09Oct 2024 by Dave Macleod 1 Comment
Revamping Some Old Ambitions

Revamping Some Old Ambitions

GENERAL
On my recent holiday to Fiji, to cross off #88 Swim with Sharks, I began to read through my list again. It had been a while, at least four years, from around the time that Covid started. I shifted my focus away from the bucket list during this period, for obvious reasons. I knew travel wasn’t going to be possible for a while, so I dove into other activities in New Zealand. Also, these past four years have been extremely busy for me at work and with my studies. I helped my bosses to expand and establish their company in the Central North region of New Zealand and managed to leverage that to complete a Master of Applied Management. Booking the trip to Fiji was designed to help reinvigorate my…
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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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05May 2021 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#90 Go to Pompeii

#90 Go to Pompeii

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 3rd July 2016 in Pompeii, Italy. I started skydiving at the beginning of 2015, and by this point, I think it is safe to say that it was consuming my life (in a good way). I had just enjoyed an amazing summer of jumping, but winter was setting in and I wanted to keep jumping. That is when I found out about Grand Turismo. Grand Turismo is run by Fiona from Skydive Auckland and is branded as the ultimate skydiving holiday. Each July, Fiona takes a bunch of beginner/intermediate jumpers over to Fano, Italy to jump. The conditions are always good, and the wine is always flowing. It really is the ultimate skydiving holiday. I paid my registration fee and then began to…
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24Mar 2021 by Dave Macleod No Comments
Interview with Matt Woodman – CTV News

Interview with Matt Woodman – CTV News

BUCKET LIST, GENERAL, TRAVEL
After completing #36 Run a Half Marathon, Jesse and I grabbed my truck and hit the road. We had already checked out of the hotel, so I just had to sit through the four-hour drive, coated in a thick layer of sweat. At this time, BucketLaunch didn’t exist. Instead, I just uploaded a photo of each completed item to a Facebook album. As Jesse drove home, I uploaded the photo that Jesse had taken of me, hanging over the handrail and gasping for dear life. It was definitely not my best photo, but it portrayed the physical exertion that I went through to complete this item. And that is why I love this photo. Before reaching home, I received a message from a friend, Matt Woodman, via Facebook. Matt was…
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04Nov 2020 by Dave Macleod No Comments
Why I Changed #16 Ride an Elephant

Why I Changed #16 Ride an Elephant

GENERAL
At the time of publishing my bucket list, in 2010, riding an elephant in Thailand was sure to be found in every bucket list article on the internet. This is how I found it. I will admit that I was ignorant. I did not know what was happening behind the scenes at these elephant parks in Thailand. I think that can be said for most of the world as well. In the early 2010’s this topic started popping up more and more. While a handful of travelers had known before this time, it was starting to reach critical mass. People were talking about it, sharing the sad truth on social media and lobbying to have this type of behavior stopped. In 2014, Intrepid Travel announced that they were no longer…
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06Nov 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
Bucket List Stats

Bucket List Stats

GENERAL
It has now been two years since I started BucketLaunch and it has been a bit of a journey. At first, when I started the blog, I thought that this might be a way for me to create a passive income and subsidise my bucket list adventures. I really did try to make this happen, but it's tough to gain a following out of thin air. Some people are gifted with social media and can do this, but not me. I stressed about this for the first year or so before I realised that I had lost sight of the reason that I started my bucket list back in 2010... to get the most out of life. I have since changed tack and write the way that I enjoy, but…
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13Mar 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
2011 & 2012 Roundup

2011 & 2012 Roundup

BUCKET LIST, GENERAL, LESSON
Over the past several weeks I have been posting the stories and lessons that I have learned from my bucket list adventures in 2011 & 2012. I managed to complete one item in 2011 and two items in 2012, which brought my total number of completed items up to nine. My bucket list progress from year-to-year can be tracked using the graph I have created. In case you have missed any of the stories or lessons from my bucket list adventures, here is a roundup. #95 Swim with Dolphins Completed on 22nd April 2011 in Varadero, Cuba. [#95 Lesson] Always Assess the Information Source   #38 Eat at a White Castle Restaurant Completed on 26th August in Green Brook Township, New Jersey, USA. [#38 Lesson] Cherish Adventures with Your Close…
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02Jan 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
Bucket Listing in the New Year

Bucket Listing in the New Year

GENERAL
What’s on for 2019? Have you made a list of what you want to do this year? My goals from year to year are always chopping and changing but the one thing that remains the same is my bucket list. It forms the central theme of my life goals and makes it easier for me to plan what I want to accomplish each year. This year I will be heading to Japan for a skiing trip and I should be able to cross at least two items off my list. I’m sure there will also be many other life experiences I will take in while I am there. This New Year’s Day marks nine years of bucket listing for me and I have experienced many positive benefits over this time.…
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05Dec 2018 by Dave Macleod 1 Comment
Summer Bucket List 2019

Summer Bucket List 2019

GENERAL
Well, it’s that time of the year again, when the southern half of this world gets to enjoy summer. I have had a long and busy winter and am looking forward to some fine weather reaching New Zealand. Summer officially kicked off this week so we are into it. As always, I have come up with five items that I want to complete this summer. Take my mum and Lexi black water rafting in the Waitomo Caves Jump at Skydive Bay of Islands Complete the Old Ghost Road mountain bike trail Spear a kingfish Surf more Black water rafting is probably one of the highlights of New Zealand adventure activities. Neither my mum nor Lexi have gone before so I thought we should cross it off their lists this summer.…
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