| At 7:00 in the morning on a partly cloudy blue sky day, | | | | helmet, goggles, a skydiving suit and a harness that |
| my brother Felix woke up. He rushed upstairs to his | | | | would strap us to them. Once we were ready we |
| laptop in the lounge area and went directly NZONE | | | | marched on to the plane together. Once we had |
| skydiving webpage to check the availability for | | | | crammed ourselves into the small area, the pilot took |
| skydiving that day. "There is availability for the 10:30 | | | | us into the air. Each of us had our own skydiving |
| jump" he said anxiously as our dad got out of bed. | | | | camera person. I had Kim as my camera guy and |
| He stood up, got some clothes on and came out into | | | | my dad and brother forgot theirs. We slowly climbed |
| the lounge to talk about it. He asked us what we felt | | | | our way to the highest skydiving elevation at 15,000 |
| like, we said "let's go for it!" and we dressed ourselves | | | | feet and finally, after 20 minutes of waiting, the plane |
| in warm clothes. | | | | slowed down and the engine stopped roaring. |
| At 10:00, we left the house to walk into Queenstown | | | | A nervous feeling rushed through my body as they |
| where the NZONE office was located. We got | | | | open the door. My dad and Ralph were first. Ralph |
| there 10 minutes before 10:30 like they had told us to | | | | counted down 3....2.....1...... LET'S GO! And they dropped |
| do and we sat down to fill out some forms. We | | | | out of the door. Once they were out of sight, Ricky |
| waited for 10 minutes for the rest of the people that | | | | whispered to me "It's our turn" And we pushed our |
| had signed up and then they played a movie for us. It | | | | way towards the door. I looked down at the ground |
| was a start to finished video on the skydiving so we | | | | 15,000 feet below us and screamed my lungs out as |
| had a vague idea of what to do. There were two | | | | Ricky pushed us away from the plane and out into the |
| vans waiting outside for us, and my dad, Felix and I | | | | sky. It was the scariest feeling of my life when |
| hopped into one. It took almost 30 minutes to drive | | | | exited the plane and we were flying. We plummeted |
| around the lake to the private NZONE airfield. | | | | at 200kph towards the ground for 60 seconds until at |
| They told us to wait for a while in the small grass field | | | | 4,000 feet Ricky deployed the parachute and we |
| while the people who had signed up earlier than us did | | | | stopped. |
| their jumps. There was a small field, a basket of | | | | At 4,000 The views were pretty spectacular. I had |
| outdoor games and a complimentary coffee machine | | | | 360o views of Queenstown, the lakes and the |
| in the area. Felix and I waited for 20 minutes playing | | | | mountains. It took about 5 minutes to softy land back |
| badminton while my dad watched the other skydivers | | | | at the airfield. Once Ricky and I landed I felt dizzy |
| land. When it was time for us to get ready a lady | | | | and fell onto the ground. I slowly made my way back |
| from NZONE came and got us from outside. She | | | | to the hanger and when I did, I sat down and let my |
| took us to the hanger where all the skydiving | | | | blood flow again. Then I took off all my gear and met |
| equipment was kept and we familiarized with our | | | | my mom and two sisters inside the shop. We told |
| instructors. | | | | them about the experience and got each got a |
| I was with Ricky, Felix was with T.J., and my dad was | | | | souvenir NZONE t-shirt before we made our way |
| with Ralph. They suited us up individually with a | | | | back to the car and back home. |