Back again, another story to be told, another mind blowing experience witnessed. I think I’ve said this in my last 4 blogs now.. ‘One of the best things I’ve done so far in Australia’.
Now I’ve already done a skydive before in the wonderful setting on an airfield in Banbury.. Mmm lovely! I said after I did that jump that I wouldn’t do another jump again because it won’t be the same and I’ll know what to expect..
However as soon as the idea of another chance of a skydive arose, I jumped at it excuse the pun). There is just no comparison between an airfield in Banbury surrounded by fields or jumping from a plane at 14’000 feet (extra 4K from England) above the Great Barrier Reef and surrounding derelict islands to land on Mission Beach. 
As I had done it before I did make it my personal goal to make Joss and George as scared as possible about the jump and the potential consequences of a failed jump, what song they wanted played etc.. That’s just what friends do right!? I did a good job at it although neither of them will admit it now they’ve done it, it was a breeze apparently (lads, lads, lads) !!
Now I’ve picked up on how laid back Australia and their way of life is.. I didn’t quite expect or hope that this would also transpire to be the same with the skydive company….
We rocked up, literally watched a 30 second video on what to do and we were set.. No training, no practice, nothing. The complete opposite to the UK and we were jumping from even higher!! We didn’t even wear any overalls or a helmet. Not that we were complaining!
As we had been told by friends that had done it already that we wouldn’t be in the same plane as each other due to all having a dedicated cameraman, we didn’t expect much. Every name got called out before us.. When we eventually got called up, we were told that we were all in the same plane somehow.. Result! Great start to the day, the lucky run continues…
Mine got even better, as I met my instructor Damien I knew I was onto a winner here, the jokes were out as soon as he heard I was English. I told him to do his worst, spin us around, send us flying.. He definitely obliged! As we got in the plane, I had to sit in the exact same spot I had been sat in the UK.. Right next to the open door so I had the joys of watching the floor get further and further away from us whilst my mind was in overdrive.. What if it goes wrong, I haven’t told some people I love them and goodbye haha, I was the first one out of the group.. That was fine by me!
Beforehand we had settled in, Damien cracked a few jokes about missing equipment, how he was gonna spin us til we pass out.. You know the usual stuff you want to hear! I actually got better as the flight went on, it took 15 minutes to get to 14000 feet and we were ready to go. LETS DO THIS we shouted! Cheeky fist pump with George and a wish of good luck and I was suddenly sat dangling over the edge… Tongue out and with a big push we were gone.
We were out, plummeting towards earth but the views were just incredible. Blue water, sand, mountains, city views, it had the lot! I couldn’t control myself I was just buzzing shouting my head off.. It’s a feeling that cannot really be described. You don’t feel much, you feel like you’re floating just with a lot of wind pelting you from underneath.. We reach terminal velocity at 120mph and we were gunning it.. Damien tapped me and sent us into spin after spin after spin.. I think we peaked at 9 spins at once, it was the best feeling ever! Making me smile even writing this, couldn’t have gone better. With Austin (my cameraman) infront of me absolutely loving it, it was truly a surreal moment, the shakas were out (hand signal) and it felt like we were free falling for a long time, but not long enough! I can’t really do it justice in words.. I have the video on my Facebook and it shows it all..
As we made it down to 4000ft it was that time to open the parachute, I have a great photo of me clenched fists and as if I’m celebrating.. But really I was just so buzzing and happy with how it had gone!
We just stopped, the harness slams into all parts of your body and tightens up in places it shouldn’t as a gent! What a buzz, I had to let out a big scream of relief, high fives in the air, celebrations.. Then Damien gave me the reins of the parachute… This guy was mad, he even wanted to let them go of I didn’t take them, he said he wanted to give me a history lesson on the surrounding islands and proceeded to fill me in on the ruins left behind by cyclones!
I was the only one out of the boys to get this chance, or even to talk to the instructor by the sounds of it.. That’s how I know I got lucky! I was controlling the parachute down… Pulling one cord down to my leg sent us spinning for what seemed a long time whilst Damien egged me on to do more ! He had lost the plot by this point, only at about 1000ft did he take them back off me so we could make the marker on the beach and have a standing landing.. We nailed it, obviously. Landing on the feet, Austin waiting there to catch the moments, it was so sick. I wanted to capture the boys landing beside me, big smiles all round!!
Huge success, it was the same buzz for both dives but this tops all because of the views, the action in the spins and controlling the parachute and the fact it was another thing ticked off the Australia bucket list!
Next stop a Bungee jump…….. No I haven’t decided on that one just yet but I’ll have to do it in the next few days.
Finally, missing lots of people at home – does become a lonely place at times but been nice to speak to lots of family over the past few days, kept me going! Xxx
Trip of a lifetime... 