Richie scales new heights
Sporting couple take on new role encouraging Kiwis to try new things
Richie McCaw has been in high pressure situations before, but never quite this high. Before most people had taken their first bite of breakfast yesterday, the former All Black captain hurled himself out of a plane flying at 15,000 feet above picturesque Mt Maunganui for his first skydive.
“I was a little nervous,” McCaw admitted. “The most nervous bit is when the door opens and you’re still sitting in the plane. You’re thinking, ‘Oh man, I have to get out of here’. But once I was on the step I was like, ‘Right. I’m committed now. I’m off’.”
On the firm landing ground at Skydive Tauranga, McCaw’s wife and former Black Sticks great Gemma McCaw peered up at the morning sky trying to pick out the small plane that her husband was preparing to leap from.
Then, a small black dot emerged out of the dramatic, billowy white clouds.
“It’s a long moment ’til that chute actually opens,” she said, recounting how she was feeling nervous for him. “I thought they were coming in quite fast as well.”
Her thought was right. After jumping McCaw free fell for about a minute before the parachute opened. During that time he would have been falling at speeds reaching 200km/hour.
Things relaxed considerably once the chute deployed. The speed slowed to 30km/hour giving McCaw around three minutes to enjoy the stunning views that, on this crisp clear morning, stretched all the way to Auckland, more than 200km away.
“I knew he was in good hands. It was fun to watch. I was thinking, ‘I do hope the parachute opens and he comes back in one piece’.” Gemma continues. “But once the chute opened I was pretty relaxed. I knew he’d be fine.”
McCaw’s leap was to announce the pair’s new roles as brand ambassadors for Tourism New Zealand. They want to encourage Kiwis to “do something new” and will spend the next year visiting places they haven’t been and getting stuck into activities and experiences that are new for them.
“I’m always keen to give things a crack. That’s my thing,” he says. “I’m not saying you need to do things where you put yourself in situations that aren’t thought through, but just go and try things.”
Pointing at the small plane he just jumped out of he adds, “like skydiving”.
“It puts you on edge a little bit, gets you out of your comfort zone. That’s what I quite enjoy.”
“I’d say he’s slightly more on the adventurous scale than me,” Gemma laughs. “But I do love things like bungee jumping and jet boating and all those adrenaline rush type things. I love nature and walking and biking and being out there too. That’s something we both love to do. Whenever we go somewhere new that’s what we always look to do, how we look to explore. It’s what we can do there rather than the shops.”
The pair will be out and about exploring and while they’re coy about where they’ll be dropping into next, McCaw says there is one new place he wants to visit.
“I’ve never been up the Far North and had a look around,” he says. “Everyone talks about how awesome it is up there, so I’ll go up and have a look around. It might be relaxing at a nice beach somewhere, having a swim in the sea and a bit of fishing. Those sort of things are what I’m pretty keen to check out.”
With everything that’s gone on this year, Covid, the lockdowns and global travel restrictions, they say that it’s a great opportunity for New Zealanders to get out and see what makes our own country so special.
“It’s made us look at what we’ve got in our own backyard, the opportunity to do all these things that are on offer — it can be as adventurous or as relaxing as you’d like,” he said.
“I’ve probably seen as much overseas as I have in my own country. I’m not saying going overseas when things open again is a bad thing at all, [but] there’s opportunities all around New Zealand,” he continues.
“You can get just as cool experiences without having to get on a plane for many hours. With the current environment where the opportunities for that are limited you can have as much fun, if not more, in our own country.”
Gemma agrees, saying “maybe next time I can sign up for one”.
For New Zealand travel ideas and inspiration, go to newzealand.com
The most nervous bit is when the door opens and you’re still sitting in the plane. Richie McCaw