Paragliding!

NZ is well known as the capital of adrenaline sports. Doing something scary while you're here is pretty much obligatory. Feeling that skydiving or bungy jumping were a little bit too scary, we opted for paragliding.

So, when we woke up to a beautiful morning on Friday with clear skies, almost no wind and a flyer for $20 off with Wanaka Paragliding, it was fate. We phoned up and made a booking to 'fly' an hour later.

We met the paragliding team at the base of the Treble Cone ski area near Wanaka. They then drove us up to the take-off point, 800m higher. After a fairly quick briefing, we ran off the side of the mountain and floated off into the air.

Yes, it really does feel like you're flying. It's very easy (you're really just sitting down for half an hour); I was even able to take some pictures while I was gliding around. We had awesome views of Lake Wanaka and the Mt Aspiring National Park.

On the mountainside where we were flying there happened to be an Australasian Harrier nesting. As we crossed into his territory, he flew around to try to warn us off. He even tried to land on top of Rach's glider! Luckily he didn't; they have pretty sharp talons that could easily damage a paraglider!

For the rest of the day we were buzzing with the excitement of such a fantastic experience. It was beautifully serene and calm - not that scary after all!

Rob