While I will always remember Lake Wanaka as the site of my inaugural skydive, the surrounding area is also pretty great – and definitely worth a visit.

On our way from Queenstown to Lake Wanaka on Monday, we (and by “we” I mean Alex) successfully navigated the winding turns of Crown Range Road through the New Zealand countryside. Midway through the drive we arrived at a viewpoint looking out into the Queenstown area and we were not disappointed.

Alex didn't mind the driving with scenery like this!

Pretty windy up here - my hair looks like I was just electrocuted!

We spent the rest of the day determining skydiving logistics (see skydiving post here) and didn’t have energy for much else afterward!

After coming down from our adrenaline high - and sleeping in - on Tuesday Alex and I set out for a short road trip to explore Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea.

We could not have asked for a better day and took our time driving through the hills and taking it all in.

Need those shades to check out that bright blue water!

We made our way to the Blue Pools and hiked the 30 minute “trek” (seriously, a woman with a cane was walking ahead of us so clearly not a very intense hike) to the swinging bridge.

Not having thought to bring swimsuits, we stayed long enough to take in the surroundings before heading back to the beach at Lake Wanaka for a few hours before dinner.

Wednesday was overcast so we geared up for a more intense hike up Rocky Mountain. It was pretty cloudy at the beginning – which provided cooler hiking conditions – but started to clear up a bit as we ascended.

Looking out from the summit of Rocky Mountain.

The hike was actually a bit more intense than we anticipated but we felt great to have accomplished the trek before noon! Afterward, we headed back to town for a late lunch and some relaxation. We took a few hours to plan the next few days of our trip through New Zealand and ended with a delicious Japanese meal at Sasanoki, a great reminder of our time in Japan. Tomorrow we are heading up to Franz Joseph – fingers crossed for more clear skies!

After a leisurely Monday morning in Queenstown we picked up our rental car and headed to nearby Lake Wanaka. After checking in to our hotel, we started to map out our three days in the area. The first major determining factor was whether or not I would work up the courage to go skydiving.

I wouldn't say I am a particularly paranoid or fearful person - I think my fears are fairly generic but also entirely irrational. They include: shark attacks, plane crashes and murder as depicted by my favorite show, Law & Order: SVU. Skydiving would naturally be included on this list given the tiny plane and steep climb required before actually jumping. It really never occurred to me to consider skydiving (Alex had already done it once, it's expensive and also terrifying) but viewing it as a "once-in-a-lifetime experience" while in beautiful New Zealand made me start to reconsider.

Alex would say he successfully persuaded me to take the plunge - pun intended - but really I just convinced myself it (probably) wouldn't kill me (It's true! You are more likely to die from a host of other things!). I'd say it's sort of how I rationalize every flight we take by telling myself "It'll be fine - the odds are you aren't going to crash..." even though we are about to fly Air Asia.

Convinced that speaking to someone in person would make me feel better about the entire experience, I made Alex drive me to the Wanaka airport (and Skydive Wanaka headquarters).
The staff at Skydive Wanaka were super friendly, very understanding and incredibly helpful in answering all of my questions (i.e., how often does the initial parachute fail?). After watching the safety briefing and taking to the staff I was ready to commit and we signed up for the 8:30am slot on Tuesday morning. Five minutes after we drove away I realized I should just ride my current adrenaline high so we called and booked the last Monday evening slot. It just got real!

I'll spare the play by play and highlight just a few thoughts I had during and after the experience:

1. Skydiving is 100%, without a doubt the most incredible thing I have ever done (besides marrying Alex, of course). I really wasn't prepared for the rush and the unique thrill I felt - I highly recommend everyone work up the nerve to try it!

2. I was really only scared beforehand - both on the ground while my rational mind told me all the ways I could potentially die and during the ascent (15 minutes is a surprisingly long and slow period of time to think about jumping before you actually do it).

3. Once I jumped, I didn't have the capacity to think about anything at all! I was only aware of the experience, the scenery and how awesome I felt. When the parachute deployed (my biggest concern) I wasn't even thinking about how I should be relieved!

4. I expected landing to feel like an accomplishment in survival but I was so giddy I just kept smiling - check out the pics below and a video I plan to watch every day as a reminder of how cool I once was.

Right after the jump! The other instructors with us all jumped immediately upon reaching 13,000 feet and then my cameraman climbed outside of the plane and jumped to capture me jumping next.

It really was a phenomenal view - what a day to go skydiving!

We ended up going up at 7:30pm, right before dusk so a lot of the photos have a "magic hour" effect. The "baby parachute" is just a stabilizer so that the instructor can help guide us and prevent too much spinning.

Somehow my cameraman caught me in a smile once I had stopped screaming!

Safely back on the ground and happy to have survived!

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