britboynz

Skydiving has also appeared on a NZ banknote. For the millenium the Reserve bank of NZ produced a commemorative $10 note (plastic, like all our banknotes!) that has an image of a tandem along with other outdoorsy stuff like skiing, kayaking, surfing etc. Only realised this when i found it the other day rummaging through some stuff :) Russ

You'd be kinda out of luck if it'd just been mowed though Therefore - only jump when the grass is Long

Just got my new rig (odyssey w. Sabre2 170) it's great & i'm totally stoked with it....cheers Sunpath

I'll say hi to him for ya no worries...this weekend is Labour Day weekend here in NZ and the weathers supposed to be crap so i'll be stuck in auckland . When we're staggering round half pissed i'll suggest the sky screamer lol

The vast majority of whuffos i've spoken to reckon bungee is scarier - was discussing this with a guy at work the other day & his thinking was that with a bungee, you have to overcome the fear and jump off yourself, whereas with a tandem you just sit there and the 'tandem guy' does everything for you. in terms of adrenaline rush, he reckons a skydive is far better as a bungee's over in literally 20 seconds. I'd done a few bungee jumps before taking up skydiving, after doing AFF a bungee is a walk in the park. If you ever get the opportunity do a tandem bungee. Did one of these a few years ago with my partner of the time in Taupo here in NZ...both of you are hooked to the same bungee cord, stand side-by side (or facing each other) with your arm round the other persons shoulder then fall forward. Remember asking one of the girls who was operating it 'what happens if one of us goes, but the other doesnt?!!!' and she replied absolutely deadpan: 'then it gets messy' im 100% convinced she and the other girl standing behind us were gonna push us both off together if one had hesitated . Definitely better (and infinitely scarier)..especially if your partner has a fear of heights The Nevis in Queenstown in farkin awesome, if you haven't seen it, have a look at the AJ Hackett website...all the others pale into insignificance. Cheers for that, i live in Auckland CBD 5 min walk from the sky screamer (never done it, even though ive been here 4yrs lol) so I'll check it out & go say hi to your mate

>any more midlanders keeping track of this thread? Yup....used to live in Tamworth, staffs & spent many a night out in Brum

LOL I watched a game over in Melbourne a few weeks ago - looks like netball for boys. They BOUNCE the ball at kickoff?!? Plus most of the lads playing were skinny as & would snap in two if they ever played proper rugby (union) Russ

Up against a lighthouse at Cape Reinga here in NZ. sun was setting, waves crashing onto rocks below...it's a bit of a tourist spot (and there's only 1 trail back to the car) which coulda made things interesting. fortunately no coach load of japanese tourists turned up lol

This is all MUSIC TO MY EARS

BOC throwout right from the start of AFF1. Our DZ has Telesys student rigs, which have a handle for the other AFF instructor. If the 2nd instructor needs to deploy the students PC, pulling the red handle opens the 'hinged' boc pouch so the PC can drop out. see pic attached (my AFF stage 3 i think it was....and for anyone who is curious, the plane in the pic is a PAC Cresco, the brother of the PAC 750 XL

Quite a lot of DZ's here in New Zealand (and Australia) are like this - they're so geared up for the tourist/backpacker market that all they do is tandems. A few do AFF but even then tandems still rule the roost. I've been bumped off several loads to make way for a tandem. In some ways I can understand it - the seat I'm sitting in and paying $30 for could be replaced by a tandem paying $200. However what the DZO and manifest don't seem to remember is that I and others have spent several thousand $$ at this DZ doing AFF/solos/buying gear etc etc. It really pisses me off when I get bumped off a load as I'm 'just a sportie'. How about putting your regular jumpers first...they may only be paying $30 for the ride to altitude, but a regular jumper will surely be more proffitable for a DZ in the long run, not to mention the free PR/extra business he/she generates from saying good things about the DZ to others. For me the sport skydiving scene in NZ is so crap, once Ive got my nz citizenship (hurry the F**k up Internal Affairs ) I'm out of here, probably to Australia or maybe the UK lol. If you want DZ's with good sport jumping, don't move to NZ! Russ

Sadly these days are no more - today there are only 10 sheep for every man, woman and child in NZ. Things are looking up for the sheep though, as they're now getting it 3 times a month Russ From Statistics NZ: Sheep farmed in New Zealand totalled 39.5 million at 30 June 2002, the lowest number recorded since 1955. Sheep numbers in 2002 were down 20 percent in New Zealand since 1994. In 2002, there were about 10 sheep for every person in New Zealand – compared with 20 sheep for every person in 1982 when the national flock was largest, 70.3 million. Sheep numbers totalled 39.7 million at 30 June 2003, a similar figure to that recorded in 2002.

I'm in Melbourne for a b'day piss up (3 kiwis & 1 pom coming over from Akl) 19-24th Aug... Any good DZ's to visit? or will the weather in Vic be too cold/miserable to jump? blue ones.... Russ

Anvil

Aww cmon!! Didn't deserve a red card though did it?. I've seen worse than that. Yellow card would have let the punishment fit the crime. I've got $20 on the poms beating oz at work. so they better f'en win

Yup...i was there at the 2nd test in Auckland....f*%@n taffy ref . Kiwis didn't half gloat at work on Monday...bustards . Shame the kiwis couldnt play like that 7 months ago though eh I reckon the poms will steamroller the aussies, did u see them (the aussies) play Scotland the other day hahahahah Russ

N/A

umm, forgive me for being a newbie, but why is it called a Mr Bill? Did Bill Booth do the first one or something? Russ

umm, any of the southern states? dont you call em rednecks? lol

the DZ I jump at is 3hrs drive away...so far i've been done for speeding twice on the way too/from the DZ (in very rural areas, same friggin cop each time) & got a roadside camera ticket once (on the way to a gear store) not proud of it (gotta keep it down from now on or bye bye licence for 3 months ) but it does make ya think that speeding & skydiving are kinda related lol Russ

Dont know if i 'qualify' as Im hard of hearing, but can sign. Learnt to sign (BSL) back in the UK a few years ago. Now live & jump in New Zealand kewl pics btw

Yup...we have a DZ cat

Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce

LOL kinda reminds me of... http://www.eds.com/superbowl/sb_cats.shtml any closer to setting a date yet Zee? heheheh

Can I throw a spanner in the works? How about June?