Our hike up to the Fox glacier was much the same as the Franz Josef the previous day - a pretty walk through old glacial fields. The view of the Fox glacier was more impressive because we were able to get much closer to a larger ice face. The blue-tinged snow snaked all the way up into the mountain peaks and we were lucky enough for the clouds to clear briefly to see them.

We spent most of our day traveling to Queenstown, enjoying our drive along the coast. We arrived in Queenstown around 6pm and decided to park and walk around. Such a fun city! A great vibe, like Jasper or Banff - a small city in the Southern Alps set on a gorgeous blue lake. We checked out the harbour and asked around for fun activities to do in the area. We grabbed a quick pizza dinner and booked an adventure for the following morning.

That night, we traveled outside of town to find a campground. On an unmarked road, we found the Moke Lake DOC campsite. We were lucky to find it - the winding gravel road leading to the camp brought us through sheep and cow pastures, most without fences! The sheep and cows were wandering on and around the road. Finally, we rounded one more hill and the campground was set on a lake, in a mountain valley. This was definitely more of a local hangout and there were few other campervans, a lot of tents and partying! (Including neighbours with a keg and fireworks).

Unsure about our big plans for the morning, Mark asked for a sign from above that we were doing the right thing and almost instantly saw a shooting star! We were good to go!

We got up the next morning and had a lazy breakfast (including some pacing of the campground) before heading back into town. At 12:30pm, we headed to the N-Zone office and signed our waivers - we were skydiving! A van drove us and 8 others out of town to their runway located at Maori Jack's Point. We waiting patiently for our turn while watching those who went before us landing in the field next to the runway.

When they called our names, we headed into the hangar and got suited up! Mark and I were both fitted with a jumpsuit, cap and goggles. Our tandem guides found us and fitted us into our harnesses. They showed us how to exit the plane and what position to hold in our 45 second freefall. And then, we were loaded into a small, single propeller plane (fully suited with a toothy-grin paint job!). We sat on the padded floor of the plane and as we took off and climbed to our jumping altitute, our guides were teathering themselves to us. We had a nice scenic ride, until we reached 12,000ft and then, the door opened and the diving began.

We were both at the back of the plane and watched everyone else jump. I was nervous but not terrified and when it was my turn, I put myself in the "banana" position out the door of the plane, and Nick, my tandem guide pushed us off. And then, we were free-falling towards the earth. The hardest part of this whole thing was getting the nerve to sign up and get into the plane. Once we were falling, it was amazing! The mountains surrounding Queenstown (both the Southern Alps and a range called the Remarkables) and the lakes were so gorgeous, just a great place to see from above. The freefall went by in a flash - 45s seemed like no time at all. I was laughing so hard I had to try to keep my mouth closed because the air up there was so cold and dry! And then, in a flash, Nick pulled the parachute just as were eye level with the Remarkables and we flew upwards. Then, we were parasailing to the ground, in slow, calculated circles. The wind picked up quite a bit and he had some serious driving to do, but aside from a bit of nausea on my part, we made it down alright, with an easy landing. What a rush! I had always wanted to skydive back about 10 years ago but had really given up that idea as I got older and more chicken. Such a great experience though, I'm so glad Mark (via Matt) talked me back into it!

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Walking across the airfield in a flight suit and harness my mind was focused on the task at hand. I was quiet at this point, trying to picture myself through all of the elements of the jump (plane ride, exit, freefall, parasailing, landing). This is the same type of mental process that I go through before a big soccer game, mentally picturing myself in situations in the event that I am about to participate in.

Sliding across the blue mats, Beth and I followed our guides to the front of the plane. About four other and their tandem jumpers loaded in bringing the number in the plane to 13, including the pilot. As the plane took off, I felt suprisingly calm (I am normally nervous during any plane take off). The view from the plane window was awesome. My jumping guide Ollie was new to the area, an Englishman now working in New Zealand, so he wasn't too sure of the names of all the mountain peaks in the area but he was pumped to jump out and see them. At 6,000ft he showed me his specially equiped watch which displayed both the time and our altitude. At this point we started to gear up for the jump. With us both wearing harnesses, he started to strap the two of us together. To keep myself calm, I was overly talkative (imagine that), checking out the sights and the jump. The whole time, I kept an eye on Beth. She was calmly looking out the window, simply soaking up the sights. She was in quiet concentration at this point and our communication was a simple hand squeeze and a reasuring look at one another.

Pulling the flight cap over my head and sliding on the goggles at about 11,000ft, I still wasn't fully acknowledging the fact that I was going to jump out of a plane. As the door lifted and others started going out, Ollie said "Want to do a backflip out of the plane?" I am still suprised that the word "Sure!" came out of my mouth. A few seconds later, it was only Beth and I and our guides left in the plane. Watching Beth go out of the plane was one of the most bizarre sights I've ever seen. I thought to myself, I just watched my wife jump out of a plane, I better go after her.

As I slid to the door of the plane, I arched my feet under the rail as I had been instructed 20 minutes earlier on the ground. The next thing I knew, the two of us backflipped out of the plane. When my mind caught up with my body, I realized that I was actually flying and/or falling out of the sky. I was aware that I would reach up to 200km/h and man could you feel it. The wind was cold and dry but I was yelling "YAAAA!!!" the whole way. With a tap on the shoulders from Ollie, I was now allowed to let go of my harness an let my hands go freely, so awesome. The snow capped mountains and the lake below provided kick ass scenery for the jump. When we reached eye level with the mountains my guide pulled the cord and we shot up into the air.

With a loud yell of "Wooo yaaa!" from Ollie, I knew everything was open the way it should be. We exchanged a few words of excitement and appreciation for the fall and the scenery. As we were floating back down, Ollie noticed a big gust of wind coming across the lake and pointed it out to me. A few seconds later the parachute kicked us both back several meters across the sky. The wind had picked up and had given us a good jolt. He asked me if I was alright and I was good and he responded the same to my return question. He then told me that these winds were not good for us and that he would be doing some spirals to get us down quickly.

This is when my adrenaline really kicked in. My heart started pumping when I looked down to see that we were still several thousand meters above the ground. I immediately looked for Beth's parachute and was relieved to see that were making it down in a good and controlled manner.

A few more strong gusts of wind came up off the lake and I could here the breathing of my guide go up as he worked efficiently to control the parachute. Needless to say, I was ready to put my feet back on the ground. After another minute or so, we were close to the ground and I was given my instructions for landing. I put my feet up, as if getting ready to pop up when waterskiing. When my feet hit the ground Ollie said "Pop up" and we both stood up at the same time.

I looked around for Beth but could only see a few others who had landed earlier. Looking to the sky, I could see the her red and white parachute heading straight towards me. She was on the ground a few seconds later. I ran over and gave her a big bear hug. I was more than happy at the experience and that we were together again, safe on the ground!

We had met a couple from near Edmonton at the jump site, Dan and Laurie. We were chatting with them while we were waiting to jump and decided afterward that we needed to have celebratory drinks. Back in Queenstown, we had amazing burgers at Fergburger and got to toast to our accomplishment! We spent the entire afternoon sitting on a patio with a drink, watching the world go by in they city. When it was getting close to sunset, we headed back to our excellent, remote campground for another night.