I'm a Bird

5/10/10
Locations: Queenstown, New Zealand

Today I am very excited to tell you that I rode in a van up to a cliff and I ran off of it as fast as I could. And I didn’t fall. I flew. I went flying today and it has been the highlight of this trip so far.

May 10 was adventure day for our group here in Queenstown, which the adventure tourism capital of the world. You can do it all here: bungy jump, canyon swing, jetboat, ride a horse through the Lord of the Rings film locations. Caitlyn and I decided we wanted to paraglide. We booked a flight for each of us online before we even left Minnesota, and we woke up excited and ready to go. Our company, New Zealand G-Force Paragliding, instructed us to call them the morning of our booking to check the weather conditions and confirm that we were OK to paraglide at 9:00 A.M. They weren’t sure if we would be able to go when we called at 8:00 A.M. and asked us to call them back at 8:30 instead. Since our hotel is about a 20 minute walk to the Skyline Gondola in Queenstown, where G-Force’s headquarters are located, we decided we better make our way there and call en route. Unfortunately, it was too windy at the top of the gondola where the paragliding flights leave for us to go that morning. They asked us to call back at 11:30 A.M. to see if the winds have died down by then. We agreed and decided to spend the morning exploring Queenstown.

We arrived in Queenstown late on May 9 (remember, I am a day ahead of you if you’re reading this in the US;) )and it was so dark so we didn’t see much but the lights of the city and the stars overhead. We ate some pizza at a great restaurant recommended to us by Scott called The Cow, and celebrated Tyson’s 21^st birthday. So, Caitlyn and I had a lot to see this morning. We checked out Lake Wakatipu, yet another gorgeous lake in New Zealand. You can see it from every room in our hotel and it’s a soft slate blue and framed by a mountain range called The Remarkables. We enjoyed some hot chocolate at Starbucks, and then explored the shops and adventure attraction booking sites in Queenstown. Finally, 11:30 rolled around and we called G-Force. We couldn’t paraglide down from the top of the Skyline Gondola to the elementary school field like they typically do, but if we wanted to, we could be picked up and taken to Coronet Peak and paraglide from there. Coronet Peak is part of the mountains of Queenstown’s ski resorts and is much higher than the top of the Skyline Gondola. Caitlyn and I happily agreed and they said a van would come to the bottom of the Skyline Gondola to pick us up and drive us to Coronet Peak.

Brendan, one of the G-Force instructors, met us at the base of the gondola. It was just Caitlyn and I, and a woman from Paris, whose name I don’t remember. She didn’t speak much English, but she was just as excited to paraglide as we were. We loaded in the van and begin to make our way up. We stopped to pick up two more instructors, so there was one for each of us and then continued our climb. We climbed up and up and Queenstown became completely distant and all we saw were rolling green hills, the Shotover River, and Lake Wakatipu. Caitlyn and I looked at each other and both admitted that we were beginning to get a little apprehensive and scared now. We finally piled out of the van by a ski lift, and now it was time to get suited up.

My instructor was Dan, and he helped me slip into my harness chair and snap and buckle all of the straps. I pulled on my mint green Bolle helmet and a pair of gloves and I was almost ready. I helped Dan spread out our parachute, which was huge, and arrange the cords that connected to us. Next, Dan had to attach me to him since we were doing a tandem paraglide. I was in front, and Dan was behind me. While Dan was hooking us up, he explained to me what we were going to do.

“We’re going to start out walking briskly,” he said.”Then, I’m going to ask you to run. We’ll just run as fast as we can until we’re airborne. Don’t worry if we don’t run hard enough and don’t get up; it’s easy to stop and do it again.”

He said it so matter-of-factly, while the only thing going through my head was “I’m going to run as fast as I can off of a cliff? What am I doing?” But there was no time for second thoughts, and soon I was walking at a steady clip toward the edge that overlooked the edge of Queenstown, golden fields, and hunter-green and bright orange trees. Then, I was running, running as fast as I could in the harness.

Then, I was airborne.

It was the best feeling I’ve ever experienced. It’s like being in an airplane, except you’re not looking out a tiny side window and there’s nothing at all around you. It’s just you. And you’re flying, just like a bird. I whooped after my legs could no longer reach the ground and I fell back into my harness, which becomes a chair in flight. I was now swooping through the air. I could see the giant rock faces streaked with the colors of sand, white, and gray and I could see the countless tops of the evergreens below. I could see the blue of the river and Lake Wakatipu in the distance. I felt completely free and also powerful, because I was effortlessly doing what humans aren’t built to do. Paragliding was flying. With my arms out and my feet dangling below me, it was like I had a new superpower.

Dan asked me if I was ready for some of the fun G-force stuff. Of course, I said hell yes, and we whooshed back and forth by the side of the mountain, then did tight spins over the trees which allowed me to look completely down or sideways. It was so, so much fun. All the time, Dan was snapping photos and taking video on his camera which was mounted on a collapsible rod, so he could take photos from below, above, or anywhere he wanted. I have all of the photos and video on a CD and they’re so awesome. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait to see them because I don’t have a disk drive in my netbook.

Dan and I landed softly in a grassy field after our flight, which was about 10 minutes long, and then we unhooked everything. I took some photos of Caitlyn coming down (she got some of me taking off) and looked at my own photos and video on Dan’s camera. After Caitlyn was freed from her harness, we just looked at each other in amazement. We were on a complete adrenaline high from what we just did. We recovered shortly and begun gushing about how incredible it was and thanked our instructors immensely. We all got back in the van and small-talked with Dan and Brendan, who was Caitlyn’s instructor. We paid them on the bottom of the gondola then practically skipped into downtown Queenstown. We found Scott right away and proceeded to tell him, and his wife and son on Skype, everything about our adventure.

It was a truly amazing day and I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had the extra cash. The change in perspective is so valuable. I had seen almost everything we saw from the ground, but seeing it from those heights was completely different and totally refreshing. This was another experience in this trip that has taught me so much about myself. It takes a lot of trust to just run off a cliff when someone tells you to, and I did it. I didn’t think I would be apprehensive because I was so pumped about going and I do like other adrenaline rush activities alike rollercoasters, skiing, etc., but there was a little fear in the pit of my stomach. But I told myself, “You won’t regret this,” and I took the plunge. And I loved every single second of the flight. I loved the escape of having feet bound to the ground, I loved feeling the wind not only blow past my ears but turning me around, and I loved just the feeling of being in the air. Dan and Brendan tried to convince Caitlyn and I to become certified (50 flights to do so) since we were so head-over-heels in love with paragliding. Maybe someday I will, and I’ll solo paraglide when I can, even if I don’t do it daily as an instructor. The ability to fly when I want, where I want, and for as long as I want, would be the best gift ever.

Me pumped to go paragliding!

The view from Coronet Peak!

Caitlyn coming down to land! (She got pics of me taking off on her camera.)

AMAZING!

Me chilling by Lake Wakatipu. Mom & Dad--this is where I was 

sitting when I was talking to you on the phone!