First time for everything... in the West Coast

In keeping with its name, for me New Zealand has been the place for trying things I have never done before. Jumping out of a plane at 15,000 feet yesterday was just one of them, but I’ll come back to that in a minute…

We arrived in Christchurch, the capital city of the South Island, around one and a half weeks ago feeling like we had the world’s worst hangover, but without the fun drinking part that normally justifies it… On our last night, India had given us a rather unoriginal leaving present: a stomach bug. Unable to keep anything down, I've never wanted to be on a plane less than I did that day. After around 24 hours of travelling, it was a relief to finally sleep on a soft bed and breathe in fresh, unpolluted air when we got to Christchurch. Not that the “luxury” would last - we were back on the road in a compact camper van (our new home) by morning.

After six weeks of being subjected to the incessant beeping of car horns in both India and Nepal, the sound of a heavy rainstorm was almost a welcome interruption to the rather sinister silence of Christchurch. So, we drove to the West Coast in search of the sun (or people), and found the former in a pretty little seaside town called Hokitika. Sometimes it’s the little things that make life great - cooking sausages on a beach for a hotdog dinner while watching the sun go down is one of those things, but watching my Spanish husband squirm as he got stopped by the police for basically driving on the wrong side of the road was just pure pleasure... The right side is not the right side in New Zealand.

And then there are those exciting new experiences that make you feel brave, despite how small or silly they later seem: My first time riding a bike with gears (also known as a mountain bike) around the beautiful Lake Wanaka; or driving a van without gears (also known as an automatic) down the West Coast of the South Island; getting into a helicopter to walk along the bright white Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers; or the ultimate thrill of jumping out of a small plane in Queenstown… My first skydive can only be described as a Sunday evening being followed by a Friday night: the uncomfortable anticipation slowly eating away at an uneasy mind before suddenly transforming into an explosive party where your body is so intoxicated that only euphoria rules your head. The world has never seemed so wonderful…

And then there’s the scenery… it almost seems too obvious to talk about, but it truly is as good as they say… If India’s sunsets and palm trees were postcard perfect, New Zealand's sculptured mountains and turquoise lakes, framed in deep, bushy greenery, are an oil painting - with fluffy cotton wool clouds painted into the sky for effect. I assure you that seeing this while floating to safety on a parachute is unbeatable.

A picture paints a thousand words, so I’ll hand you over to Isma’s stunning photographs, so that you can see how wonderful the world really is when you’re on the other side of it.

Guess what I found out in the South Island?

1. The Kea is an alpine green and red parrot found only in New Zealand. A highly intelligent bird, it has a mental age of a 2-3 year old.

2. In a world where almost everything seems to have an explanation, the “pancake rocks” that can be found in Punakaiki are somewhat of a mystery. Geologists can explain the erosion process that has taken place over millions of years, but they don’t actually know why the limestone is layered, creating what looks like stacks of pancakes.

3. "Kia Ora" is an informal greeting in Maori, the language of the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. Call me ignorant, but I honestly had no idea where the British orange squash had got its name from!