92 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2018
THE DESTINATIONPAPARWIN TANUPATARACHAI/MOMENT/GETTY IMAGES(CITY), PHOTO COURTESY:NICK DOWLING/NZONE SKYDIVE(SKYDIVING)The 12-seater Cessna aircraft is fast gaining altitude over
Lake Wakatipu. “See The Remarkables?” Nick Holding,
who is harnessed to me at the back, yells over the roar of the
engine. “We’ll fly three times their height—”.
“—and at 15,000 feet, we jump off this plane,”
supplies Reuben Faletuai, the photographer
sitting in front of me, and takes a selfie to
capture my owl-like goggle.
Suddenly, a buzzer goes off and the
plane’s door slides open. As the plane
hovers mid-air, Nick and I start to glide
towards the edge. From my vantage
point, I see what you usually see long
after your flight takes off—preferably
with you in it.
How did I voluntarily sign up for this?
A few hours ago, I breezed
into the office
of NZ One Skydive. If I was going to jump off a plane after all,
Queenstown was the place to do it. Televisions on all the
walls played videos on loop; I avoided the part where they
zoom in on a guy muttering prayers before he becomes a
speck in the air.
The actual spot is a 30-minute drive away,
and nothing really registers until Nick, a pro
skydiver and my jump partner, comes over
and tells it’s his 17,000th jump. Reuben’s
bounciness rubs off me, and when we are
up in the Cessna, I make all the goofy
faces he asks me to.
***
When Nick and I finally jump, my brain
is on lockdown, in denial that I am free-
falling at 200 kmph. But in seconds, it
registers that I’m hurtling towards the snow
sprinkled on mountain peaks like dusting
sugar. I have a Cheshire cat grin plastered on
my face as I can see every wave and wrinkle on The
Remarkables. Lake Wakatipu is the colour of my potter
friend’s favourite glaze, a deep midnight blue. Reuben
and I hold hands like formation skydivers. My mouth
is agape due to wind pressure, as if I were gulping
mouthfuls of sky.
The parachute opens with a jerk after
one minute. Everything falls silent, and
I feel curiously floaty. We lose some
height, and I can’t believe I am seeing
rows of pines and the crooked
shadows they cast on the ground
in one frame. I may as well be a
vulture or a drone: tall poplars
on The Remarkables look like
cute broccoli florets, the
sheep farm below like a
board game.
That night, I treat
myself at Fergburger,
a Queenstown legend
believed to make New
Zealand’s best burgers.
I’m no climber, but I
wonder if this is why
mountaineers surmount
peak after peak—that
perspective is such a potent
drug. I bite into the juicy
Sweet Bambi venison burger,
looping this wonderful day.
I’m almost back up, where
streets look like mysterious
geoglyphs from where I stand—
nay, fly.
(www.nzoneskydive.co.nz; dives
from NZD299/`14,300, photo & video
from NZD199/`9, 500.)HOW TO FALL IN LOVE
Queenstown’s stunning lakeside,
mountain-ringed sprawl is best
viewed while hurtling down from
an airplane (inset).