There is no such word as TRY, there is only DO or DID NOT DO!

Today was one of those days that you will never forget. It was my very first sky dive! We woke up in the morning and to be honest, I was pretty nervous knowing we were jumping out of a plane later in the day. Then after taking one of the guy’s bungee jumping and walking around the town it was time for us to check in at the sky diving shop NZONE. Once we signed two waivers we were loaded onto a bus and driven about 20 min to the dive site.

Here there was a coffee shop, reception area, and of course the planes and gear. We waited for a bit and then it was time to gear up and meet our dive masters. My dive masters name was Boris Adamov. He was originally from Russia and did a great job at making me feel comfortable. After I suited up in my jump suit and harness we waited. By now I had forgotten all about being nervous and was running on pure excitement! I met my photographer and watched as people fell from the sky.

Dive Site

Loved this!

Then it was our turn! We loaded the plane by sitting in between our dive masters legs and then our photographer sat in between our legs and so on. The plane was packed full of people and we were all getting ready to jump. The plane ride was surprisingly smooth considering how tiny the plane was. It had a door that lifted straight up (like a garage door) that opened whenever we reached the altitude that the next person was jumping from. I jumped at 15,000ft which was the highest you could jump.

Plane ride up to the dive site

There is no turning back now!

I had 60 sec in free fall and then parachuted to the ground. I was the second to last person out of the plane but the last person to land. My dive master and I had a lot of fun in the air. He even let me pilot the parachute for a bit! He handed me the handles and told me to pull down hard to the right . . . not knowing what this would do I listened. Soon we were spinning in circles quite fast! I LOVED IT!!! He pointed out that we were flying over the remarkable ranges (the only mountain range that runs true north and south the whole length of the range), and lake Wakatipu (399m at its deepest point).

One of the Greatest Feelings I have ever had!

Words cannot describe the feeling you get

when your free falling!

Landing

Me and my dive master :)

It was definitely one of those experiences that you just have to do for yourself. Put all of yours fears behind you and go for it! Embrace the Fear. There was a quote at the NZONE place that I really like…

I must not fear,

Fear is the mind killer

Fear is the little death that brings

Total obliteration

I will face my fear

I will permit it to pass over

And through me

And when it has gone past

I will turn the inner eye to see its path

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing

Only I will remain

~Frank Herbert

I kept this quote in my mind as we were flying up to the dive site and I truly believe that I was fearless on this trip and I conquered my fears and made my dreams come true!

Our group!



I had the time of my life on this adrenaline packed adventure...I wouldn't change my experiences the past three months for the world!

 Tonight we are staying in a hostel in Queenstown called the Base. It has it's own bar, lounge area, wifi, and lots of activities. We are ready for a good nights sleep and are getting ready to fly back to Auckland for our last night in New Zealand before heading back to the States.

My Traveling Family!

Ice Climbing!

Ice climbing on Franz Glacier was beyond my wildest dreams. We got to the office around 7:30am and after we all geared up for the hike and climb we took a bus to the base of the glacier. Then we hiked 2km to the base of the glacier…then we had to hike up the glacier to our climbing spot. This was probably the hardest part of the whole day! The hike on ice was like walking up a vertical wall. Very challenging and took a lot of endurance. I struggled with it towards the end but luckily the guy’s took good care of me and helped me along. The views however, were indescribable!

our group

Bus ride to the glacier

DANGER!

Hiking trail

Most of our gear...I was hot

Hiking trail

Once we got to the climbing spot they asked who had belayed before and/or had any climbing experience. A few people (including me) had some experience and were the first to climb and belay. I started out on the medium route and made it to the top with flying colors…I absolutely LOVED it! Next I belayed a few people and then it was back to the wall myself. I flew up the easy route and then took on the harder one. I was getting pretty tired but the guide was impressed by my determination and interest in learning to correct techniques so he helped me learn them on my way up. I made it to the top (beating a few of the guys) and felt great about it!

First Climb

Fell in love with this sport!

Belay Certified :)

Made it to the top of the hard route :)

Cooling off

By this time we were all starving so we stopped and had some lunch.

Gorgeous views

After eating lunch we hiked a little farther to the next wall. This time the climb was a little different. We were lowered into the glacier and had to climb back out of it! It was a little intimidating but very exciting! One of the guys I went with ended up falling over the edge head first!! We were freaking out but he got right side up again and was never in any serious danger thanks to his harness and instructor. There were no more close calls after this.

Second climbing site

Climbing back up after being lowered into the glacier

Finally around the day was coming to an end. We stopped off at one last place to climb but only a few had the strength to try it. I was exhausted! Dehydration and overheating definitely got the best of me. I never thought you could get over heated on an ice glacier . . . but you can. They told us to wear about 3-4 layers and I was more comfortable in a t-shirt and light jacket. It was pretty warm when you were in the sun and moving. The only time it got a little cold was when we sat down in the shade for a rest (which didn’t happen much).

Exhausted after a long day of climbing and hiking

I would rank this as one of the most rewarding experiences on this trip so far. I had a blast (even though the hike almost killed me). I pushed myself and lived out the motto to be FEARLESS!

We got back to the office around 5pm and then it was on the road again. This time I drove to Fox Glacier to pick up the rest of our group which was about 24km. I was exhausted but was ready to push on to Queenstown. The drive was about 6 hours (including a stop for gas) but we had to be there for our sky dive appointment in the morning.

I pushed myself to drive for 5 hours and then had to hand over the wheel due to extreme fatigue. I couldn’t sleep for the last hour of the trip but once we got into Queenstown we found a hotel and snuck everyone in. Thanks to one of the guys (Misha) we got a hotel with two rooms, a kitchen, bathroom, and living room. I shared a room with one of the girls (Jen), Misha and Rory got the other room, and the other three shared the living room.

Family Picture :)

Jen and I's room

Misha and Rory

Bathroom

Living room

I might be independent but I'm never alone!