Sky High

Dominion Post, November 2010 –

I said I’d never do it. Ever. Not in a million years. Not even if it were the last adventure on Earth. That’s because I’m a chicken. Cheep, cheep, cheep.

Sarah leaps out of an aeroplane at 4500 metres. Fortunately she’s strapped to Brad Rock of Taupo Tandem Skydiving.

Giving him a quick once over for nervous ticks and evidence of previous injury, I quickly realise he is The Kingpin – Mr Handsome, Mr Strong, a man of such physical assuredness he makes Bear Grylls look like Lofty from Eastenders.

He is also a masterful psychologist. Greeting me with a beaming smile, he rolls out a series of well-oiled quips no doubt designed to set me at ease. It works. Before long I am desperate to be strapped in and can’t wait to leap out of that plane.

[Extract (c) Bennett & Slater, 2012]