The skydive

While staying in Gilligans, we decided to book a skydive....why? Haha, why indeed!!

We opted for the 14000ft dive, which is the highest you can jump from in Australia, apparently.

The jump itself cost 245dollars, and you could get the DVD for an extra 99dollars, which brought the total up to 344dollars. Pricey, but we'll see if its worth it!!

The morning of the dive, we got picked up around 8am and driven about an hour south of Cairns to a small airstrip. We drive through miles of sugar cane and some decent enough scenery to get there. There wasn't much conversation in the van on the way out, I assume due to nerves, and maybe a bit of tiredness from the lack of a lie in since Bangkok!

We arrived out there around 10am I think, and went into a little house they had beside the airstrip. There we got kitted out in our skydiving outfits and got strapped up.

The nerves were starting to kick in at this stage! None of us had ever jumped out of a plane before so didn't know what to expect. We were all paired up and told who we'd be jumping with. They came over to us and start filming the intro to the DVD, which was basically me standing there saying hello and talking about the skydive. Afterwards, we walked over to the plane in all our gear and decided what the jump order would be, ie who's going first!! Dave volunteered to go first, followed by Nikki, and then I was last. I had to get into the plane first. It was a tight squeeze. It was about 1 metre x 2 metres, with 8 people in it!!

The plane start moving, and the nerves got worse!! I kept thinking will I be able to go ahead with this, or will I freeze and look like a great big gooseberry in front of everyone! The Plane took off.

We began climbing and circling the drop zone...basically, a field adjacent to the airstrip. After 4000ft, one of the guys just jumped out. From what I gather, he was in training and doing jumps to get his dive hours up to become an instructor. When he jumped, it seemed totally natural and easy. He just jumped out and let gravity does the rest of the work! Easy!! Eh, or maybe not...

We kept climbing and climbing. Higher and higher. The instructor kept saying 5 minutes....then 3 minutes, 2 minutes, and then 1 minute to jump!! Squeaky bum time!!

After 15 minutes or so, we reached the drop zone. The door opened again. I looked out the window....it was high!! Dave was first to stop out, and then in a second, he was gone!! Nikki looked so scared, it was funny! She was up next. In a split second, she was gone too. I was next!! Holy crap!! The nerves hit me!! I moved out to the side of the plane and made the first mistake....I LOOKED DOWN!!! Sitting on the edge of that plane was so scary, but such a buzz!! If there was any time I would bottle it, it would be now!! I had to jump! I wanted to jump, but it felt so unnatural!! I couldnt bring myself to jump out of a plane!! It was crazy!! After a few seconds of my mind racing, I went for it!! I leant forward and just went for it!! I jumped right out of that plane, it was amazing!!! We went from 0-320kph in 3 seconds flat!! I couldn't breathe! I couldn't hear! The noise of the air whizing past my ears was deafening! The instructor had told us if we find it hard to breathe, its because our lungs are already full of air, and to shout or scream to clear the air out!! I let out an almighty "woooooooh!" and was back in the game! This was brilliant!! 14000ft and falling. I could see everything!! Then I couldn't breathe again!! Haha, with another yell, I was good to go again!! We kept falling and falling! It was such a rush! Like the feeling you get going over a bump in a car, except all the time!!! The freefall was 60 seconds long, but seemed much longer! The instructor kept telling me to wave to the camera!! At 320kph, its not as easy as it sounds!!

After the 60 seconds, the chute opened. With a bit of a jerk, we slowed down and began to float down, nice and peacefully....well, relatively speaking!! We were still going fast enough....well, I suppose any speed is fast when you're falling out of the sky! But once the chute opened, it went dead quiet. The instructor start chatting away to me. He was showing me the reef, the mountains, basically everything! Suddenly, I felt something open on my straps!! Then a second one went!! I "calmly enquired" what it was that opened. He told me not to worry, and that he opened them. They were just extra straps ya need for the freefall, to make sure you're attached properly when the chute opens!! Phew!! Haha.

We kept on our 6 minute descent anyway, and soon we were able to make out peoples faces. I even saw an eagle flying below us. It was great.

It was now that the instructor told me to get into my landing position. From what I've seen on TV, people land on their feet, with a bit of a run or whatever. In tandem however, you land on your ass! Yes, you land on your ass! The reasoning behind this was basically that if I land on my feet, and he comes in behind me, basically he'll snap my legs! Right so, I'll land on me ass!!

We did one last lap of the landing area and picked our landing spot. Lower and lower, almost there, I lifted up my legs, and we landed gently on the grass. I was down!! And still in 1 piece too!! What a rush!! Well worth the 300 dollars!

Next up was Donna and Ciara. We watched them dive from the field. Everything was going fine until Ciaras parachute opened. It was tangled!!! They went into a spin and lost control! After a few seconds, they ditched the chute and went onto the backup chute. Luckily, it opened! Thank god! She didn't even notice until the instructor pointed at the chute floating off in the distance and told her what had happened!! Brown trouser time!

Anyway, everyone landed safely, we had a great time, and we headed back to Cairns, once we got out of our straps etc.

Later that day, we collected the DVDs and sat in Gilligans, huddled around Daves DVD player, watching the DVDs and laughing at how scared we all looked!! Good times!! :D

See the video of my skydive here.