SKYDIVE!!!!!!!

We got up in the morning, not talking much as we were all very very nervous about the prospect of doing our skydive later in the morning. It was such a strange feeling.The trepidation along with the determination to do it!
When the bus came to collect us we boarded it without saying much, the chap driving it was really hyper!!Telling us that we would have the time of our lives and we would love the Sky dive..I was not listening to him. I was actually thinking about not doing it on the journey to the airport!!
When you get there they do not hang around.We did not get much of a chance to back out. They have you togged up in the jumpsuite and staps!!

Carolyn went up with the first batch and we saw her come down..she was thrilled and loved it so It made me feel a bit better!
But walking to the plane with my Tandem skydiver I began to feel blind terror and my legs went weak.They literally had to shove me into the plane alongside Rachel. There were also two guys who were to be our personal camera crews. And another french guy and his instructor, who was doing a tandem jump, but he did not want filming. The plane was tiny and there was literally no room to move.
I was so scared..I sat on my instructors knee and he strapped me onto him. All the time I kept saying how sorry I was because I was so scared. But he was fantastic, he just kept talking to me to calm me. Pointing out the mountains in the National park below and reassuring me that the dive will be an amazing experience.
We got to 13,000ft and Rachel went first..All I kept saying was "Oh my god Rachel has gone..she has gone...oh my God"
But then I do not know what came over me,I felt calm and just thought " you are going to do it!" When I sat hanging on the edge of the plane by the door I was actually smiling at the camera!!!
and the next minute I am flying through the air at two hundred miles an hour!!! hee hee!



and loving everyminute of it,

the views over the national park were mind blowing


and I still cannot believe that I did it , But I am also very proud of myself for doing it.

After we had all done it we could not wipe the grins off our faces!

I did say that this trip was all about pushing myself outside my comfort zone. I did that and I survived!!!!

There is life in the old dog yet!!!

NELSON

Carolyn and I soon got back into the spirit of travelling together, we found a bar that did 'Sex in the city' COSMO' cocktails and we caught up on the gossip.

We went to see the New Sex in the city film that night. It was fantastic.
In the morning we did manage to fit in a bit of sightseeing around the cathedral in Nelson.

Then we decided we needed a beauty overhaul!!With spirits high we went and had our hair cut and coloured. We did our nails and I had a massage!! We laughed at the fact that not many backpackers would be doing this kind of thing! But hey ho!!.. ever now and then you do need a bit of pampering!!
Later that day Rachel arrived.

It was great to see her and her and Carolyn got on like a house on fire, I knew they would.
Ireland were due to play the All Blacks so we booked a table in a bar and settled down to watch the game.
It was a good game, with Ireland equal at half time. But sadly they lost!!! We had a good time and a lot of banter with the people on the table next to us. We then went onto THE MEAN FIDDLER club to see an Irish band playing. It turned out that it was the last night the club was closing. It was being taken over. So the atmosphere was electric, with all the old timers who had been going there for years.
We had a good night and got in very late.
The next morning we were up early to go on a hike in the Abel Tasman National Park. When we checked in we were told to hop into the boat near the office, then they towed it on a tractor into the water.
We were laughing a lot when we were being towed along the road in the boat, it just seemed so rediculous.

We then sailed up the coastline in the water taxi.
We stopped off to see some Seals chilling on the rocks. Then we were left on the beach at Tonga Bay.
We walked back down through the trees and along the coastline for four hours to the most peaceful bay.
.The water taxi picked us up late afternoon.It was a wonderful walk and we loved the views from the national park over the sea.








It really is a magical place to visit!!
Back at the YHA we cooked a big healthy stir fry and went to bed early because the next day we were doing our SKYDIVE!!!!