Birthday Celebrations in NZ

This past weekend was my birthday weekend. As I turned 21 on May 2, my friends here made sure I made the most of this special occasion.

Beginning Thursday night, a group of 12 of us went out to dinner to a lovely restaurant in town to celebrate my birthday at a time I would still be in Hamilton. As Thursday nights are a popular night to go out in town, we stayed for the evening at clubs and bars pretending like that day was my day :)

The weekend took us to Lake Taupo, 2 hrs south of Hamilton in the center of the North Island. As Jen and I had met a couple on the South Island as we asked them to take a picture of us, they invited us to stay with them anytime we wished to come to Taupo. Taking them up on their offer, we spent the weekend in their lovely home which overlooked the lake. They even invited us to a dinner party to celebrate the beginning of duck hunting with them Saturday night. It was a special treat to be in a home and with a couple who welcomed us as thier own.

The main reason for our trip to Taupo this weekend especially was for skydiving. Known as the skydiving capitol of the world, Taupo provides a 15,000ft jump over the lake. With clear skies, one can see both the East and the West coasts of NZ. As we thought of what we could do on my actual birthday, Jen and I thought, "What's more exciting than jumping out of a plane?!" In light of this, there were five of us which travelled to Taupo, making for an extended birthday party for me! As Saturday turned out to be a gloomy, cloudy day, no jumps were allowed to take place, so we had to wait until Sunday morning. This was a good lesson for all of us to just go with the flow and find joy even when things don't end up the way you had envisioned them to. Sunday morning was bright, clear and beautiful, allowing for a gorgeous jump.

It was a supurb birthday, and one I will never forget to be sure!

I have attached a link to my skydiving photos, because my words just cannot explain the experience well enough! Lets just say though that the free fall is insane: it is cold, and the pressure of the wind is intense making it hard to breathe as well as move any part of your body. You will see in the photos that my arms are always out and back, its because there was no way to fight the wind to put them anywhere else! Getting up to speeds of 200km per hour (more than 100mph), it feels as though you are in a tunnel of wind, cold wind! But as soon as the parashoot is pulled, all pressure is released and the most lovely, relaxed gliding begins - I reckon its the best part.

There is hardly any comparison to bungee jumping. As in a bungee jump, it is all you: you have to make the leap. In skydiving, the guide on your back does everything and there is truly no time for you to think about being scared. Your in the plane, just like any other plane ride, you see the ground below you, but before you know it, you are being scooted to the edge and off you go. Only once did my heart drop to my stomach, and that was when the door of the plane opened up - at that moment I thought "Oh God no. No I don't wanna jump out of a plane!" haha, but being moved around gave me no choice. Also, not having to be the one to push us out of the plane stole all pressure and fear away - I was just along for the ride!