SKYDIVE!
We woke up at 4:30am so that my sister and I could get thrown out of a plane at 15,000 feet.
It had originally been booked for 10:30am, but they'd called us the day before and asked if we'd be willing to move to 6:30am as there was a chance of high winds later in the morning. We arrived at the centre, checked in and waited for a little while, then when the tandem instructors appeared we put on some overtrousers to protect our clothes during landing, watched a short safety video and got into the harnesses. Then it was time to go! My sister and I got into the bus with the instructors and the four Japanese backpackers who were doing it too, and our mum, stepdad and aunt got in the bus that would bring us back from the landing site. It took about ten minutes to get to the airport.
Then the cringey 'interviews' started. Between the bus and the plane the instructors were walking around us videoing with their Go-Pros as they asked questions like "So what are you guys doing today? How are you feeling? Are you nervous? Whose idea was it?" They asked a few questions on the plane too, but thankfully mostly filmed the views out the window as we climbed.
Strangely, even as we neared 15,000 feet and they started attaching and tightening harnesses and getting ready to jump, I wasn't nervous. That isn't the right word. It was just a sense that it was something new and different. Curious, perhaps? I don't know, I guess I didn't really feel anything about it. I'm quite surprised I wasn't nervous. It's frustrating how easily I get nervous and worried and overthink about some things that really don't merit it, but I don't bat an eyelid about other things like being thrown out of a plane or standing on the edge of a cliff. That said, I can't say I was excited either. I was kind of looking forward to it, but I wouldn't call it excitement. I was excited afterwards.
I went third. They slide the door up, the first pair shuffles forward, moves to the edge, pauses, disappears. Then the second. It all happens so quickly. Even as I watch them disappear as if (to use my sister's description) they're being sucked out by a vacuum, I'm not nervous. Then the guy I'm strapped to slides us forward off the bench and to the edge of the open door. You're hanging outside with your feet down and back against the fuselage of the aircraft, being buffeted by the wind. You can't look down. You have to put your head right back against the instructor's chest so you're looking up at the sky, otherwise you'd hurt your neck. Then he lets go of the bar, and you drop.
I can't describe what the freefall was like, but it was great. It can be for up to 60 seconds but I wasn't counting. In the photos which were constantly being taken by the Go-Pro on my instructor's wrist, I look most unflatteringly like Blackadder, with a pointy nose and a smile with lips pressed together, as opening your mouth dries it out!
The parachute pulls you out of your plummet with a jerk, immediately slowing you to a gentle float where you can remove the goggles (although I wasn't told that, so kept mine on), talk normally, and properly look out at the view - which was magnificent. My instructor did something with the parachute that put us in Zero-G for a few seconds, which was really cool, and gave me the parachute control cords for about a quarter of a minute.
After a few minutes (they say between five and seven but it didn't feel that long) we started to come in to land. You circle the field, getting lower and lower, and pull your legs up to slide down. And that's it! All over :( I went over to my sister as she landed and we were 'interviewed' again by our instructors and the solo guy who had accompanied my sister, filming her during the dive (so she has some really cool pictures from that). Mum and stepdad and aunt came over too, grinning and excited for us.
Back at the centre we had to wait for the videos and photos to be processed and put on USB sticks for us to take home, and then it really was all over, by only 9am.
Sadly, the excitement of the skydive very quickly faded and even just half an hour after leaving the centre it felt like it had been ages ago. We went for breakfast in Cairns, I went and got my third pre-exposure rabies jab (ugh, hate them, which is why I had to get it done there, having left it too long at home) and then we had a bit of a wander round. Cairns is nice. After a while we drove just outside the city to the Skyrail, a 7.5km-long scenic cable car system that would take us up the mountain to the town of Kuranda.
That was really cool, the views were incredible, and I loved how quiet and peaceful it was high up above the rainforest-covered mountain. My aunt had driven up to Kuranda after dropping us off, and we went for a wander around the quirky, creative town, which I immediately liked. After lunch we went to the Kuranda Koala Gardens, which had lots of Aussie animals to see. Hours later, back near Atherton, my aunt gave us a quick tour of a small and lovely area of Lake Tinaroo's shoreline, and the dam that formed it, before we finally went back to the house. Of course, after dinner, we had to watch those skydive videos!
Wow. I can't wait to see the videos! Xx
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