Paragliding

Two years ago when I first thought about a trip to New Zealand, I came across a beautiful picture on the internet. It was a picture of a paraglider. I was instantly hooked on the experience and told myself that if I ever made it to NZ then I was going to paraglide. Immediately I saved the picture as the background on my computer as a constant reminder that one day I would get to New Zealand.

As plans progressed for the trip, Torey and I were in search of the picture location to paraglide. I wanted the scenery to be beautiful as well as the price to be affordable. We even looked at a lot of different websites until we came across one that seemed to fit our needs the best. It was for a paragliding school, but the price was good at $140NZ dollars and the website promised longer flight times.

After reading up a bit on paragliding, I learned that winter is not the best season to take a ride. You need warm air to keep the chute up. With out warm air, you will basically soar down quickly, at most only fifteen minutes. With warm pockets in the air, you can be up for hours taking in the view. Unfortunately it was not a warm did when we went out. I was hoping that we will still get a long flight time, because the company we used, ParaPro had a motor that could be used as well. Actually, let me back track a little bit a write about the company!

I was in contact with a man named Dave, who I later found out was the owner of ParaPro...heck, he was the company. He made most of his money from teaching locals how to paraglide. However, on the side he would sometimes take tourists out for a spin and make money that way too. He asked us to meet him in a small town outside of Christchurch, called Lyttleton. He would be at the surf shop. When we parked out campervan and headed for the surf shop, he was outside waiting by his car and asked us to jump in. I figured that at some point he would have us a sign a waiver, but he never did. In fact, we met up with his friend whom would be the car driver for the trip and they talked to each other the whole time. It was as if he was just taking friends out for a flight, because he certainly treat us like customers that were paying for a nice experience.

In fact it all happened so fast. Torey went first and he had to put on a jump suit of sorts, then came a very large harness. I planned to take pictures, but before I knew it, they were off. I rode down to the bottom of the mountain with the driver and we picked up Torey and Dave. Then it was back up the mountain for my turn. I followed the same procedure of getting into the jumpsuit, harness, then take-off. The take-off was the funniest part. Dave asked us to run until he told us to stop...just keep running, because he might touch down a few times before we were in the air. I ran and ran, but I was laughing so hard. I think I looked funny when I was in the air and my feet were moving through the air!

I loved paragliding. My guide was a bit weird and he made me pose for five pictures which was a hinderance to what I really wanted to do, enjoy the view (besides, he was old school and didn't even have digital pictures). After all the picture taking I was able to enjoy a five minute soar through the air. It wasn't that cold as we swished back and forth. It felt like I was flying. I always dream of flying and this was the closest experience I have had in real life. I think I know what a bird must feel like. I was quite disappointed when the ride was over, but I realized that there is nothing he can do without hot air. I want to paraglide again and hopefully soon. It was an adventure that I could easily put into my daily life (if only I had the money for equipment).