I have booked another trip up north with kiwi experience. Im getting pretty excited! Im off to Rotorua via Taupo for a night (yes, good old Taupo) and i will be there for a few days and then up to Auckland to see a mate from Uni – Will. Then i will decide where to next from then i think!

I was quite disappointed to discover that NZ TV actually broadcast Jermemy Kyle over here. What must they think of us Brits?! I hope they dont think we are all like the usual JK guests!! There is also a surprising amount of UK shows…emmerdale/corrie, aswell as brit documentries about obesity/weird allergies/etc etc. So, in summary, NZ TV is just as crap as home with the same amount of annoying, loud advertisements.

It also appears that NZ have all the major brit foodstuffs (cadbury/bakedbeans etc) but they just dont taste the same! I am thinking i’m getting a luxury from home but its actually a sneaky packaging disguise for alien foods. What is NZ fasination with being so much like the UK? I went for a tour around the Beehive Govnt building the other day in wellington, and the inside has been modeled almost exactly against the brit houses of parliament. I suppose it is quite a compliment.

Anyhoo, will keep you posted when excited stuff starts happening again!

So you’ve heard about all this skydiving malarkey and how ‘it’s so awesome’, ‘a once in a life time experience’, ‘worth the [somewhat exceedingly expensive] price’, so you think the only way you will actually get of your arse to do it, is by leaving yourself no choice and to book the damn thing. This is a good tactic; however, prepare yourself for the immense feeling of doom/horror/excitement when you get off the phone. Now it feels you have no choice, and you can start coming to terms with the fact that you will probably jump out of a plane at some point in the very near future. Obviously some insane people will relish the prospect of jumping out of a plane for the first time; I however blame my curious side. What is the big deal about skydiving and is it actually awesome? Or does everyone just say that to sound awesome? Well, no choice now, I’ve booked it and I’m going to find out!

2) The ‘wake-up-in-the-morning,-hopefully-the-weather-cancels-it’ phase.

Now it’s the morning – you know the bus leaves at 11:30am to go the airport and there are at least three clouds in the sky and a very slight breeze. Hopefully I can get a quick get out by it being binned of for some external weather complication. After all, it’s the thought that counts isn’t it? I am a crazy kind of person, I booked a skydive!

3) The ‘balls-it’s-actually-going-ahead’ phase.

You make the call, they confirm the bus is coming to pick you up, and the horrendous anxiety sets in. You start to feel queasy and become very aware of what may happen. You keep looking over the banister at the top of the stairs, you look over the side of the balcony, you imagine the highest points you have ever been and consider jumping off it. ‘What have I done?!’ You get on the bus and start signing forms which talk about death, complications and liability and just sign away like you’re already doomed. ‘Excuse me, how longs the journey?’, ‘Not long!’, ‘Nooooooooooooo.’

4) The ‘lets-watch-the-safety-videos-and-skydiving-videos-which-make-you-feel-worse’ phase.

You sit down and try chatting to the other victims around you. Nervous banter begins and ends when you realise you are burbling. After the videos finish playing you really begin to realise that this is going to happen and that it will be you soon – falling around in the sky with your face all mushy. The butterflies are really going now and I try to seek comfort in talking to my mates – who just seem really excited. I am not sure whether I am excited or just horrifically scared!! Maybe the two are supposed to go hand in hand? Hmmm…

5) The ‘get-the-gear-on-and-wait’ phase.

And it’s exactly that. They shove you in a luminous boiler suit, put a pack on your back with some lovely crotch straps, whack an egg-head forming hat on and adjust for hilarity. And then you wait for the plane. It’s this part when you start feeling a bit better because you really come to terms with the fact you are actually jumping. You are also at the stage where you are most knowledgeable about the companies’ death/life ratio and injury stats after running around interrogating all the staff in a mild state of panic. I would like to point out that I actually start getting quite excited, but still, very scared. I start to worry about what would happen if you land to discover you have wet yourself or vommed in your instructors face mid-flight. Has anyone done that before? What would you say to them?!! At least these thoughts detract from the thoughts of death or serious maiming.

