Subject: December 23: A GREAT sightseeing day followed by a HUGE disappointment topped off with a GOOD consolation
Date Sent: Tue, December 29, 2009 8:39:06 PM
Aloha,
One of the planned activities on this trip -- something Priya and I had chatted about ever since she decided that she wanted to come to NZ -- was to go skydiving in Queenstown ("the adventure capital of the world"). Today was a short driving day (only about 200km) and the weather also looked wonderful (at least in the morning), so we decided today would be the day -- GO JUMP OUT OF A PERFECTLY GOOD AIRPLANE TODAY!
We started from Invercargill and drove North to Queenstown -- straight up on Highway 6, not taking any detours. Things were fine until we got to the town of Kingston on the southern shore of Collins Bay/Lake Wakatipu (not to be confused with Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki). Then things were really good! The scenery here is gorgeous! The road curves along some hills right next to the lake, all the way to Queenstown, going next to the lake for about 30-40 km. That much distance took us more than an hour because we kept stopping everywhere for pictures or to (try to) bounce rocks off the lake... It was scenic, it was fun, it was beautiful.
We got into Queenstown and checked into the hotel, and asked the receptionist to call the skydiving company to reserve our skydive -- she said we're scheduled for 3:20pm. We went there at 3:20 and filled out the forms, signing our lives away... we were given a short briefing of "what it is like to jump out of a perfectly good airplane", and then got in a van to go to the dropzone. Everything was happening as hoped -- we were going to jump today!
We got to the dropzone (about 15 minutes out of town) and were greeted by our tandem instructors and cameramen. I was getting both nervous and excited... Priya was sort of in a daze (this was her first jump) ... We checked out our gear, got suited up, and made our way to the plane -- we were on the first lot of the 9 people in the van with us! The plane accelerated down the grass runway and finally we were airborne, making our way up to the jump altitude of 15,000 feet above ground level, which was 16,000 above sea level.
And then... a small disappointment.
Clouds started to move in, and a radio call came up to the plane.. My camera guy told us due to the clouds we won't be able to jump from 15k, we'll have to jump from 12k AGL. I really wanted to do the high altitude jump so I was a little disappointed.. but the plane kept climbing... I put on my cap and gloves and goggles, getting ready (psychologically) to step out of the plane.
And then... a HUGE disappointment.
Another radio message up to the plane: my camera guy said "sorry, too many clouds, this is just going to be a scenic flight!" We were only at 7000 feet and the clouds had really moved in quick -- and low! There was no point in jumping from here, so the plane started to descend... I took off my cap and gloves and goggles, getting ready (psychologically) to not step out of the plane.
After landing, Priya was really disappointed she didn't get to jump. I was probably even more disappointed. It's one thing to be told on the ground that you can't go because of weather, but when you take off and get ready to jump, and then get told we're going back down without getting out of the plane first, that's just depressing! This has happened before to a friend of mine (one of you) and I never really understood how that felt until it happened to me!
After coming back down we made another reservation for 7:20am the next morning -- just in case the clouds cleared up (it wasn't looking good). I really didn't feel like doing anything else after that, just to go back to the hotel and relax, watch tv, and go to sleep... Priya had other plans. She convinced to me to go to the gondola ride there -- this was something we could see from our hotel rooms when we had checked in. The gondola here is much better than in Christchurch -- the views are gorgeous all around --- mountains, lake and city below. We went up, marvelled at the mountains, cursed at the clouds hovering just above them, and came down -- then went for dinner and back to the hotel, where I fell asleep happy for the scenery today but disappointed that I didn't get to fly out of an airplane.
Yet.
From Ishaan's camera:
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From Priya's camera:
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| Dec 22 | Contents | Dec 24 |