Have just arrived in Santiago and am trying to adjust to some serious jet lag confusion as I left Auckland at 5pm on Tuesday, travelled for twelve hours to CHILE and it is now 2pm the same day , Tuesday. And my Spanish only runs to Una cerveza por favor and as I dont drink beer anymore.............. Have been battering around the south and north islands of NZ for three weeks looking at museums, giant Kauri trees and going out on Bay of Island boat but yesterday I really went mad............ Well yesteday morning, I decided to get some serious excitement .....and so I jumped 630 feet from the top of the Auckland Sky Tower. Quoted as the highest tower jump in the world it was breataking as the drop stops about twenty feet down while you dangle in space and they take a picture of you.........then the drop continues at around 40 mph to the bottom. On the way up I was able to see through the glass walls of the lift, just how high I was going so by thge time I had reached the jump platform I was beginning to wonder what on earth had possessed me to even think about it.........and to pay for the pleasure. Then they connect one to a long cable, walk you to the edge of the platform and tell you to step forward and off when they count down from three. To be honest I shut my eyes as I stepped off and only opened them again when I stopped in space and they called out to me to kick my legs so they could take a better picture. As you might imagine when you are hanging on a harness you are not too keen to kick your legs but I tried and was presented at the end with the photo of a rictus like grinning fool hanging on the end of a line like a fish on a hook. The fall after the pause is fine and I was able to open my eyes and enjoy the prospect as the floor rushed up to meet me. And I landed on my feet.......albeit I promptly sat down and remained there for a minute of so. In my defence the organiser said that many people walk off the platform and then have the wobble as they walk back to the changing room. Mind you, when I went back up afterward to take some pictures through the glass floored observation level I did feel distinctly wobbly! So I think now I have done the adrenalin thing and hope that there isn{t much left in SA ........apart from white water! If you want to get an impression of what the jump is like see www.skyjump.co.nz for details. I am going now to lie down in a dark room and wonder why I did what I did yesterday or was it earlier today