Watch your head as you approach the aircraft.

Friday came around quickly this week and with a half-day booked-off from work and schools being far more reasonable about taking children out of school during term time we knock-off at lunch time and head for Rotorua where we plan to meet up with Gillian and Hywel who are travelling up from Gisborne.

Maori cultural tourist show, Rotorua.

We arrive at around 17.00 and after unpacking head to a Moari ‘cultural evening’ which includes a walk through the bush to a reconstruction of a Maori village where dances were danced, songs were sung, weapons were demonstrated and tattoos were explained.

Industrial-scale hangi.

This was followed by food which consisted of an industrial-scale hangi (chicken, lamb and vegetables cooked for 4 hours on stones heated by charcoal while covered with leaves and earth). It was an entertaining evening (if a little but disneyfied) and we all retired to bed full and happy.

The next day (Saturday) we head to the local hot thermal swimming pool for a dip and then split-up. I went to the airport to do a tandem skydive and everyone else took the cable car up to the luge.

Only one other person is jumping today (a boy who’s mother has bought him a parachute jump for his eighteenth birthday). The boy jumped with his instructor at 10,00ft leaving me alone, strapped to and sat on the lap of my instructor as the plane climbed to 12,00ft. Bizarrely, my instructor was from Pontypridd.

Anyway, while sat on his lap (unavoidably due to the tandem harness), he leant forward to  so that his voice could be heard over the noise of the single prop-plane engine noise. To a very nervous me, strapped to him and sat on his lap, he posed the following question; ‘what’s the difference between a hard-on and a Ferrari ?’ The question caught me by surprise as my mind was pre-occupied with the alien environment of a small noisy aeroplane and the upcoming requirement to edge towards the open door. ‘What’s the difference between a hard-on and a Ferrari ?’ he repeated. Some time passes and I reply that I don’t know, not sure why I was being posed the questions while strapped to this man, sat on his lap, preparing my mind to leave the aeroplane at 12,000ft. ‘I haven’t got a Ferrari!’ he announced. I didn’t laugh (but have done so since) as I had other things on my mind.

12000ft is way above the clouds and I swear I could see the curvature of the earth. It took some focus to edge myself out of the door of the single propeller plane while looking down at a vista that looked more like a map of New Zealand that New Zealand itself.

The free-fall last 45 seconds – it was absolutely awesome to tumble head of heels out of the plane and then career at 120mph towards the earth !! The first few seconds apparently  cannot usually be recalled by first-time jumpers as the brain switches into crisis mode and blocks out the ‘record for replay’ function during those chaotic moments. I can confirm that my brain confirmed to this general rule.

It was a relief when the parachute opened and an even bigger relief when we landed! A highly memorable experience that I’d recommend to anyone, but if you find yourself with an instructor from Pontypridd check to see whether he owns a Ferrari before you allow him to strap himself to you.

Ruth and the children enjoyed the luge and then went for a second thermal pool swim before we all met for supper at the hotel (a very reasonable £7 for a three course ‘as much as you can eat’ buffet).

On Sunday, as I am working in Wellington the following day and as Rotorua is half-way down the North Island, it made sense for me to fly straight down to Wellington rather than drive back to Auckland to fly down to Wellington. This gave me a further afternoon in Rotorua to make the most of so I went white water rafting on the Kaituna river. The trip was an hour long through ‘amazing steep bush clad canyons over and through 14 rapids … including the 7m Tutea Falls …. Grade 5 rapids – the maximum commercially rafted’.

The Girls and Gillian & Hywel meanwhile arrived safely back in Auckland and relaxed after an eventful week.