Parasailing in Paihia – Day 349

Today we are seeing the Bay of Islands from a brand new perspective from 1200ft.

This morning after a nice cup of coffee in one of the many Paihia awesome coffee places, we are heading to the harbour once more because we are going parasailing today. Parasailing – it’s like parachuting but without the freefall.

Once everybody boards the boat, we start like every tour with a bit of safety instructions.

When I do launch the shoot I just ask that your hands and feet stay really far away from the line.

As we’re making our way out onto the water our guide is giving use some instructions on basically what to expect during this whole parasailing tour. After that, she is getting us all geared up with the harnesses, life jackets and helmets so we are nice and safe and then the main event happens when the parachute is unleashed.

Seeing that giant parachute woosh up into the air is the first amazing sight of the day and it’s not long after that the first passengers are getting geared up and ready to go for the first flight of the tour.

Once we see other people on our tour literally aged between 6 years old and 60 years old, we know there is no way we can back out of this now. No matter how high that parachute is going. If they can do it, we can definitely do it too even with Robin having a broken arm.

So for this tour today we’re gonna be the last ones to take flight and after a quick preparation making sure that everybody is strapped on we are released up in the air.

It’s a very surreal feeling as soon as we leave the boat we see the boat going tinier and tinier and tinier as we are taking flight. It’s really awesome to actually feel like we are dragged by this boat but feel like we are so far from it. It actually does take quite a while to get all the way up to 1200ft which is where we’re going to be flying today.

And to be quite honest, as we are getting further and further and further from the boat it’s pretty hard to comprehend how high we are. 1200ft is super high and we get to see so much of the Bay of Islands. Laura and I have actually to take a minute to comprehend how high we are.

The view from up there is fantastic. Needless to say that we basically get the best spot in town. The Bay of Islands comprises of 144 different islands and I’m pretty sure we can see all of them from up there.

I won’t lie to you guys, I am a little terrified but it’s beautiful from up here.

The really surprising thing about parasailing is that it’s quite a relaxing experience unless you’re terrified of heights like Robin. There’s no sound up here other than the wind rushing past you and of course the views are absolutely sensational so we get to relax, sit back and enjoy the show.

We can see all the destinations that we have visited in the Bay of Islands so far. For example we can see the little town of Russell which was the first Capital of New Zealand and we actually visited that place the other day which we will link to in the cards above if you haven’t seen that one yet. We also see Waitangi, we can see Paihia and loads of different scenery from long-stretching white sand beaches rugged coastline there’s really a whole mix of scenery.

After about 10-12 minutes of flying high up in the sky we can see that we’re getting closer and closer to the boat but the next fun part of this tour which is landing on the boat as gracefully as possible.

Needless to say Laura and I landed on our SASS so that wasn’t the most graceful one but it’s really impressive to see the team wrapping up the parasail – honestly, it takes a lot of skills to do that and to make sure that the parasail doesn’t touch the water which apparently is bad for the sail.

Anyway, this wraps up our tour and we are now making our way back toward the harbour in Paihia because we have something to do tonight.

So what’s going on with your hair, Laura?

Aw, is it pretty wild from my flight?

Do I need to put the beanie back on?

Parasailing over the Bay of Islands is such an easy thing to do, I mean, look at me guys, I have a broken arm and I actually managed to parasail super easily above the Bay of Islands – it’s a great way to get a birds’ eye view of this amazing place in New Zealand.

As we are wrapping up our tour I am heading toward the hairdresser, cos yes I have been travelling around New Zealand with a dead bird on my head – seriously this hair cut was horrendous. And to celebrate my brand new haircut we are heading to the Base Pipi Patch which is our hostel at the moment and they have their own bar which tonight organised quiz night. But before quiz night we have to play beerpong.

When the quiz starts we give the quiz master a hard time, we pick New Zealand’s longest name as our team name.

Are you sure?

I’m not sure.

Alright so let’s be honest, we’re here more for the beer than we are for the quiz but it’s really cool to have every every organised every single night in this backpacker bar it’s a great way to socialise and have some good well-deserved fun.

We literally only have 2 weeks left to go – 15 days until the end. It’s absolutely mind-blowing to me that we are so close to the end. Oh my God this is absolutely crazy. I mean I have a hard time containing my emotion right here.
It has been an amazing adventure. It has been epic. Oh God. Anyway…