Ever since watching the film Point Break I have always fancied sky diving.

In my student days I did static line solo parachuting from 3000 feet. However, this is far more of a thrill, a tandem skydive where you are strapped to an instructor and jump from an aeroplane at 15,000 feet, experiencing 65 seconds freefall as you plummet towards the ground at 125mph.

Where else better to do it than Queenstown, the place labelled 'adventure capital of the world'.

Having spent an afternoon in July watching You Tube videos from other people's skydives I decided the best company to go with would be NZone. With them there's the option to have a separate photographer who skydives with you to take photos and a video. You get to see more scenery on the video that way, rather than just your head bobbing about.

I showed Richard some of the video clips and managed to convince him he'd really enjoy the experience too. With his injury record from skiing and snowboarding I highlighted that landing was easy and that he wouldn't break, pull or twist another part of his body.

Within an hour of arriving in Queenstown on Monday we booked our sky dive for the next day. We ideally would have like to have done it on Richard's birthday a few days later, but we didn't want to risk New Zealand's changeable weather.

On Tuesday we woke up to glorious sunshine and bright blue skies, a perfect day for sky diving. We went off in the courtesy bus with about eight other nervous faces. Upon arriving at the air field it was announced we would be in the first group up, just us two plus an English girl called Katie. She had won her dive in a karaoke competition at her hostel bar.

We got strapped in to our jump suits and introduced to the instructor that we'd be fastened to. Before we knew it we were herded off to the plane, no time for nerves to kick in, just pure adrenalin. The planes are custom built for sky diving. There are no seats, you sit on the floor with your bottom in-between someone's legs.

The flight up took about 15 to 20 minutes. It was all quite jolly and relaxed with Richard's instructor wearing a Santa hat and the photographers passing around video cameras. As soon as we reached the height, no messing around, the first girl was out, then Richard, followed by me last. As you leave the plane you tumble forward and do a kind of somersault in the air, this is the only part of the jump where you feel you are falling. Once you are in the freefall position with your arms out and legs in the air, the main sensation it wind rushing into your face and body, and the ground only gradually becoming closer.

After just over a minute of free falling the instructor opened the parachute, and we glided down for about 4 or 5 minutes, taking in the views over The Remarkables mountain range and river below.

The most remarkable part of it all is that Richard enjoyed it so much he may do another one when we're in Australia!

But for now that's another one ticked off my bucket list.

Katy