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The day starts with my 'John Cleese' impression. I'm late meeting the noon checkout time because I've rushed to get the Day 17 weblog onto the internet, I can't detach the network cable from my laptop because it's jammed itself in, the lift doors are stuck in an endless loop of closing and then re-opening at the same floor, my phone is ringing with Jacqui needing directions to a hotel I can't even remember the name of, and my luggage is falling all over the place. If the lift were a car, and my tripod were a tree branch I'd be re-enacting that scene from 'Fawlty Towers' where Basil is punishing the car that's broken down on him!
Eventually things get sorted and it's off to Sky Tower to attempt the adrenaline rush of jumping off a tower that's even higher than the bungee jump I did a few days ago. We check in but are told to come back at 2pm after lunch. I ask about lunch and there is a restaurant up at the top of the tower, but the girl advises us not to go up there if I'm going to jump as it will likely put me off. I really should listen to the advice I'm given, but oh no!, I foolishly figure 'What can be so scary?' and we head up to find somewhere for lunch. We arrive in time to see a young girl attempting the jump. Jumpers are first dropped six feet and hung mid-air for a photo opportunity before suddenly plummeting the distance of close to a couple of hundred metres to land on a bulls-eye target. The victim we witness is smiling far more than I feel she should be. Oh, for the fearlessness of youth! We have trouble finding anything other than a not very good coffee bar, so head off to grab a bite elsewhere, but before we know it it's time for the jump. Getting out to the platform the two guys running things remind me of my old days jumping at Chelsea Bridge - 'wind up a-go-go' as I used to call it. 'We keep getting power cuts but it should be alright', says one, and the two jokers make sure the pre-jump briefing is a lot of fun. The checks are very thorough from one person and then double-checked by the other ('I have to do it because he's been drinking all day. Sheesh! Smell that whiskey?' the wind-ups continue).
		As always it's the 'walk out on the gang-plank and looking down' that's the problem, although I think the Nevis jump may have re-set something in my system because I find myself quite happy to look down at the tops of the skyscrapers around me, but also below me! There is a lurch as you jump off just to drop about six feet for a photographic opportunity, although the resulting photo is extremely disappointing because, taken from above, it makes the ground look much closer than it actually is. Then when the real jump clicks in it's amazingly gentle, and compared with freefall quite slow. I manage to take in the surroundings and look down at Jacqui on the platform below as I accelerate down. The jump is cool, and I find myself wondering why the heck I'd been panicking about it when here a couple of week ago. 'How was it?' asks the girl on the ground. 'Great!' I beam. 'Want to go again?', the girls asks. I'd love to but at NZ295 it's not a cheap jump (I later find out any jumper can re-jump at any time for a lot less once they've done their first jump) and I've already gone over-budget on this trip. 'That's OK' she says when I explain my lack of funds, 'You can jump for free - we're pretty quiet right now'. Excellent! The wind-ups continue apace when I get to the top. One of the guys is looking at a broken piece of plastic 'This is broken. It just fell off. I don't think it matters', he quips. Trying to make conversation I ask the guys how long they've been doing this job. 'You mean today? Heck I don't know. An hour maybe? We were supposed to watch video's and read the manuals about how to do things here this morning before we started this afternoon but I got bored half way through and fell asleep', I'm told. Seriously, the guys made the jump a lot more fun and I'm not surprised when the Irish member of staff who greets me on my second landing tells me that the guys are so safety-conscious they've never done the jump themselves because they just don't trust anybody else to check the equipment as thoroughly as they do. Jumps over, there's time for a trip to Jacqui's place to watch a video of 'Eating Media Lunch' that covers the Wellington premiere. Imagine a Kiwi Ali G and you'll get the drift, and it's hilarious to watch Sean Astin desperately trying to answer the question 'What do you think of New Zealand pussy?' with a reference to the feline population, and then a polite but embarrassed response about New Zealand women, before the compere's accreditation is taken away from him for going too far.
Jacqui drives me out to one of the beaches which on a sun-lit day would be glorious, but has a sense of melancholy about it today, possibly because I know I'm leaving New Zealand in just a few short hours. We walk along the long sandy beach, chatting about Tolkien, the movies and my forums before heading back to her home and then the airport. It's been another good day in Middle-earth and a trip that I had already been warned would be 'the holiday of a lifetime' has exceeded all expectations. My only regret is that it took a trilogy of movies to kick-start me into taking a holiday I'd intended taking earlier in my life. New Zealand rocks, and I can't wait to come back! Back to Day 18 report Main Itinerary (index) for New Zealand trip reports

Email: ian@iansmith.co.uk