As soon as you land in New Zealand you are inundated with adverts for adventure activities. It's so in your face and it seems that just about everyone in the country has thrown themselves out of a plane. Sky diving was also one of the things that we really wanted to do when we came away, although as I'm not great with heights it was always uncertain. So until the day before the skydive Allison thought she was jumping by herself, as the only way I could forget about it was if I told myself I wasn't doing it.

Anyway, the day we arrived in Taupo the weather forecast for the next few days looked bad, so we had to book it as soon as possible. We wanted to book it for as early as possible to get it over and done with, but the earliest they had was 2pm the next day. That meant sitting around (or in my case on the toilet) all morning waiting!

So from the time we booked it until the time the limo picked us up (yes, our second trip in a limo since leaving the UK, not too shabby) we sat around panicking and feeling sick. The night before we tried to put it out of mind by drinking lots of wine, and I even convinced myself the fried breakfast the next morning was my last.....yes, lots of wine and fried food before jumping out of a plane, a good idea at the time we thought!

So the limo arrived and we shared a ride with two Irish girls to the airport, who were re-assuringly just as scared as we were. When we arrived we watched a girl's video who had just jumped, which put us at ease as it looked great, and after a short instruction and a bit of filming (we bought DVD's of our jumps so the instructor films a build-up, as well as the jump), we were dressed in blue and ready to jump.

On the ride up the nerves kicked in again, as we were sat on the floor of a small plane with a plastic door, which we were about to open and jump out of. We had decided to go for the smaller of the two jump altitudes (twelve thousand feet instead of fifteen), as I was a bit worried I would freeze up and not jump so thought the cheaper option was the best way to go, though in retrospect I wish we had have jumped for longer, as the freefall seems to be over in seconds, even though we actually fell for 45 seconds (the higher jump is about 75 seconds).

As you approach the jump altitude the instructor signals for you to sit on his lap, then attaches you to him. Next you slide over to the door, cross and hook your feet under the plane and hold on to your harness, resting your head onto his shoulder behind you. At this point there's no going back, as they tell you they're pretty much throwing you out. I closed my eyes to stop myself screaming like a girl, and before I knew it I was falling in slow motion, somersalting so I was looking up at the plane, before suddenly you are just falling at incredible speed barely able to breath. From Allison's view point it looked really strange, as one second I was sat on the edge of the plane, and the next I flew passed her window and was gone. Next Allison slid over to the door and did the same, though had to wait for a while on the edge which was a bit scary, as well as the fact that she was been blown and pulled all over the place.

Before you know it you're falling so fast through clouds and towards Lake Taupo, which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places to skydive in the world, which we wouldn't disagree with. It's a strange feeling though as you are concentrating on getting your breath, the parachute opening, doing what the instructor tells you, as well as the adrenalin kicking in, so your mind is all over the place as suddenly your instructor pulls the parachute and you feel like you come to a halt.

The next few minutes you just relax and take in the views of Lake Taupo and the surrounding areas (on a clear day you can see Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings in Tongariro National Park). The parachuting was Allison's favourite part, though I liked the freefall more. Also my harness was so tight my whole body went numb, so I thought I'd had a stroke!

Once we landed we could barely speak, and after all the worry, anxiety and exhilaration there was a wash of anti-climax until the next morning, when we started to remember how fantastic it was.

Definitely glad we did it, and would love to do it again someday!