Falling Out of 2006

So.

On New Year’s Eve, these things happened. We arrived at the appointed place at the appointed time and waited some three hours or so, watching people dropping out of the sky before throwing ourselves off the mountain side and taking a surprisingly long time to reach the bottom.

Or that’s how I’m sure Gary is putting it. Probably with a few other elaborations – the “so-called” pilot who steered him down was probably an escaped convict in his version, maybe the paraglide sail caught fire at one point, there was an iffy landing in some shark-infested water, there were storms, life-threatening situations, a hijacking, an imprisoned princess and, well, you know the drill by now.

We actually just went tandem paragliding from the off-season ski-resort at Coronet Peak just outside Queenstown. That is, we strapped ourselves to someone who knew what they were doing, ran awkwardly over the rise of the hillside and let the great sail above us swoop us into the air. From there, we just sat back and enjoyed the ride as they worried about all the important details and we just gawped at the scenery leisurely scrolling beneath us. It’s stunningly beautiful of course, and this was perhaps the best way to really enjoy it: suspended in mid-air with nothing to impeded the view. It’s also unbelievably relaxing – no adrenaline rush here, folks – you just sit back, quite comfortably and enjoy the ride. Certainly every now and then, the pilot clipped on behind engages in a little “fun” (his words) and sends the lazy view into blurry spin as we, he and the great big kite which we’re both strapped to spiral downwards then drift back up on a chance thermal.

So, pretty much the polar opposite of a bungee jump – the flight down the mountain took a luxurious twenty minutes, plenty of time to coo and sigh at the natural wonders spread out on all sides.

Gary’s account is probably more exciting, but … well, I don’t actually remember the flying monkeys attacking to be honest, and with a view like that, who needs them?