02Oct 2024 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#88 Lesson] The Conundrum of Fear

[#88 Lesson] The Conundrum of Fear

BUCKET LIST, LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog post #88 Swim with Sharks. Swimming with sharks; BASE jumping; driving. Go ahead, rank them in order of most dangerous to least dangerous. These all play a part in this next story. In June 2024 I set off on an adventure to Europe to learn how to fly my tracking suit in a BASE environment. New Zealand does not have massive shear cliffs, so my friends and I head to Europe in the northern hemisphere summer to practice terminal flight. And no, not terminal like “certain death”; terminal like “terminal velocity”. Terminal tracking in Italy While I already had 180 BASE jumps from lower objects, and without a tracking suit, this was a new discipline for me. However, I had been training…
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25Sep 2024 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#88 Swim With Sharks

#88 Swim With Sharks

BUCKET LIST
This bucket list item was completed on 26th August 2024 in Shark Reef, Pacific Harbour, Fiji. Between 2010 and 2020, I managed to complete at least one item from my bucket list each year, but often many. Then someone ate some medium-rare bat meat and the whole world shut down, and so did my bucket listing. The last item I completed in 2020 was #98 Go BASE Jumping. Little did I know that this was going to spark a passion like I have never had for another activity. So, while the world was shut down, I chose more adventures within New Zealand and prioritised BASE jumping as much as I could. Also, in the years between 2020-2024 I found myself on a couple big, multi-year projects, which kept me busy.…
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02Nov 2022 by Dave Macleod 2 Comments
#98 Go BASE Jumping

#98 Go BASE Jumping

BUCKET LIST
This bucket list item was completed on 13th December 2020 in undisclosed, New Zealand. I had walked on to the bridge only a few months before, but this time it was different. This time, I was going to be jumping off it. And my body knew it. The moment that my feet touched the railway sleepers and I gazed down the tracks, my heart rate began to pick up. It became elevated, but not excessively. I knew there would be another step change once my body was on the other side of the rail. “Are you ready for me to take your pilot chute?”, Frank enquired. I responded with a concise “Yes.” Frank was set to do a pilot chute assist (PCA), which involves an assistant holding on to the…
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07Sep 2022 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#48 Lesson] Ask Friends for Travel Advice

[#48 Lesson] Ask Friends for Travel Advice

BUCKET LIST, LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #48 Drink from Das Boot. Although Canada is home turf for me, I know very little about Calgary. I grew up in Halifax, which is over 4,000 kilometres away from Calgary. I knew Toby had some good local knowledge, so I made sure to get some highlights from him before my trip. To my benefit, Toby provided much more information than I was expecting. Instead of a few highlights, Toby provided me with an itinerary for my whole time in Calgary. Some people are reluctant to ask for help or for advice, but I have made this a part of my life for many years. If I know that one of my friends has been to a location that I am planning…
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24Aug 2022 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#48 Drink from Das Boot

#48 Drink from Das Boot

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 24th September 2019 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. After my mum and I completed our whitewater rafting trip through the Grand Canyon, we left Las Vegas and flew north, to Calgary. I have friends and family that live in the Calgary area and I had not visited them since 2012, so I figured I was due to show my face. My brother flew in from Halifax to meet us and then we spent the next week travelling around to catch up with everyone. Most of the time was spent visiting people but my brother and I had a few days in Calgary to have fun together. On our first free day, we went to the Canadian Olympic Park to try to ride mountain bikes.…
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10Aug 2022 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#37 Lesson] Push the Limits of Your Guides

[#37 Lesson] Push the Limits of Your Guides

BUCKET LIST, LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #37 Go More Than 200 km/h on Land. Driving the Lamborghini was exhilarating! I pushed myself to go faster, and faster, each lap. Luckily, I had Trevor giving me pointers, but his job was twofold: He was there to teach me how to drive the track like a pro, but he was also there to make sure that I didn’t total their $300,000 car. I knew that they were used to seeing thousands of tourists come through each year, and that I was just another tourist. Spinning out and ending up off the track must be commonplace in their industry. I was confident in my driving abilities and knew I would be able to push it, but there was no way that…
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27Jul 2022 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#37 Go More Than 200 km/h on Land

#37 Go More Than 200 km/h on Land

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 13th September 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. This story follows on from my recent blog, #70 See the Hollywood Stars on the Sidewalk. I had a layover in LA but Las Vegas was my final destination, which is where I met up with my mum to whitewater raft the Grand Canyon. I arrived into Las Vegas late on Thursday and we didn’t have much planned for the next day. This was my mum’s first time in Las Vegas so after we had some breakfast, we set off on foot to explore the strip. Las Vegas is such a cool city because there are little pockets of other places around the world, such as New York and Paris. Brooklyn Bridge Statue of Liberty…
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29Jun 2022 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#70 See the Hollywood Stars on the Sidewalk

#70 See the Hollywood Stars on the Sidewalk

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 12th September 2019 in Los Angeles, California, USA. I actually managed to complete this one during a 10-hour layover that I had in LA, while I was flying to Las Vegas. The reason I was flying to Las Vegas, was to help my mum cross something off her bucket list: Whitewater Rafting the Grand Canyon. This story is worth a read, I suggest you check it out! I landed in LA around mid-day and wanted to make the most of it, so I sorted out my bags and grabbed an Uber to Hollywood Boulevard. This was not a quick process at all, the traffic in LA is crazy. It took us an hour to go 20 km. The number of stars on Hollywood…
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15Jun 2022 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#32 Lesson] Language Barriers Make Travelling Interesting

[#32 Lesson] Language Barriers Make Travelling Interesting

BUCKET LIST, LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #32 Drink Sake in Japan. Our trip through Japan was one big culture shock. From the moment that I stepped off the plane, everything felt vastly different from any country that I had travelled to before. The food, the signs, the outfits, the lights; it all felt so strange. I am only fluent in English, but I know bits and pieces of a few other languages. This is usually enough for me to get by while travelling to new countries. During my 10-hour flight I made sure to practice a few key words and phrases to help me out. Speaking the language is not too bad if you are shown the phonetics of how to pronounce the words. The problem lies in…
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01Jun 2022 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#32 Drink Sake in Japan

#32 Drink Sake in Japan

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 4th February 2019 in Tokyo Japan. This story picks up where my last blog #31 Eat Blowfish left off. On our way to the restaurant we found the popular alleyway with tiny bars, called Shinjuku Omoide Yokocho. We kept the location in mind for later. When we left the restaurant we had been on our feet for 12 hours, solid. Remembering the alleyway I suggested that we go check out one of the bars to relax and get some sake. Tiny bars with big taste The bars are very popular with tourist and locals and it’s hard to find one with open seats, especially when you have a group of four. We walked up and down the alley once before we found a…
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