I woke up in the night and decided I wasn't feeling very well at all. It felt like mild food poisoning but I lay still and eventually it was morning. When I awoke I decided I was dehydrated from all the red wine the night before so I bought some water and went over to the large inflatable pillow for a bounce before breakfast. This was not a good idea. My stomach was definitely feeling worse. No matter, a good full english breakfast was cooked for me by our specialist breakfast chef, Joel, so I proceeded to eat one of those. Again, felt no better. I was starting to wonder whether it was the nerves of the sky dive that lay ahead, but I didn't feel like I was nervous, rather excited.

We were picked up at 11.30am and taken to Lake Taupo airfield. It was a beautiful clear day, perfect for sky diving. We signed up, I decided on the 15,000ft dive with photos and a dvd. We had to wait for about an hour before it was our turn so we sat in the cafe and Joel bought a sandwich. This was one step too far so we all decided I should attempt to make myself throw-up, for the greater cause. Unfortunately, or fortunately maybe, I needed no help. It actually made me feel loads better, but it was definitely food poisoning.

My instructor who I was diving with was called Brad and he's done over 11,000 jumps before. He made you feel very safe and sure of what was going to happen. The plane flight on the way up was a long one, it probably wasn't but it felt like an age. You face the opposite way to normal and have no seat belt or anything, you just hold on. Eventually, Brad grapped me, buckled me up and told me to shuffle towards to door. This was it, no turning back. The door is open and the diver who was doing my dvd climbed out the plane and was holding on watching from the side, which was crazy to watch. Brad told me to hold my head back against his chest, meaning I couldn't see down (although I was completely suspended over the edge) and after what felt like 10 minutes he let go. He told me before hand that if I controlled my breathing and kept calm I would remember the first 10 seconds. This I did, and it paid off. I clearly remember that first drop, the insane feeling of accelerating towards the earth with only a bit of material to stop you. I cannot describe the sensation of free falling to people who have not experienced it, but it was quite simply the greatest feeling ever. We fell for over a minute, and I was giving my dvd diver high 5s and the thumbs up, which is a crazy sensation when you traveling towards the ground at over 200k/h.

When the parachute went I was in a daze, I couldn't believe what had just happened, and I probably said a few bad words along the way. The parachuting part felt like it only took 2 minutes, when in reality it was more like 8-10 minutes. We hit the ground and suddenly I remembered I had food poisoning, instantly making me feel rough. I did not last a minute, but it was worth it. Simply the greatest thing I have ever done.

We collected our dvd and photos, got our free t-shirt and headed out. I then took a down turn and went to bed at half 4 and feel asleep.