Yesterday turned into a day with a difference. And what a day it was. We started off by leaving Franz Josef around 8am, so nice and early, and headed off in the general direction of Wanaka. First stop out of Franz Josef was Lake Matheson, which was our planned breakfast stop and viewing point of Lake Matheson - another mirror/reflection lake. We didn't have time to walk all the way around it, but instead an opportunity to head around the one side and snap away a few pictures of the lake and the reflections to the distant mountains. After the breakfast stop, we continued towards Wanaka, and made another brief stop at Knights Point which looked out over the Tasmin Sea. This was potentially a whale and dolphin spotting region, however the lousy weather didn't allow for that, so instead we saw some heavy clouds and colourless sea. Not very exciting at all.

After leaving Knights Point, the activity sheet got passed around the bus for the Lake Wanaka skydive, and initially didn't put too much thought into it, until we got closer and closer to the skydive pick up point. It was totally a last minute decision, but managed to convince Haig to join me in jumping out of a perfectly normal aeroplane. Because we were late additions to the skydive, there weren't enough places in the pick up van, so the plan was to head to our hostel first, check in and then get picked up by the skydive van and head out to the airport where they do the drop from. During the 10 or so minute drive there we were shown the introduction video and jump options available to us. I won't lie, but there were a few doubtful thoughts going through my mind, well it was more like "why am I doing this?" and questioning my sanity. What's left of it that is.

After deciding on the highest possible jump at 15,000ft and going with the photographer and video option, we paid the fee, signed our life away and then sat and waited for what seemed like forever.

There were still 2 or 3 jumps before us, so by the time they had gone up, landed, parachutes repacked and ready again, it all took sometime. But eventually it was our turn, and time to get fitted into the jumpsuits. Not sure if I was more excited than nervous, but that waiting period seemed to go on forever! Eventually it was time for us to jump onboard with destination being 15,000ft directly up! There were two Asian girls also jumping with us - but at 13,000ft - so the 10 of us (the two girls, their tandem divers, myself, Haig, our tandem divers and a photographer/cameraman each for the two of us) all boarded the custom-built X-STOL aircraft and headed for the clouds. Literally.

I always knew the drop height was high, I just didn't expect to quite get to the height we did. Our divers had altitude watches on so we could watch the altitude steadily increase. By the time we hit the clouds we were only just over 5,000ft - only a third of the way up. It was at that point the heart beat increased rather suddenly!

Despite the plane only bring a tiny 10 seater, the climb up was fairly steadily and it was at 13,000ft when I almost crapped myself panicked - the main door lock was released, opened, a bit of shuffling and suddenly the two girls were gone! Within seconds. But not us, we still had another 2,000ft to climb. After a bit more climbing, with some stunning views of Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea between the clouds, I was starting to quite enjoy the flight until suddenly the oxygen masks came out for us to use - perfectly normal, but due to or ridiculous altitude, the oxygen required just isn't enough to what's naturally available up there, hence a bit of help from the masks. Hmm... who's idea was this again?

A few minutes later and the door release lock switched from red to green and the door got flung open with nothing between us and the ground far, far below. I was first. By this point I was properly fastened and attached to my tandem diver, to the point I was also sitting on his lap, so the two of us shuffled along the bench (technically he did most of the shuffling) until we were hanging out the door. All I had to do was rest the back of my head on his shoulder and bend my knees when we started falling. Heart rate now at a maximum, and then before i could even think I was heading towards the ground at 200km/h...

There was a wide stretched blanket of cloud below us which looked like a fluffy bed from that height, which maybe gave some comfort from the reality of hurtling towards earth. The most bizarre few seconds were those immediately after jumping out, where we jumped and spun around to watch the plane appear to shoot upwards at an incredible speed. Once we had stabilized and were free falling, the cameraman suddenly floated down and was just there, suspended in air, waving at me. That was weird, kind of surreal really.

Heading into the clouds was amazing, the force of the air below us created a hole or tunnel effect, which has some specific name that I can't remember now - and this 'gaping hole' in the cloud allowed us to pass through, where everything went white and misty and almost a slightly damp feeling for a few seconds and then opened up to a stunning landscape of mountains, greenery and lakes. Almost the complete opposite of what we had just seen. From our height of 15,000ft we got to experience 60 seconds of freefall before the chute was pulled, which jolted us to an easy and steady descent. I had always imagined me to spend the freefall worrying about the chute opening, its how i pictured it, but honestly it didn't cross my mind once. The entire freefall was spent enjoying the rush of air, simulating some swimming strokes and actually trying to close my mouth! It was weird, I just couldn't physically keep it shut. But once we were gradually floating down, we did a few turns and swirls, giving us a 360 degree panoramic view of the Wanaka landscape. Just beautiful.

The landing was fairly smooth, all I had to do was lift my legs and he did all the rest. East enough. Haig came in a few minutes after me, no doubt his heart beating as quick as mine, what a rush!

After losing the jumpsuit and finishing a well needed can of coke, we waited around for a bit until our photos and DVD were ready. We briefly watched it to check all was in order, then it was back to the hostel to meet up with all the others again. That evening it was down to the Mint Bar which was underneath and part of Base Hostel (where we were staying), and they did a decent meal and served us with beer, which we had to all toast each other's first skydive.

Later on it was the South Africa vs Namibia game, our third in the pool. This was the game I chose to skip in our pool, it didn't seem a big enough game to give up a few days on the south island for. If we won which was expected then it's not much of a reason to celebrate, and if we lost I wouldn't want to be there. So it was always going to be watched on TV. The final score was 87-0 to SA, so definitely not the most exciting game from the world cup.

After the game, the dance floor opened up, and the music was actually better than i thought, and landed up being a later one than initially planned. Not that there was any plan I guess. So overall, a wicked day from start to finish. And that's now a skydive ticked off my ever growing to-do list!