible morning with Susan and her pups, I was picked up again by the French guy at the pier. He reassured me that they’d checked out the plane, and it turned out there hadn’t been any mechanical issues with the plane after all. We both agreed that it was still worth postponing. Today they sky was bright blue with much less cloud cover, and I was a little tipsy from drinking champagne all morning.

Now I knew the drill– we reviewed the choreography: arms crossed, banana body and then cactus arms. The guys checked all the straps on us and each other, and once again, we wove ourselves in the plane.

This time when we drove toward the runway, everything was going to plan. This was happening! We shared a little small talk on the way up. The other Kelly had grown up in Tauranga but was moving away the next day for work. I thought this was a really cool way to spend her last day.

Looking out the window, I already decided that the experience was worth every penny– and I hadn’t even jumped yet!

I could see the mountain I’d climbed so many times, and the beach we’d driven along that morning and how everything fit together.

Then it was time.

I was still waiting for the fear to kick in. I was so thrilled.

There were just a few seconds of free falling.

I couldn’t believe how peaceful it was floating down. More than that I couldn’t believe how safe I felt floating around in the air with nothing under my feet! I had felt more scared stepping on the see through floor of the sky tower.

We landed 50 feet from the garage where we started. My ears were totally plugged (it took 3 days to pop them). But I was still floating. I felt disoriented and elated. I asked how often people came back– or did people mostly just do it the one time? He said when people come back they’re more confident so you can do more tricks like flipping around in the air. I signed up to go again next time the ship came to Tauranga. I didn’t care what I’d have to sacrifice to get that port off– I’d make it happen. I reserved 2 spots– I figured if Erich couldn’t go with me, now I definitely could find someone else.

The elation from the adrenaline lasted for days– I was as happy as I’d been when I found out that I was assigned to come to the Golden.

Unfortunately, the next time we were scheduled to come to Tauranga was a few days after the world shut down, so even though I did get the day off on the schedule, I didn’t end up getting to go again… yet!