My First Adventure

It is day 2 in New Zealand, the extreme sports capital of the world, and I decide it is high time to do something crazy. Auckland is very urban, but you can easily find adventure. I do a sky jump, which is a base jump by wire off the Sky Tower, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. I am told this is good preparation for bungee jumping. If I hadn't suited up and paid on the ground level, I may have changed my mind during the glass elevator ride up to the platform. I am so scared that I walk into a glass wall that I mistook for an open doorway. I walk the plank, lean forward with my toes over the edge and grip the handles on either side of me. You're supposed to leap when the countdown ends, but my response is more like a reluctant release of the handles. The view is amazing, the rush is intense, and it is over in a split second.

Click here for more pictures from the Sky Tower and the rest of our week in Auckland.