NZ Day 20 – Sky high expectations come crashing down

What should have been a day of extreme highs turned out (for me) a bit of a downer. We had to be picked up for the skydive at 8:30am. Kerry had been building up her nerves all week whereas I was eager to do it. Arriving at the private airfield both me and Kerry would be the second group to go. We both met our tandem divers. Kerry got a friendly, caring ladies man who looked after her, consoling her all the way. I got Chris, a California guy who’s breath stunk of booze and not too chatty or bothered.

After the first group had come down ok we packed ourselves in the cramped plane and flew up to a planned 15,000 feet. We were warned we would need oxygen past 11,000 ft. The 2 seconds of actually jumping out of the plane was ok for me but the rest of it I’d rather forget. Either I didn’t have enough oxygen or Chris didn’t warn me properly, I panicked and couldn’t breath gasping for air. Then the pain in my ears built up as the air pressure took its toll. The freefall and picturesque descent were wasted on me as all I could think about was pleading for this to end. Kerry came down in the exact opposite and loved every minute. Apparently they did the jump just over 12,000 ft as the weather closed in then cancelled the rest of the day’s jumps.

With my ears still feeling like they were submerged in water I wanted the afternoon’s snowboarding to be a success. James and I rented the equipment and snow chains straight after the sky dive. By lunchtime we were climbing the mountain road for the Remarkables. The rain had turned to snow halfway and the snow chains came on as advised by passers by. We were lucky to get there as a snowplough was on its way to clear the road and traffic stopped coming down. This should have been sign to give up.

Only one ski lift was operating due to the wind and the snow kept falling. At the top it was a complete white out. James faired better than me being more experienced but being unable to see anything meant constant falling over. Half an hour feeling sorry for myself and a chocolate bar in the café helped a little bit. Finally the wind dropped and the snow stopped but after a couple more runs my lack of confidence showed through and gave up. The ski lifts closed minutes later anyway.

Our last evening out didn’t turn out as well as it should either. After some indecision, passing some skanky Mexican and Indian restaurants, we settled at the last place. The food was bland, meat less than fresh and service hostile. We drowned our sorrows in the Sky Bar and Surreal where a live act had just finished. We didn’t hear any of the music but there was a bearded old duffer and a blind guy packing away the equipment.