I just hope my shoes stay on

The 28th of September 2007, a day that neither Jackie or myself will ever forget. It started with me making a 7am phonecall to an office in Fox Glacier Town to check if our 7:45 skydive was on. I raced back to our van to break the news to Jacks, we were good to go. We rushed to the airstrip where we were kitted up and shown the banana position, where to put our arms and legs and the fairly important procedure of getting all of oneself out of the plane at the intended time.

You can skydive all over New Zealand and we were tempted at Lake Taupo but resisted, deciding that for our first jump, and possibly last, we should really go for the best. Not only do you get to fall 12,000 feet with the backdrop of the Southern Alps but in addition you get a 20 minute flight over the mountains taking you over the Fox Glacier and up to Mount Cook and Tasman.

We met Greg and Emily (our tandem partners) and jumped into the 2 seater Cessna, squeezed in between their respective legs in a manner that would certainly be deemed inappropiate in any other circumstance. The great thing about the company that dives over the glaciers is that they let you take your own camera along, so for the 20 minute flight I was clicking away much better, possibly trying to distract myself from the upcoming event. After a quick recap from Greg I tapped Jacks on the shoulder and told her to enjoy it. Next thing the door was open and Jacks and Emily were no longer there. I shuffled on my bum, slipped my legs out, crossed my arms and waited. Our departure was seriously disorientating. Greg had told me to look up and left as we jumped, which I did, and the view of the plane diving next to us was unreal. For a few seconds I felt upside down and out of control but after a tap on the head and me reaching my arms out, all was good. The freefall was so much smoother than I ever imagined and the view of the mountains and coastline and the feeling of falling 200km/hour completely engulfed my mind and I was totally caught in the moment. I felt a few tugs and then there was silence, the parachute was up and we were floating. I noticed Jacks in the distance and pulled my camera out (the shot of Greg and myself was at 4,000 feet). Greg then asked if I liked roller-coasters and I responded with a slightly confused yes, which was followed by us spiralling rapidly towards the ground, probably close to what an ant feels like when it's flushed down a toilet, skidding to a halt in a paddock. I jumped up and got some shots of Jacks landing.

Jacks enjoyed it as much as myself and we both agreed that it's without a doubt the highlight of our trip so far and probably the most exciting thing we'd ever done. It took the rest of the day to recover and the crazy thing is that we'd have gone up again 5 minutes after landing.