> Wish I had a picture to show you, of the Paekakariki hills just out of
> Wellington, New Zealand, where the cliff is an almost sheer drop to the
sea,
> and guys go hang gliding off it. Not sure how high it is,

980 feet - almost vertical !!! - only railway & coast road twixt bottom and
sea.

Here's some pictures of people jumping off it with said appertanances
attached.

    http://www.home.aone.net.au/robins/friends.htm

This is a true Paekakariki hill story (two actually):
Long ago I gravelled up the old main road towards the cliff tops having much
fun on my way home from Wellington to Auckland. On one sweeping right hander
things got a bit tight and while I made the bend well enough I noted that
across a small gravel parking area on the bends apex there was a small board
fence with nothing except sky behind it. Until then I had been deep in
native bush so the sudden change was a surprise. I had no clear idea of
where I was. I turned back into this "rest area" and got out to have a look.
Breathtaking. Beyond the fence the cliff fell 980 feet to the sea below with
no apparent interruption between me and it. I was puzzled at first until I
saw the coast road and parallel railway - very very small and far below.
Cliff feels almost vertical but is maybe 60 - 70 degrees ??????? with
antierosion ledges occasionally. I had strong visions of what could have
happened if I hadn't made the corner and no doubt drove on a tiny bit more
subdued.

About 2 weeks later two others weren't so lucky.
Their car skidded across the rest area, breached the fence and started its
950 odd vertical feet journey roadwards. Motorists on the coast road
reported seeing a large spherical object bouncing across the railway line
then across the road towards the sea. Nobody died! One man managed to leap
clear before the edge. The other started down with the car but was thrown
out and landed (and remained) on one of the antierosion ledges part of the
way down. He was injured but apparently lived.


To round off Paekakriki ramblings:

    http://nz.com/NZ/News/WYSIWYG/1999_News/1999January2.html

*Both Herman Wouk (War and Remembrance) and Leon Uris (Battle Cry) wrote
novels which spent some time on the US Marines' transit through Wellington,
and I am sure one or other of them spoke of Tinakori's steep wooded hills
that way. Uris described a route march which I hope is fictional, from the
Wellington waterfront to the Marine encampment at what is now Queen
Elizabeth Park, beyond Paekakariki. One heck of a hike in full battle rig.
_______________

Mt Doom FWIW (same site)

        http://y23.50g.com/ngauruhoe1/lg_x20010203-05h25m12s-P.jpg



            R :-) M

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