6) The ‘am-I-going-to-ever-set-foot-on-earth’ phase.

The plane pulls up and you walk towards it. The feeling now is of slight panic but also the excitement is building. I am not sure whether that was because I was trying to force myself to be excited, or trick myself into being excited, but whatever, I was definitely quite excited! As the plane takes off you start realising how high it’s going. Check the altimeter. Ah, 400ft up. What am I jumping again? Oh right. 15,00ft. The ground gets smaller and smaller and so does your stomach. Nevertheless the atmosphere in the plane was quite chilled really. You have all the cool-dude pros with you and, as it was so loud, no awkward, painful, jibbering conversation could be started. It was all about mentally preparing yourself and trying to take in all the emotions. This all went out the window when my instructor beckoned me over to get strapped in as the first. Nooooooooooooooooo!

7) The ‘strapping-in-cuddle’ phase.

A few seconds pass and you wonder why you are 13,500ft in a plane, sitting on a strangers lap as he twirls your hair, but this is the reality. I am all strapped in and my guy is making sure my matt of hair doesn’t impair is view for when we jump. In a strange way, the sitting on the lap thing is actually strangely reassuring! At least I’m not going down by myself and I am assuming that this guy knows what he is doing. We are given oxygen masks and I concentrate on breathing deeply.  I look out the door. He slides it open, and its boom time. I can’t really remember what I was feeling at this stage, I think I was just trying to be really brave and get in one it! I remember looking over the side of the plane at the ground. Then I was instructed to bend my legs over the edge of the plane and lean back.

The ‘aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’ phase

Before you know it, you lean back and you’re out. The feeling is extremely intense. It was cold, windy and noisy. I thought I was going to scream the whole way down, but I was completely stunned to shock. I had my mouth open and I was looking all around me in disbelief at what was happening, and I was actually thinking, ‘this is pretty awesome actually’. I thought that my tummy would be really tickling – like when you go down a rollercoaster quickly, but it was fine. I could deffo feel my face going all mushy and there was a hairy moment when I though my egg-head hat was going to fall off and grot me, but thankfully it didn’t. My instructor tapped me to reach out – which I feebly did. Some people say it feels like you are flying – just to clear up, it definitely feels like you are falling really, really fast. It’s pretty cool when you come up to a cloud though because you can relate to it coming closer. When you go through the cloud you can see lots of rainbows which is cool. I kept trying to concentrate on the views and the sensation. It is strange feeling because everything seems so far away and makes it feel like nothing is real. It is like your mind is so confused it can’t work anything out. It is true that the freefall goes quickly, but not as quickly as I thought it would. I can remember nearly all of it and it was definitely amazing.

9) The ‘fly-up-really-high-and…silence’ phase.

My instructor tapped me to signal me to hold onto the harness and suddenly I felt myself being pulled up extremely fast. It was then extremely quiet all of a sudden. I took a few, well; loads of breaths to calm myself down and then my instructor took my goggles off for me. I looked down at my feet. Wooa I am high up!! I looked around and I felt more exposed than I did when I was freefalling. The quietness makes you think about the position you are in – which is horrifically high up in the air!! It was at this point too when my ears reeeaaallly started hurting. I suppose I shouldn’t really say it because it may put people off, but my ears cained due to the altitude. I couldn’t equalise them either so I tried to forget about it. We started gliding down in a spiralling motion – this did make my tummy go all tickly like on a rollercoaster though, but it was a really cool feeling. I was freaking out a bit as well because you can see your feet are not attached to the ground but I started to actually enjoy being out of my comfort zone.

The landing went smoothly as well – I had heard horror stories of people breaking their legs on landing, so when my instructor told me to lift my legs up, boy did I hoyke ‘em high! The strangest feeling was coming into land, because the people and objects get really close really quickly and you start to realise you are falling really fast. That made my tummy go a bit too! I was wandering when we were going to start slowing down, but we did in the last seconds.

10) The ‘shit-me-I-did-a-skydive’ phase.

