You won’t regret choosing Skydive Lake Wanaka for your New Zealand tandem skydive… with us it’s all about YOUR skydiving experience.
Innovative and progressive, we’re dedicated to delivering a unique tandem skydive experience, with high standards of safety, comfort and personal service.
Our highly qualified and friendly tandem skydive team just love to skydive in one of the most spectacular locations in New Zealand. They live to share the freefall experience with people like you. And have fun doing it.
A little Tandem Skydive History
Skydive Lake Wanaka was started by Dave and Jools Hall in 1995… Since then we have helped over 60,000 people feel the rush of a 200kmh fall toward earth with the security of our unequalled safety standards.
Dave and Jools are still in charge and the company still runs on the passion that propelled them when the operation consisted of a van, a couple of deck chairs, a patch of grass and a borrowed plane.
Many thousands of skydives… Tens of thousands of people leaving Wanaka Airport with a sense of achievement and a memory to treasure. Hundreds of thousands of smiles…
The freefall experience is a unique sensation we’re determined to share with everyone. We take dropping out of the sky seriously. But we’re also serious about people having fun while they challenge themselves to a tandem skydive. Laughter is a big part of a Skydive Lake Wanaka experience
Our Beautiful Strangers!
Dave – Managing Director / Chief Safety Officer / Packing Technician (9,972 + skydives)
Dave started Skydive Lake Wanaka with his wife Jools in 1995. He has represented New Zealand at Skydive World Championships in Spain. He is ‘Mr Safety’ – a bit of a legend!
Jools – Managing Director / Sales and Marketing (300+ skydives)
Started Skydive Lake Wanaka in 1995 with Dave. The ‘energy tornado’ and Mum to Max and Maye.
Uros – Senior Drop Zone Safety Officer (19,600+ skydives)
Impressed and inspired with achievement. Not impressed by Hollywood but LOVES happy endings and loves animals – (once he has achieved world peace and stopped world hunger he will get some work done on his body!) He is usually 6’5″ tall, blonde and handsome but not today!
Andrea – Mission Control – 20,000+ hrs of manifesting!!
Unflappable, organized, multi-tasks in her sleep and handles more phone calls than the New York Stock Exchange! Can answer 3 phones at the same time as well as running the drop zone for 8+ years!!! Smiles all day long! She “feels the need, the need for speed!.” See Andrea in Stars in Your Eyes Wanaka on You Tube
Kirsten – Wingman/ Sales and Marketing Kirsten is a born and bred Wanaka local – a Southern Lass – she can drive tractors AND skydive vans, muster sheep and herd skydivers, ride horses, answer 4 phones and all with the warmest smile and wickedest sense of humor! See Kirsten in Stars in Your Eyes Wanaka on You Tube
Danie – Front Line Sales
London lass who loves snowboarding & a few cheeky wines with the girls! She is stoked to be working here where her bad sense of direction doesn’t matter when the only way is straight down!
Alex – Sales/driver/editor/packer
Alex is our ski “dude”. He can pull off “Blue Steel” whilst doing a 540 on ski’s. His beard is actually makeup & he fully admits to spending time grooming it with a razor free blade every morning. An all round nice guy.
Sarah-Jane aka ‘SJ’ Front Line Sales
Hailing from Norfolk in England, claims to be nearly a kiwi after 4 ½ years in New Zealand. In love with all things bright and PINK. Share a joke with her and her infectious laugh, will make your day if nothing else will.
Alex Pereira – Tandem Master/Cameraman (4700 + skydives)
Mhaya’s father. Loves Freefly, Swooping, Jiu-Jitsu, Pink Floyd, Mac Computers, Parachute Rigging and and of corse Brazilian BBQ. When doing camera jumps no Tandem fly too fast for him. Always keen for a fun jump. Bit loud, but only because he always have his ear plugs on. Passionate for everything he does. His favorite expression: “Bring it on!
Eugen ‘Eugenius’ – Tandem Master / Camera Flyer / Tandem Handicam / Packing Technician / Inspector Gadget (18,000+ skydives)
Our Mr Fix it comes from Hungary and is the fastest vacuum cleaner driver in the South – legends are made from this man!
Geoff – Tandem Master / Camera Flyer / Tandem Handicam (9,000+ skydives)
Strap yourself to our gorgeous, friendly, home grown Kiwi – Life does not get much better than being strapped to Geoff who can also give you a firemans lift !!
Ingemar – Tandem Master / Camera Flyer / Tandem Handicam (14,000+ skydives)
Ingemar is always right, only been wrong once and that was only because he thought he was wrong! Loves the outdoors and indoors, no weather is too bad. Doesn’t like wet slippery roads.
Olgierd Myrczik aka “Ollie” – Tandem Master / Camera Flyer / Tandem Handicam (9,000 + skydives)
Ollie is from Poland & has been skydiving for 16yrs. Skydiving is his first passion, followed closely by music (specialising in classical & jazz). He’s not a fan of big cities, likes things calm & natural.
