what posesses a perfectly (ish) sane human being to throw themselves from a perfectly decent plane at 12,000ft? Not really sure but it was a hell of a lot of fun!!!!! so as I said, for some reason the four of us had somehow ended up booking oursleves in for a skydive!! The weather had been awful for a few days and i think most of us thought that it wouldnt be good enough to do the jump and we could use that as a get out clause without officially wussing out! No such luck!!!! we woke that day to crystal clear blue skies lacking in any trace of cloud or wind, conditions which, according to those in the know, are perfect for skydiving! joy! so, after our now customary rush to the nearest public toilet, in an attempt to put our impending doom out of our minds, we decided to go climbing! Almost worked actually had a really good morning - had loads of little races - we even had a lovely little picnic in the sun by our van! It would have made a perfect last supper i reckon! lol So anyway after a nervous phone call comfirming that we would be jumping, off we went to the airfield accompanied by the sound of Lu hyperventilating!! Bizarrely i wasnt actually that nervous when we got there and after we had to wait like 2 and a half hours i was more bored than anything else!!! eventually we waved Amb and Hol into oblivion and got oursleves suited and booted - met my jump buddy - Pieter a crazy dane who i really wasnt sure i trusted too much to guide me back to terra firma, hey it aint a leap of faith if it aint a bit challenging?? is it? The flight itself was so amazing it was just before sunset and we could see for miles and miles and miles - you could actually see the mountain ranges that marked the east coast and west coast of the island and all the volcanoes and stuff it was so beautiful i was almost too astounded to be sacred. Eventually the moment came and we reached 12,000ft - it was only then that i started to regret eating a sausage roll half an hour earlier! mmm yummy! After watching my best friend ever plummet from the edge of a plane it was my go - it was actually pretty easy somehow i just wasnt in the plane anymore and i was actually enjoying it!! the freefall was fantasic although the lasting memory of it was how cold my teeth were - wierd! when the parachute came out it took a lot of effort not to swear as you guys wouldnt approve of the dvd if i did but it was so incredibly beautiful i have actually no way of describing it we floated down as the sun set behind the mountain range, it was just incredible! So i can definately say that if you ever get the urge to jump out of a perfectly good plane at 12,000ft definately do it (well only if you have a parachute otherwise that'd just be silly!!!) last couple of days have been fun, went mountain climbing on the mountain where they filmed mt doom in lord of the rings ooh er and are currently driving down to Wellington to head to the south island for some more snow filled antics!!! love you all loads xxxx stef (ok so i have balantantly just written this today June 1st but i'm slowly trying to get back up to date - keep tuned for the next exciting installment kids!!!!!)