As I was the first one out I was able to watch the others come in. I was extremely elated and couldn’t believe what I had just done! I was a quivering, excitable wreck and was thanking everyone involved probably a bit too enthusiastically – especially my instructor who literally legged it away. Ellie came down first – she also had ear pain issues, and Laura came down second – she felt a bit motion sick. However, apart from that we were all pretty amazed. Pretty quickly we became really exhausted and lethargic. We couldn’t believe it was all over. I had heard that you get such an adrenaline rush from a skydive that you end up buzzing all day; however I felt I wanted to lie down and sleep! I also felt like I wanted to tell everyone I knew that I had done it though. I definitely felt satisfied though and couldn’t stop thinking about the feeling of being up there, falling really fast through the clouds.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone. Even though I was really scared during the lead up, as soon as I actually had to step up and jump, my fear had gone and I just got on with it. More importantly, I enjoyed it too! It makes all the worrying totally worth it. It is also important to remember that it is natural to be kacking your pants. After all, what is natural in the human nature to freefall at 15,000ft?! Nothing! So give yourself a break. It’s easy to dangle your feet out and lean back when you come to it and that’s all that matters.

I definitely felt like my jump was worth the money, and I wasn’t bothered when I didn’t buy the extra $150 DVD of my freefall. You don’t need it in the end because you have your own memories of the event, and so I didn’t fork out for that. I was worried I would regret it though. If I was asked to do a skydive again for free, then I would DEFFO do it, however, as a poor graduate I think I will spend my money testing out new adrenaline rushes/buying food. If anyone was to ask me whether to do a skydive, I would say 100% yes, it is actually really awesome and a great sensation. And for your information, I didn’t pee my pants or vom in my instructors face. Phew!

I have also been checking out all the sights on offer in and around Paraparaumu. There are lots of great cafes around the place with a pot of tea costing about $3. They also seem to have amazing looking cakes, especially at Robert Harris in coastlands shopping centre. However, it is very expensive out here. I took a trip to the Otaki Outlet street to look for some bargains but I had no luck – especially on my limited budget. The beach there was nice though. I am hoping to venture out towards Otaki Gorge for some Lord of the Rings tourism soon though. I have had some awesome weather recently. One day I just spent at the beach in Paraparaumu. An outdoor pool has also opened up in Waikanae which is also heated. I recommend going midday on a weekday – me and Lizzie are normally the only ones in! I have also been involving myself with the locals. I went to a Hangi the other day – a traditional Maori feast which involves cooking food underground.

I have also met a few locals through Jacks extra curricular activities such as cricket, touch rugby and swimming. It’s interesting to see how different and laid back the school system is out here – especially when it comes to health and safety. It makes you realise how crazy England has got with all of that. One of jack’s favourite lunchtime activities includes rolling old tyres around a special tyre enclosure on his school fields. They have hundreds of tyres all over the place and they can make dens out of them too. I also went to his school gala which aimed to raise money for a new play area and there were so many activities on offer including sand buggy rides, helicopter trips, Harley Davidson rides as well as the usual gala style activities. I couldn’t resist a ride on a Harley but the helicopter rides stopped early because of a fault which was a shame. The weather was awesome that day too.

Peakakariki is a nice place. Not much there but the beach is really nice and has more body boarding waves. There is also an awesome slide there which me and Lizzie had to go on! It was just in a normal kiddies play park which overlooks the beach. They have a surf club down there too.

I also ventured up towards Palmerston North or ‘Palmy’ to see some of Lizzie’s friends. They have an unbelievable park in Palmy which is extremely well kept. It even has a large paddling swimming pool for anyone to dip there feet in. The centre of town is quite large with good shops and an amazing muffin place in the indoor centre. It seems cheaper in general compared with further south. One thing about the towns in NZ is that they contain mostly low level housing and buildings which make it seem a lot less claustrophobic than the usual European high rise bustling cities. The roads are also really wide which gives the feeling of space. It is also very chilled in NZ – you don’t really see people rushing about and you don’t even see that many people!