Eric “The Viking” – Tandem Master / Camera Flyer / Tandem Handi Cam (8000+ skydives)
Back home from his adventure over the mountain our friendly Tandem Master from Zimbabwe loves skydiving but hates peas. Is allergic to cold weather!
Boris – Tandem Master / Camera Flyer / Tandem Handi Cam (2000+ skydives)
Boris is our Serbian Great Dane babysitter, with a cheeky smile and a fab catch phrase (Whoo hoo) he will make your day. Just don’t ask him where his passport is?
Alencar – Tandem Master / Camera Flyer / Tandem Handi Cam (4000+ skydives)
Alencar is Skydive Wanaka’s very own Action Man! He heard how amazing Wanaka was, sold up all his companies and shifted here for the good life! Our paratrooper loves all things sporty, and coming from Brazil he has been showing all our Tandem Masters how football is supposed to be played!!!
Jon – Tandem Master / Camera Flyer / Tandem Handi Cam (9700+ skydives)
Jon is living the dream of the endless summer – skydiving, sailing and cruising on his motorbike. Our poster boy returns to us from a season of sandy white beaches and still claims that Skydive Wanaka is the best dropzone in the world!
Gabor – Tandem Master / Camera Flyer / Tandem Handi Cam (2900+ skydives)
Gabor joins Team Hungary here at the Dropzone! With an easy going and gentle nature he loves his football and rumour has it he’s pretty good on the squash court!
Hamish – Pilot (6,500+ Flying hours)
“I have the BEST office in the world – 13,000+ trips to altitude and I have still not had enough of those views!”
Peter – Weekend Pilot (8,000+ Flying hours)
Makes great coffee! “I LOVE flying the jump plane for such a professional organisation”. Peter also flys his Tiger Moth bi-plane on scenic flights around Lake Wanaka. Visit his website: www.classicflights.co.nz
J.B – Parachute Packer Extraordinaire 26,000+ pack jobs
Jeremy has OFFICIALLY done TWICE as many parachute packs than he has had hot dinners !! – so that has to be a good sign. Probably the MOST experienced parachute packer in New Zealand he has NEVER had a bad day ( phewf ) even though he spends a lot of time wearing out his knees!
Andy aka “Vamps” – Parachute Packer
A crazy kiwi, one jump and addicted. Talks so much about skydiving, people come and jump here just to keep him quiet! Favorite saying “Told you you would love it” Wants to go again.. and again… and again…
Vikki – Parachute Packer
Back on her knees after a 10-year hiatus, Vikki moonlights as a writer, copy editor and bike mechanic. She deeply loathes sushi and is quite possibly the world’s only parachute packing, downhill mountain biking, copy editing goldfish expert.
Allan – Driver / Editor / Haggis Catcher (2 skydives)
From Paisley, Scotland 30yrs old. Former Haggis catcher in the Highlands, Likes- football, women, kilts, bagpipes, ginger hair, whisky, Irn Bru and tossing the caber – not all at the same time!
Juliette – Harnesser Extraordinare (376 skydives)
Another Kiwi joins the team for the summer. Starting with us on Nov 1st she has already tightened more harnesses than she has had venison dinners! Having just finished working the ski season, this is the perfect addition to complete her goal of being a ‘life styler’.
Nic – Harnesser Extraordinare (115 skydives)
Claiming to be a Scottish Kiwi, Nic loves great food, sports and can be found fun jumping out of planes with Juliette after a hards days work. A multitalented lass – secretly she has been employed to look after any sick pets so that our staff can save on Vet bills!!
Maria – Video Editor (20 skydives)
Baby of the team. Will readily spend all of her money on 1) hiking gear, 2) chocolate and 3) ice cream – there can never be too much ice cream. Loves snow, struggles in anything above 25 degrees; considers living in the Arctic perfectly reasonable. Will try anything once, though usually gets bruised up in the process of doing so. Maria is on maternity leave until November 2011
Max Hall – Trainee Meteorologist (2 skydives)
Max (age 10) is currently studying the art of the “head out of the window” weather check technique and lets us know every day that it’s a great day to go skydiving and bike riding. Max did his first tandem skydive with Dad Dave & described it as “the best thing I’ve ever done in my life!”.
Max has just done his second skydive – I think he might be hooked !
Maye Florence Hall – Entertainment Manager
Maye Florence (age 8 ) is responsible for adding a smile to the drop zone and being cute. She runs a busy schedule, keeps the boys on their toes and can often be found on her barbie lap top. She is DESPERATE to go skydiving like her big brother!
New Zealand Parachute Industry Association
Skydive Lake Wanaka is affiliated to the New Zealand Parachute Industry Association and uses state-of-the-art skydiving systems. We operate from Wanaka Airport, with a purpose-built hangar, a New Zealand built X-Stol aircraft and inbuilt sense of fun and adventure. Come join the fun!
