Flying NZ

The Remarkables by sunset

So it's been a while, but eventually I found my way back into the skies again.

New Zealand has been one of those places where it's so difficult to fit everything in, and I've been looking at my wing sat in the corner of my room for the last 4 months wondering when I'd get airborne again. You know that when you haven't done something you enjoy for a long time, you forget the enjoyment it brings you. Paragliding had become a little like that for me... I was also a little scared. After such a long time, would I remember what to do?? Is that really a good idea when you're running off the side of a mountain?!

Eventually the weather turned super calm and there was very little wind. My knee hurt too much to run, bike or climb and I had sold my creek boat. I decided it was time to fly again. Near to where I live there is a ski hill called Coronet Peak, from which you can fly, and there's even a convenient patch of grass which acts as a landing zone for a variety of air based activities. I caonvinced my friend Tim to drive my van back to the bottom, laid out my wing, fastened myself into my harness, hooked the wing up the harness and ran off the side of the mountain one evening after work. Luckily I did everything right... and I loved flying again!

I repeated this the following day.

The next day I rested.

The following day, whilst still at work I got a text from a paragliding friend called Ray. I hadn't managed to get up in the air with him yet, despite various attempts. This time I thought it would be the same - he had invited me flying whilst I was still at work. The next text asked if I wanted to get in a chopper after work, fly up to the top of the local big peaks, the Remarkables, in a helicopter and fly off... I had my wing and harness in the van. I was in! I spent the rest of the day at work super excited, to say the least.

The chopper flight next to the cliffs

Stoked to be on the top

I met a bunch of folk at the heli field, it's very unusual for the conditions to be stable enough to allow for evening flights off the Remarks (it has to be in the evening because it is in the flight path for the airport here!). There were in fact 36 paragliders all ready to go. I was in the second group to get taken up, and the heli flight itself was exciting enough, pretty much straight up the sheer sides of the Remarks! When we landed I was blown away by the beauty. When I saw the take-off, I was blown away by my nerves. A rocky slope of 50 yards, then 2000m of oblivion, all in a gully with rocks either side. We had to wait an hour or so for the rest of the group to get dropped and then, as the sun began it's slow dip into the horizon we began to take-off.

Ready to go

The take-off... gulp.

The waiting was terrible. There was lots of happy and funny banter, which I took part in, but inside I was nervous to the core. I'd only been back in the harness a couple of days! People headed out, most getting good take-offs, and only a few false starts. Then it was my turn... I laid out, lined up and ran off the edge.... and soared into the air!! The oblivion turned into a floating playground. I played around the cliffs for a while, soaring back and forth accross the butresses of stone and pillars of sharp rock. One my favorites is taking yourself near to the edge of steep ridges and skimming over them out into the open air the other side. The sense of scale is breath-taking. After a while I noticed the sunset was stunning and I floated away from the Remarks to get some pictures. Hanging in the sky with my camera as the sun set, I was blissfully happy, underneath me was the beautiful landscape I had been a part of, working and playing in for the last few months. Here I was, gliding above it, in all it's glory as the sun-set below the jagged horizon. I thought I was getting a bit low and so I made for the landing, a big field, quite a distance away (10kms). I arrived a lot higher than I had imagined at maybe 500m which gave me some time to play. As the darkness drew in I was spiralling and swinging under my wing, the exhilaration and G-forces bringing a grin to my face. To top it all I had a lovely landing. What a perfect way to spend an evening after work. Even today, the day after, I still find myself smirking that smug smirk of satisfaction at enjoyment beyond the norm.

The lines that held me in the setting sky

Not a bad view for an evening after work