More people hurl themselves out of a plane for no good reason in Taupo than anywhere else in NZ. I felt I should join them! There was the option of jumping from 12,000 ft (40 seconds of free-fall) or 15,000 ft (65 seconds of free-fall). I thought if I was going to do it I may as well make the most of it! Taupo itself is about 1,000 ft above sea level so the jump was from 16,000 ft above seas level. As we approached the jump height we were given Oxygen masks! I was the first to jump from the plane attached to Mauricio the German sounding Brazilian! After the bungee jumping and gorge swinging rather than getting used to free fall I was disliking it more and more! However the sensation of jumping from a plane is excellent and definitely something I would do again! The freefall lasted 65 seconds but is over pretty quickly as you would imagine. We then cruised down for about 8 minutes under parachute before the landing. As we were nearing the ground Mauricio said to lift up my legs and I expected him to land and then I could put my feet down. As we approached the ground I couldn't see how he could possible stand landing at the speed we were coming in when he proceeded to land us so we skidded along the ground - not the most graceful of landing but is apparently how they do it! A few beers in the evening to help with the come down were absolutely in order!