Wanaka - We did it

Tekapo is small, quite nice.. the lake is not as beautiful as Lake Pukaki. The little church by the shore of Lake Tekapo is quite beautiful, if it wasn't for all the Japanese/Chinese and other tourists running around it. Terrible! We didn't stay there for long.. then we went to Wanaka.

In Wanaka there are two lakes (Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea) right next to each other, both of which are quite beautiful. We stayed by both of them.. ((-:

On Tuesday morning we did some sports, went jogging, swam in the lake (at the famous tree in the water), had breakfast by the lake and booked the skydive that Nadia really wanted to do. Flo was not completely sure, but didn't want to let Nadia jump alone. 🙃 We were supposed to start at 2pm on the same day.. from 15,000ft (over 4,500m) with 60 seconds of free fall. The excitement didn't really go away while we were at Lake Hawea.. and so we stood in full gear quite nervously at Sky Dive Wanaka a little after 2pm and waited for the airplane.. we met our experienced "jumpers," but didn't jump because the wind was too strong and all jumps were canceled at short notice. So everything was reversed, suits were taken off and a new appointment was made. Thus, we stayed another night in Wanaka.

The rest of the day at a beautiful campsite with a great view of Lake Wanaka was wonderful. The next morning at 7:30am was the alternative appointment. Fully dressed again, we met our jump partners, Nadia met her Jack from the previous day and Flo met his Zac. These two were supposed to bring us back down safely. Spoiler alert: they did it. 😉

With five other jumpers who only booked 12,000ft (the wimps;), we went up in the small propeller plane. You're sitting there basically on the floor one after the other, in front of your jumpers Jack and Zac (who both had completed more than 5,000 successful skydives until then) and you're incredibly nervous.. especially because the plane keeps climbing and climbing and you wonder when it's finally going to stop or reach the jumping height. Zac eventually showed Flo on his watch that half, i.e. almost 8,000ft, had now been reached. Nadia and Flo just looked at each other and thought: Moin! 🙈 So it continued to climb, hardly anything was visible on the ground anymore and then something happens that is completely foreign to a normal person.. when the 12,000ft were reached, the five in front of us prepared themselves, opened the gate and jumped out of the plane one after the other. Of course, it's clear that the plane has to climb for that, but seeing it is simply incredible, paradoxical, unreal!

The gate closes, Nadia and Flo are the only jumpers left in the plane, we get additional oxygen and eventually we're at over 4,500m.. By the way, shortly before the jump, Nadia dictatorially voted that Flo should jump first. Said - done! You move forward to the gate, are reminded again to lean your head back, close your legs and most importantly: smile!!! The gate opens, a pretty fresh wind blows in.. well, you're at the front (in front of the jumper), sitting on the edge, feet on a step outside, looking down and then suddenly the impulse from behind comes and you plunge out of the plane..... an unbelievable feeling!! You spread your arms, feel the air resistance, you turn, you scream, you're happy, you look at the two lakes that you have a good view of from up there, you scream, you're happy, you communicate with the jumper, you scream, you smile, you're happy.. then the countdown to opening the parachute begins and it feels like you're going back up.. you smile, you scream with joy.. Flo looks up and sees Nadia flying down.. both parachutes open. That was worth a lot. 😉 gliding down full of adrenaline, enjoying the view, smiling, screaming with joy, being happy.. on the ground you happily fall into each other's arms and are incredibly satisfied! It was awesome! Incredible! We would have gotten back in the plane right away. Sky Dive: CHECK!!

Afterwards, overwhelmed by the jump, we drove to Culverden, where we visited Bjarne, a friend of Flo's, on his farm with 400 cows and got a closer look at the life of a New Zealand farmer, enjoyed the sun by a river, talked a lot about this and that, and had a couple of beers.. wonderful! Thank you very much for that, Bjarne!

On Friday morning, we headed up to Abel Tasman National Park, where we plan to stay until Sunday.

PS: We didn't make a video of the skydive because we didn't think it was worth 150 euros. They're crazy 🙄🤔😡