Thursday 26th November –
At breakfast this morning there were some rather nervous faces as the moment of truth approaches…the sky dives are just a few hours away. Whilst not a part of our own expedition, there was some fantastic “tp” spirit as Maria, Joe, Oli Gray and Holly painted “T” and “P” on either hand to flash as they jumped out, and lots were sitting in the sun to watch each pair arrive from the heavens. With 9 jumping it was down to one to go solo, and Oli Gray stepped up, so he was first to load into the van. Ultimately it turned out that he was jumping with another guy, and he was absolutely buzzing as he landed on the lawn next to mama’s, although he did mention that the harness was rather tight in certain areas!:) Chris and Joe were the next to go before Maria and Scotty took the leap of faith…and that was after the instructors had enjoyed some teasing of how loose Maria’s harness was…it wouldn’t be as fun if they made you too comfortable after all! Holly and Alice were next out the door, and we could hear Holly laughing from 5000 feet in the air, it really is an unbelievable experience. And finally it was Oli Mcmann and Cat, with Cat’s nerves building with every dot she saw falling from the sky through the day, but I am very happy to say that they arrived safe and sound, smiling from ear to ear. As far as adrenalin rushes go, sky dives are pretty high up there!
In the evening we had been invited down to Tarika’s for dinner, a lady from Naicabecabe who now lives in Nadi and who met the team during ‘Naicabecabe day’ at the start of October. As ever they were so welcoming and had put on an absolute feast of curry for the team, and stories very quickly drifted back to the village and our family and friends back there. One very special guy had made the journey across from the village, with Biss, our Mata ni Vanua, popping up to see everyone..he is very “tp”! And with more and more people arriving for the grog party the guitars were out and everyone was up on their feet dancing, a small taste of the village back on the mainland!
