Stepping off the summit of Mauao by paraglider wasn't something on my bucket list, but as I love to explore life a little randomly, I tend to write my list retrospectively anyway.

If I could have a wish though it would be to be on the Mount Main beach when the Takitimu waka arrived about 1290 AD, or to meet explorer Captain Cook on that first morning 400 years later when he sailed into the Bay of Plenty during his 1769 expedition.

That air of excitement and discovery compels me to go explore the wonder of this nonpareil world around me, usually pulling me out of bed before dawn, and finding me watching the sunsets in the evenings. Locally, they say the Bay of Plenty is the undiscovered jewel of New Zealand, whereas others say the best spots can be found in Queenstown, Rotorua, Wanaka, and every coast, beach and bay. New Zealand, the pearl of the South Pacific. Everyone has their favourite place.

Darrell Packe broke into my rhapsodic cloud nine with an offer to take me on a flight, as I'd recently written about an out-of-town paraglider who had crash landed in a Norfolk pine along Marine Parade. I vaguely thought he was meaning a tandem out of a plane and said ‘yes!' without hesitation.

A week later after meeting him I realised he meant paragliding. Off the top of the Mount. Tandem. I wasn't aware anyone was ‘tandeming' off the summit, just doing solo flights. It turns out you don't need to be an extreme elite athlete to do this, one of quite a few misconceptions I had. I asked Darrell how safe was it?

'Well it's only the ground you need to be concerned about,” says Darrell. 'In the air itself you're totally safe, you can't crash into the air.”

I marvelled at this logic, did some googling. He was right. No one hurt themselves in the actual air. It seemed a lot like sailing, catching the breeze. I was in!

Mount Paragliding, which Darrell runs, takes students through each stage of training to become a safe and competent paragliding pilot. I discovered that in New Zealand the NZ Hang Gliding Paragliding Association – NZHGPA – has clear requirements, training, and certification. There are courses, flights and examinations to complete that cover Civil Aviation restrictions and requirements, air give-way rules and safety.

There are 14 paragliding and hang gliding clubs throughout NZ with over 700 members in the NZHGPA enjoying uncrowded skies, flying from coastal ridges and high mountains. I already knew that a mild northerly or easterly breeze is when our local paragliders are jumping off Mauao. It's the same glorious golden days and evenings I wheel a piano along Pilot Bay to play while people are ‘shipnicking' while watching cruise ships leave port while the sun sets. The sea breeze comes in from the ocean, flowing up the ridge of Mauao, providing the lift that paragliders need to launch themselves.

'Stunning aye,” says Darrell, a phrase I hear him say a few times before and during our flight. It sure is.

I've often paused in front of the shell middens around Mauao, reflecting on the people who came before me who touched these shells, lived here on the slopes, and watched the sun rise. To Ngaiterangi, Ngati Ranginui and Ngati Pukenga, Mauao is a taonga which has immeasurable value and symbolises the endurance, strength, identity and uniqueness of each iwi. Mauao feels more to me than an extinct volcano, it's a link between the past and present and I always feel connected to something deeper than just the physical world around me.

On the summit, it was clear Darrell was wanting no chat during the pre-flight checks. He'd lugged the 17kgs of tandem gear up the stairs while I'd gone the scenic, gentler route. After laying it out, everything is checked twice before launch. It's similar to the checks a pilot makes before taking a plane up.

'The most important thing for me is your safety,” says Darrell, adjusting and checking my harness and straps.

The most important thing for me is trust in his ability to keep me safe. It's a bit like faith and science, I research and check the facts, believe them and then trust takes me beyond that. Well that's the rationale in my head when I'm standing there analysing why I seem to have no fear. It could also help that Darrell is a calmly spoken, focused person who knows what he's doing. It's always easier to have trust in someone who has a deep voice, I have discovered!

Of course there is risk. There's risks in driving a car too. Later I read the information Darrell provides to new students who want to become certified solo pilots:

‘Everyone who lives, dies. Yet not everyone who dies, has lived. We takes these risks not to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping us.'

I thought about the times I had nearly died. Then lived beyond that. Every time I've flown, I trust a pilot to strap what's really a skyscraper to their waist and lift us up into the blue.

At the top of Mauao I say hello to Laurie and Marge Heavey who sit and watch us. It's the first time in 40 years that they've been up to the top of Mauao. I ask them what they think about paragliding.

'I think it's amazing, amazing,” says Marge. 'You'd feel like a bird up there.”

A 73-year-old, Tom, takes off before us. A well-known local pilot, he has flown over a hundred times. Another solo pilot, Darren, also takes off before we do.

There is a cleared area below the summit on the east face which is on about a 45 degree angle. We go nearly a third of the way down it so that the canopy is already above us on the slope.

