Skydive Wānaka — Attraction in South Island

Did our first, and probably not last skydive here. I was suspicious at first naturally, also debating if I wanted video or pictures at all (having done a decent amount of leisurely video and photo editing myself), I wanted good footage. Even from when I got there my doubts subsided somewhat, they have gotten the whole process down to a fine art. You can be you. If you aren't chatty that's cool, but I was chatting pleasantly with everyone. Some of it a bit tortured because of the crews daily routine, but everything was easy. We paid for the dive through bookme and the photo and video flyer each on site, I simply asked for Raw footage when paying which was no problem at all. I will however say that it has been a bit spoiled by the East Asian tourist trend. I'm assuming that is why the pre-dive communication is somewhat through gritted teeth, but I will give Skydive Wanaka all due credit and made the best of the situation in making every detail abundantly clear to everyone. I would also think it better if the media flyer had a 'chat to me'/'dont chat to me' option because although Alex was a really cool guy, we both just wanted to get in the air ;) Improvement aside the whole process was fantastic the whole time I was getting ready and ascending Kassy was very helpful and assuring answering any questions whilst telling me what was being changed on the harness and what needs to go where. If in doubt, ask questions. Everybody is happy to answer and knows their stuff! Come and have a great time! I can't say what it was like to do because it's a one of a kind experience and totally worth it :) keep doing...

We had a few issues. We booked for 11am and they moved this to 3pm which we were luckily able to still do. In the email we were advised to wear warm clothes but when we turned up everyone was in shorts and t shirts so we were uncomfortable for the duration as it wasn’t cold, even at altitude. It was highly disappointing that they were unable to provide the camera flyer package - when we asked what our options were, the staff member at reception was unhelpful and rude. They state this is ‘subject to availability’ on their website but cannot be sorted until on the day - yet you have to cancel 24 hours before to get a refund. Skydives and the photo packages are very expensive so this is not good enough for a once in a lifetime experience. The remark that we “should have gone to Queenstown if we wanted that” and “not to rub salt in the wound but if you’d been here earlier it was available” (we had arrived 30 minutes prior to our start time and the website indicates you cannot pre-book) were unhelpful and not appreciated. Our tandem masters were great, though my partner got better pictures and video from the handicam than I did - my tandem masters arm are in all of them. Again, disappointing at such a high cost. I found the jump itself to be uncomfortable with pain and pressure in my ears which distracted me from enjoying the skydive. We both found the parachute part uncomfortable as the harness dug in so tightly (and the others we jumped with agreed with this). On the whole we were dissatisfied with the price for the experience, reception service, and handicam...

Totally spoilt my day and I wasted it in wanaka. I was supposed to skydive at 11am but at 9.30am the staff told us that they can't confirm with the weather but ask us to go ahead with the drive from queenstown. And thus we went ahead rushing down, forgoing our arrowtown trip! We reached promptly at 11am and waited till 1230pm and was told that the weather is bad and thus we can't fly. But many had went ahead to dive since 11am. Our slot was at 11am as well. We were told to shift our slot to 5pm. There were 2pm slots but we couldn't slot it in due to full booking? But we were from 11am! We carried on our lunch and waited by the lake till 4.30, made the call, diving is cancelled as well due to weather. Unpleasant service as they were no lack of customers. They could have squeezed us into 2pm slot but they didn't and just brushed us away at that point of time. I remember particularly Dylan and Elise were the staff which handled us. There were no apologies at that point of time and just hasten us to quickly decide if we want the 5pm slot or not. My partner and I were deciding if we should forgo it and trek but their impatience led us to booking the 5pm slot. And I simply wasted my day waiting at lake wanaka which I only had a day here. I could have went trekking or some other activities. I'll never come back to wanaka for...