I visited Lindale today which is famous for cheese and icecream…so i had some chocolate cake. There was a cool honey shop there which sold famous Manuka Honey (it has healing properties in and is very good for you) so Lizzie and I invested in some Manuka Tonic. We have to put half a tablespoon in some hot water and it should, in theory, give us a heathy pickup if we drink it. I think  I will need it in preperation for some Taupo antics tommorow! Im traveling up there to see Laura and will venture back down with Kiwi Experience.

So anyway, that’s what i’ve been up to so far. It has involved lots of beach walking which is nice. I have got an awesome shell collection forming. Highlights so far include playing cricket on the beach at sunset, riding a Harley, Palmy Park and seeing Pukekas.

I finally made it to NZ after a very long and very annoying journey. I got to heathrow at around 6.30am (woke up at 4am…eurgh!) and checked in all my bags etc. At check in, I discovered that my flight was also due to stop off at Dubai…thankyou ‘holiday genie’ for informing me of this before I got into checkin (I was under the impression I was just going through Brunei from my ‘updated’ itinary). I then said goodbye to my very tired looking mum and did all the security/hanging around until I got on the plane to Dubai with Brunei Airlines. The journey started well, until about 5mins in when the plane was grounded for an hour. When we took off, it was fine, until about 20mins into the flight, when Thomas, the guy next door, and myself were informed that our TVs did not work. Hmmm, 15 hours until Brunei where we change planes with no films, games, entertainment to be had… Just a quick shout out to all my friends who said ‘don’t worry, you will be fine on long haul! Just sleep and watch a few films!!’

The first leg was ok. I listened to some music and read a bit until we got to Dubai…6 hours down. When we got off at Dubai we could leave stuff on the plane and it was simply the case of getting off the plane, walking to the other side of the airport, going through security, walking back, and getting on the plane again. It was really muggy and hot, but it was so good to get off that plane for an hour. Thomas and I were not looking forward to entertaining ourselves for another 7 hours until Brunei, however I also discovered from Thomas (who went with a travel company who actually tells you whats going on) that I also had to go via Australia. Great! Another stop off. So we got back on the plane for the worst leg probably. I really started to suffer when it was getting dark and everyone was snuggling up to watch a good film and drift off to sleep. I couldn’t sleep and the more I tried and failed, the more I annoyed I got about my unfair situation…I mean, forgods sake! How can they get away with giving me a seat which is broken?! So me and Thomas tried with all out might to get an upgrade to business class, but failed on the basis that it was a full flight. So, there was nothing we could do except fume, deface inflight magazines and moan at every opportunity to the very smiley, enthusiastic cabin crew (oh an also our call buttons didn’t work so whenever we wanted something we had to get there attention and wait about 20mins until they could be arsed to come over).

I was so glad when we arrived in Brunei. I was literally about to go on a murderous spree around the cabin. I think Thomas would have joined me on that one. Finally we could get off the plane to a new one where I can watch some films…I bet you can tell what happens next!

So we got off at Brunei. It was also quite hot and we left the plane, went through security, and got back on again. I was in a completely new seat this time and I was happily moaning to the guy next to me about not having a working terminal and how I was so glad to be nearly halfway there. And then when the plane took off, my worst fears were realised because as I turned on my terminal and sat down to watch The Timetravellers Wife, I realised that everything sounded a little…strange, i.e I could hear all the music but their voices were fuzzy and I couldnt hear them. So I called a cabin crew person over (literally, because my buzzer didn’t work again) and requested some new headphones. I wasn’t panicking just yet, I was trying to stay calm and hope it was just the headphones. However, as you have probably guessed, it was not the headphones, it was the sodding terminal and I was on the warpath. What kind of crappy airline sits someone on a plane for 30 hours with nothing working? I demanded my seat be changed before they fobbed me off with another ‘oh I will just restart your terminal for you, it normally takes about half an hour’. Yeah right. So about half an hour later they located a new seat…possibly the worst seat ever. Squeezed in between two people in, what felt like, the hottest part of the cabin because it was near all the food being cooked. However the terminal worked happily for about 45mins…UNTIL IT BROKE!! I then gave up, took two aspirin and tried to sleep. When I woke up and found it still not working I stormed back to the original seat, which was also a lot cooler, and chatted with the friendly person next to me and waited for the cabin crew to come past so I could have a go at them and push myself to business class…this obviously didn’t work, but entertained me for a while. I am glad we didn’t have any darkness too because that’s when it is most boring. I saw Thomas every now and again who was sitting in a different seat and he was lucky enough to have a working terminal this time around.