While Darrell is checking the gear, I see an unusual small stone embedded in a knoll down this launch ramp. Gently breaking it loose from the soil which was already dislodged around it, I call up to Laurie to ask him to take it for me as I'm pocketless and need to be hands free to hold the GoPro camera we are taking with us on the flight. Leaving it behind would mean eventually it could be damaged or lost as it was becoming exposed to the elements. Removing it didn't seem right either, but it was one of those split second decisions. A few days later Laurie brings it into Sun Media, washed and cleaned. I think it could be a melted bottle, but would love to know what it is, so if any readers can identify what substance it's made from that would be great to know. I'm very aware that all activities undertaken on the mountain must be conducted in a manner that respects the mana of Mauao, so if this isn't rubbish but something significant it needs to be placed back in a nearby location.

The launch was smooth and I was simply lifted off the land, stepping out into the big blue. It was exhilarating, I felt alive and yet very safe. It was perfect.

'Beautiful up here, the view is stunning,” says Darrell as we settle into the flight, peacefully gliding back and forth along the face of Mauao. It was. Is. Just unbelievably amazing.

The view is spectacular. It's one of the best days imaginable in Tauranga with a clear sky, and you can see all the way to White Island, Whale Island and Mayor Island. And beyond. I'm feeling ecstatic. Speechless. I think about the waka arriving 730 years ago. What a sight it would have been for them making the climb to the summit and seeing their people and vessels on the beach below.

'This is another activity you can do in the Bay,” says Darrell. 'It's such a beautiful place we live in and to fly over it is very special.”

It truly is. Very special. I hadn't realised how accessible paragliding is for anyone. People watch paragliders doing it and wish they could too. And they can! Tom is paragliding at age 73, clearly you're never too young, never too old; it's a sport for everyone.

Another myth contradicted. Plus I don't have to be an extreme athlete to do it.

'We're just average people who are enjoying life and enjoying a sport,” says Darrell. 'Not extremists throwing themselves off a hill.”

Good, another urban myth debunked.

What about that guy in the Norfolk pine a couple of weeks back? Why did he end up in a tree?

An out-of-towner, he'd wanted to land closer to his car and although he was already landing safely and smoothly into wind, decided at the last minute to make a turn. Changing at this late stage to downwind, his descent quickened and a further over-adjustment landed him in the tree.

From out-of-town. Like the Aucklander who landed in a tree near Gareth Morgan's house a while back. Out-of-towners. As a local, Darrell grinned at that.

The same day I'm flying with Darrell from the summit of Mauao, a 55-year-old man crashed his paraglider while attempting to take off on a flight near Twizel. I'd read about it that morning but it hadn't put me off.

Through Mount Paragliding, the first part of learning to fly is to do six solo flights off a low site like at Tay Street where students jump from the grass above the dunes, with all the gear provided. This can be spread over a few days. They get used to launching the glider and having good ground control before moving on to flying. Understanding the safety of the sport, how to launch the glider, how to lay out the glider and how to clip into the harness are all part of the initial training.

Ground control or ground handling is done through walking around on the grass with the glider above, where students learn to be in charge of the glider, controlling it. The Twizel accident had happened on launch, it seemed the pilot hadn't left the ground before hurting himself.

'Initial training is carried out on a flat field,” says Darrell. 'Then quickly progresses up shallow slopes to high flights.”

When learning to fly, starting off as a student includes a tandem flight, usually from Mauao. Local paragliders also fly from off the Kaimai Range, Ohiwa, Raglan and the Paeroa Range near Rotorua.

'The tandem side of it is done usually on a student educational flight experience,” says Darrell. 'So what we do is if people want to sign up to learn paragliding, then tandem is part of that.”

Learning to fly competently is something that Mount Paragliding and other training organisations seek to ensure. Run very professionally, safety systems are the major consideration in training and flying. As well as the practical skills needed to fly the paraglider, schools teach meteorology, flight theory, piloting skills and air law. Enjoyment follows.

'We have such a great bunch of people,” Darrell says of his students. 'And they love the environment we teach in. Everyone gets along.”

My half hour flight with him seems to end too soon. It feels like we'd been floating and drifting back and forth through the air far longer, turning back into the wind and sailing repeatedly past the climbers standing on the summit. I can't stop grinning. Far below are sheep, bush and more climbers. My face is plastered with the biggest smile ever and I feel so buzzed and alive. It seems so effortless, although I know Darrell is constantly feeling and reading the breeze, making adjustments on the canopy ropes above, and leaning his weight to each side to help turn us and sail back again through the air.

We leave the side of the Mount and set off towards the ocean before turning to head back, descending gently and coming in to land on the soft sand on the Mount Main beach near the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service club.

As we flowed down the air onto the sand I again marvel at how there is such an abundance of resources and scenic locations here in the Bay that leaves visitors, and me, speechless.

I'd seen and experienced the golden sunrises, hot springs, geothermal reserves of Waiotapu, the beaches, the sea, and now I'd experienced it from the perspective of a bird.

'Stunning, aye,” grins Darrell.

Yes it is, and I'm still smiling.