It's official!

Hey there, first of all, I realize that all of you can't check on my blog every day. . .so with that said, you should really scroll down a couple blogs because I've been updating a lot lately!

So, I left my last post saying something about how I had more stories to tell. Well, do to recent events I'm gonna kind of blur through those stories so I can get to the good one!

The day after the Hike with Martin, I was able to see a few more sights of New Zealand. Since I was in the area I checked out three pretty cool areas of the golden bay. The problem with doing all this was I had no one to enjoy it with. It's amazing how much more fun things are when you can share the experience with someone. Instead of taking in the incredible views, I spent the time thinking about how I miss home or what not. When I'm with people, I can push those thoughts back a bit at least and it's not quite as bad. But, that's enough of that negative stuff. . .Let's get back to the sights and sounds of NZ.

So I went to what is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in NZ. It was called something like Whariki beach. (Remember, WH is pronounced with an F sound. So Fariki beach. . .) This beach was great because I showed up at low tide, and there is a group of baby seals that play in a pool that forms at low tide! Probably three babies that would allow you to get right next to them to take your photos! And they'd play and have fun! (No, the seal in this picture is not dead!)

But besides the Seals, there were also some REALLY cool rock formations just off the beach. If you remember that post about the hole in the rock in northern new zealand, Well, these holes were much better! Just take a look! And these formations were everywhere!

From there, I was only a few kilometers from Farewell spit. So I just drove over there to take a quick look. Really not that interesting at all in fact. A few sand dunes, but it would be much cooler to take a look at it from the sky. If you don't know what Farewell Spit is, just take a quick look at a map of NZ. On the very north of the south island there is this really large spike that sticks out to the east. That is the spit. But more or less, not worth visiting, except to say that you've been there.

Then it was off to Pu Pu springs. Yes, you read that right. Pu Pu. (Sounds like poo poo) Actually the full name of these springs is way too long to remember since it is some Maori word, but even the signs pointing to it call it Pu Pu springs. Well, the thing about these springs are they are the cleanest water that I will probably ever see! Truly. In fact, The only cleaner water in the world is the water directly under the Ross Ice Shelf. I don't know if they've been to every body of water to measure it's cleanliness, but they say this one is in second place! And wow, could you tell! It was gorgeous. The sun was setting though, so the pictures have tricky reflections on the surface of the water, but more or less, you get the idea!

So, that night I spent the Night in Motueka, a little town just north of Nelson. And the next day, I was up bright and early and had a HUGE smile on my face. For that was the day that I began my official SKYDIVE training!!! Boo yah! Actually, it didn't come out that easy though. I showed up at 8 in the morning, and we had 10 hours of ground training. (could've been done in about 4, but the teacher was always going outside to assist with skydives. . .) And unfortunately the weather was pretty crummy for a first skydive. There were clouds above our heads. Well, during that first 10 hours, we learned that we need pretty perfect conditions to jump our first couple times. So, we'd have to wait till the next day. . .

The next day comes, and I've been dreaming of my jump. Going through steps through my head constantly, over and over. I have it down pat! I show up that day ready to go, and guess what! Crummy day again! Doh! I ended up sitting around at the drop zone for a few hours hoping weather would clear up, but in the end decided it wouldn't. So, I came back to Kris and Bruces and wrote that other phenomenal blog since I wasn't jumping. By this time, I've gone through the jump so many times in my head that I don't even have to think about it anymore.

Then today came. The skies were clear, the wind was low. It was perfect weather! So, after doing a little rock, paper, scissors with my fellow jump students, we decided that I was jumping first out of the four of us. Now remember, I've been through this jump about 800 times in my head, so I jump into the plane and I am as calm as a Hindu cow! I had no worries, no adrenaline, nothing! It was incredible. The plane began to climb, and I went through the jump in my head a couple more times just to be sure. And after reaching 12,000ft, the door to the plane was opened and it was FINALLY my time to shine!

Now, remember, this is a solo jump. Not tandem. However, there are two jump masters on either side of me holding on to me the whole way to make sure things go well. After the parachute is pulled though, I'm on my own. Kind of, but I'll get there. So, I climb out of the plane, hang on, make sure the jump masters are ready, and then jump! And it was phenomenal! I took two deep breaths, and a huge smile appeared on my face! I enjoyed the free fall, no, LOVED the free fall, ran through my exercises, checked my Altitude, reached a certain height and deployed my parachute. From there the jump masters book it to the ground while I hang out under the canopy and wait for them to give me directions over a walkie-talkie. But, in the end, I got to the ground no problems whatsoever.

After the jump, you get debriefed. You tell the Jumpmaster how you think the jump went, and they then tell you how they think it went. I'll bet you'll never guess what the criticism they had for my jump was! Guess what. . .I was TOO relaxed! hehe! Apparently, when I decided to pull my parachute (at 6000 ft) I was too slow doing it and they were almost wondering if I was going to do it! They almost pulled it for me! I probably had an extra second before it was pulled for me. Then I asked my jump master if he gets many people that are "too relaxed." "Nope, sure don't" he says. "In fact, your the only one I've ever told that to. Man, you ARE weird!" :) And remember, this jump master has something like 10,000 jumps under his belt!

Whew! Getting long, I know, but bear with me!

So, we then get briefed on our Stage 2 jump. And this time, they tell us what to do, and more or less stick us in the plane. Remember, I had 2 days to learn about my first jump, and then about 2 hours to learn about my second. So, I climb into the plane a second time, and now I'm freaking out! The Adrenaline is pumping hard! Now, just thinking about it I'm getting adrenaline! We flew up to 12,000 feet again, and this time I was the second one out of the plane. I'll tell you one thing, watching those first people jump gets you amped even more! There they are in the door of the plane, then POOF! they're gone! Then my turn. I climb out, again and this time when I jump out I actually see the plane. It's incredible how quickly it just shrinks away after your jump! Then I worked on keeping stable in the air. And I got to try a couple turns in the air too. This stuff is fun! Plus I had really good altitude awareness (at least I was looking at my altitude, not necessarily registering what it said though) but when I looked and finally registered that I was at 6000 ft, I pulled my parachute and floated safely to the ground once more!

And now just for a little bragging. My jumpmaster is saying that I am a natural at this! (I wonder if they just say that to everyone. . .) but he is saying that I'm doing everything very well, and so far, passing with flying colors! :) Let's hope it stays that way!

So, yeah, I don't know if you can tell how happy I am currently! I was so excited to come blog about it! And I have many more jumps to go! Woot! Now, you're probably wondering where all the photos of the jumps are. Well, here's the deal. I have a few ground shots but I'll be getting those up a little later. As far as in air shots go though, it is quite expensive to get them since you more or less pay for another jumper to go up. Now, as Jon Wixson said, I HAVE to get the filming/photography done. So I was about to get it, but then the jump masters suggested that I wait until I've gotten a little better at jumping so I can actually show off to the camera a little instead of just running through exercises while in free fall. So, with that said, they talked me out of it for the first few jumps, but I will get some photos done at some point during the training! Have no fear!