We finally got to Brisbane, but just before, I was soaked in orange juice…thankyou royal Brunei, you bunch of absolute *****. At least when I arrived I could now say I have been to yet another country I guess. I think this was the stage when I started going slightly demented, and probably looked it, because going through security, a female came up to me, whispered in my ear ‘can you come this way please’ and two men came out of nowhere and escorted me into a secure room. Yey, maybe Brunei airways have planted a stash on me so I cant get back on the plane. However, it was just an random explosives test and they let me go without any rubber glove treatment. Still, they in no way put me at ease until the very last minute and made it all seem as dramatic as possible to make me a nervous wreck.

So I got back on the final hurdle. Only 4hours until Auckland. As soon as I got on the plane, I asked if there where any spare seat from people leaving at Brisben. Luckily lots of people had so I ended up having two seats to myself AND a working terminal. I nearly had a heart attack I was in such ecstasy! This leg of the flight was fine. I ate my eighth and last inflight meal (god that was another thing, I was so bloated it was umbelievable…the food was very stodgy), watched a film and finally arrived in Auckland after a total of about 30 + hours since leaving Wiltshire. Going through security was a nightmare though because New Zealanders love their bio-security. Going through border control the guy was being a complete knob too. “So, why are you in New Zealand? Why are you travelling on your own? That’s a bit boring isn’t it? Why are you doing that?” After what felt like a few minutes of him having a go at me with a series of cutting rhetorical questions, he sent me off to ‘section 4’. Great. Everyone else was going to section 1. So everyone was looking at me wheeling my trolley around all the empty cue lines for about half an hour like a tit. I then got to the people who had been waiting for me ( I had a code ‘TH’ apparently) and they then discussed something between themselves. They then informed me I had been sent to the wrong place. Great. Now to reverse out of all the cue lines like a knob.

Bio security involved me having my bag taken apart and my hiking boots washed (I had already declared them though so no fines for me). And then I was freeeeeeee.

I met Thomas outside because he also had an internal flight to get from auckalnd. We went to the domestic terminal (after about a 20mins walk), had a drink and then I had a little wash and changed my stinky, orangey clothes. It felt so good! I then said goodbye to Thomas and got on my flight to Wellington…which was a really good flight. The seats where comfier than the long haul Royal Brunei ones! My Uncle was waiting for me at arrivals – never been so glad to see anyone I know in all my life! It finally started sinking in that I had actually made it alive! It was 8am when I arrived and I spent the day settling into my auntie and uncles house. Jack, their son, gave me a big cuddle when he got back from school and we then went to the beach which is about 20 meters from the house. The sun was out, and it looked amazing. It made all the hassle from before seem worth it! I slept like a log at about 7pm though.

Today is weds and I have just taken jack to school. My Uncle Chris has had to go back to England for 5 weeks so I am going to chill here with Lizzie and Jack. The scenery here is amazing and the beach is awesome. It’s a bit cloudy today, but I can still see Kapati island in the distance. My timezones are still a bit confused so I am just going to chill out today. Jack has a touch rugby tournament later which should be funny to watch.

Anyway, hopefully my blogs wont be as long from now! I had to get how seriously bad my journey was with Royal Brunei. I definitely regret not having a stop over now. Noooo, in three months, I will have to do it all over again!!!

So I caught the train (which was 50mins late…greeeeat) and ended up back in my little village near Devizes in Wiltshire last night. After a catch up with my bro and dad in the pub the reality of actually leaving for NZ soon kicked in.

I am feeling relatively prepared, but I am supposed to go into Devizes today to sort out bank stuff…however, its 12 and I’m still in my jammies. Goddamn!

Also, A CHRISTMAS ADVERT JUST CAME ON THE TV…arrrgh! At least I will be on the beach this Christmas. Woohoo! Three days until liftoff