Up in the Air

The sport of paragliding, I've realized, is a true hobby. Particularly in New Zealand, there's a whole motley group of characters who reunite atop the same high hills and mountains each day to float off and enjoy the scenery.

Brian and I were lucky enough to join this group for one day up in Nelson, a cute little town up in the northern part of the South Island. While most people opt for adventureland Queenstown, we opted for Tony and his tandem paragliding "company" up north...Greatest decision ever.

Within hours of our arrival in Nelson, Brian and I found ourselves strapped to two harnesses, which were in turn strapped tight to ropes attached to a rectangular-shaped parachute. Tony (I flew with Tony, Brian flew with Tony's partner) looked over to me and asked me if I was nervous. Of course, I hadn't really thought about it, but as we approached the edge of the mountain, I experienced a bit of anxiety. Um yeah, it was high.

"1,2,3...RUN," Tony screamed.

We both started running (see pictures below...it kind of looks as though we're spooning in an upright position), and eventually the parachute inflated and lifted us right off the ground. Tony yelled to keep running, which I did, though I felt a bit silly, as my feet were no longer touching grass. I felt as though I was riding a unicycle, except for the fact that I had neither a) a unicycle, nor b) ground to ride one on.

Tony and I were up in the air for about 30 minutes, catching what he calls "thermals" and riding the hot air streams higher and higher up into the sky over the Abel Tasman Bay. Beautiful.

Pictures below:

all geared up

Tony harnessing me in

"1,2,3...RUN!"

up, up, up, and away

up in the air (note: brian's taking all these pictures)

a beautiful view

bird's eye view from brian's paraglider (his bball shoes and some forest)

me again