Why? We kept seeing paragliders over Queenstown, and I kept thinking about what a great view they must have (Queenstown is incredibly beautiful). We went parasailing in the Bahamas a couple of years ago, and I loved the feeling of flying, but I thought that paragliding involved jumping off a cliff, so it would be too terrifying. However, we got the gondola up to the top of the hill overlooking Queenstown and saw some paragliders taking off. Turns out, the sail is inflated before you leave the ground, so there’s no terrifying free fall! After I saw that, I wanted to try it, and Jeremy ended up giving me the flight as my Christmas present.

How did it go? It was fantastic! I only had to run a few steps before we were in the air and flying. We rode the air currents up way above our starting point, and the view was incredible. I felt completely safe even when the pilot did some swooping tricks (I told him I’d done the canyon swing the day before, so he did the paragliding version of a swing). I think I was lucky to get a longer flight than some, but I would happily have stayed in the air even longer.

Would you do it again? Absolutely.