Queenstown for a quick Skydive...

Had a great sleep in the hostel and jumped the bus back to Queenstown were we walked along the lake in the night for some more scenic views and an early night at base backpackers. We decided that a sky dive was a must while we were here and booked ourselves in for the 12,000 foot plunge! They told us today was the best day to do it which we thought was just sales talk but there wasn't a cloud in the sky! We were shuttle to the N-zone building were we were briefed on how to do the banana when you leave the plane and what to do while free falling :-\. After donning our overalls Gem got slightly nervous and had a cry while trying to have a conversation with her tandem partner. I had to wait for my tandem partner to land as he was already mid fall with someone else, the place was like a conveyor belt! He landed and i other harnessed up and we got on plane. Me and Gem sat at the back and soon found out we'd be last off...oh god. As we reached 9000 feet, which seemed high enough, the door opened and the wind howled through the plane. A cameraman climbed out and stood on the wing waiting for a diver to roll out so he could film her! As the last diver was sucked out the plane it finally hit us that we would be next! Gem asked the instructor why the plane was flying backwards not realising she was just sitting the wrong way and looking at the back of the plane and i put my flight hat on backwards! Good start! I went first and my stomach turned for the first time, we shuffled to the door and it opened. We were above the mountains and clouds with my feet dangling out the plane. The sky above us was dark blue almost black and clear as could be. We rocked backwards and forwards twice then frontrolled out the plane and in the sky three times. I seen Gem leave the plane above me and we fell at 200 km per hour. It felt like a second but it was nearly a minute of freefall i looked around at the mountains and heard the wind whistling around us, it was amazing! He deployed the chute and we were sucked upwards, then we had an eagle eye tour of the mountains and lakes of Queenstown. We headed for the landing spot and hit the ground running and full f adrenaline. Gem landed thirty seconds later and we were in shock! We got some photos and had a brew to calm down and was gutted it was over. On the way back to Queenstown we stopped at the airport got our passports back which topped it off. We celebrated with dinner in the locally famous burger shop and had a few beers in the bar. What a day...