I never even had the intention of skydiving until I arrived in Australia. My roommate Dana and Katie went on the pre-semester trip and went skydiving in Cairns and after watching their videos I kew that I could not pass up this adventure. Skydiving is a super popular activity in Australia, especially among study abroad students.
We headed to Wollongong, which is about a two-hour train ride away where the company, Skydive The Beach, is located. In addition to the usual crowd of MK, Morgan and the twins, Morgan's friend Shandi had landed in Sydney on the 17th and decided to join us for this ridiculousness. Welcome to Sydney, right?
Once arriving in Wollongong the next couple of hours are practically a blue. The company picked us up from the train station and took us to their location. Within minutes we had signed the waiver, put on the pants, geared up and were taught how to JUMP OUT OF THE PLANE correctly. I could not even comprehend what was going on because it was all happening so fast. All I remember is when I signed that paper I was shaking like I never have before. We also got to meet our tandem jumper/videographer and he videoed me a bit, even though I'm not even sure how I was forming words at this point. Then we were hurried on to a bus. The airport was about a 15-20 minute drive away but we were signing MORE paperwork the entire time. Next thing I knew we were hopping off the bus and walking on to the plane.
The six of us and our tandem divers along with two random boys and their divers (they must have thought we were crazy) jammed into the plane. Next thing I knew we were taking off... flying backwards, might I add. As we flew higher and higher and higher I was trying to take in all of the beautiful views. Our skydive was right over the Wollongong beaches which are absolutely breathtaking, as are all the beaches I have seen in this country. We flew around for probably about 20 minutes and then all of a sudden we hear a 5 minute warning. The way we were seated Morgan happened to be up first. Our guys all begin securing us to them, which is actually pretty awkward. You pretty much have to sit on their lap throughout this process but if it meant I'd be safe, I was willing to do anything.
Out of nowhere the door of the plane opens up and I think we all begin to freak out just a bit. Morgan and her dude are about to jump and she is literally FREAKING OUT and in turn the rest of us are also freaking out. Next thing I know I see Morgan tumblr right out of the plane. WHAT!?! Guess who's second? ME.
I approach the door of the plane and at this point I'm not sure what I did and didn't do. We were supposed to hook our feet under the plane, arch our backs and rest our head on our guy's shoulder. Did this actually happen? I couldn't tell ya. Next thing you know I'm falling from a plane 14,000 feet high. This is actually the weirdest feeling ever. Your stomach doesn't drop at all. You just feel like you're tumbling so fast. Every last drop of saliva exits your mouther and it's actually pretty difficult to breath. This whole process also really hurts your ears which is something that never even crossed my mind before.
The free fall lasts for 60 seconds and then my guy, Kevin, who was absolutely fantastic, pulled our parachute. Woo-hoo! No problems! We glided around for a few and then he even let me steer the parachute. It took ALL my arm strength to pull this thing, ahaha. After he took the reigns back he pointed up in the sky and there I could see the rest of my friends and their parachutes popping up. It was truly an incredible site. I couldn't believe the views. The water was the most beautiful of blues and the grass the greenest of greens. I'm not even sure what was going through my mind except 'I can't believe I just jumped out of a plane,' 'I'm so incredibly happy,' 'This place is beautiful,' and 'I love Australia.'
I was honestly pretty nervous to land but we ended smoothly. If I could have I would have jumped again straight away. I was literally so happy and I think I was on an adrenaline rush till about 2 am (meanwhile this happened at around 3 pm). While we waited for our DVDs and photos to be ready we walked along the beach which was almost as beautiful from land as it was from the sky.
Once I was on the plane I wasn't all that scared.. hard to believe I bet. There is just so much happening and everything is moving so quickly. You really don't have time to freak out except for those few seconds right before your body leaves the plane. This was probably the coolest thing I have done in my entire life and it sort of makes me feel invincible. It's hard to put this experience in to words. Incredible... amazing... those don't even begin to describe it. I'm really proud of myself for actually doing it and now I can say that i went SKYDIVING. I think this whole thing sort of shocked all my friends and family since I barely told anyone I was doing it (in case I did back out last minute).
My advice to you... GO SKYDIVING. For all you New Englanders reading, one of the workers where we jumped goes to Maine every 6 months to skydive. It's his favorite place in the world to skydive. OH YEAH, he's jumped 1,300 times. WHAT!?!
This has probably been one of the neatest things about my entire study abroad journey thus far. Yes the traveling has been amazing and exploring Sydney has been fantastic, but jumping from a plane 14,000 feet high is something you can't put words too. Simply incredible.
Contemplating what I'm about to do...
Kev... my life savior and BFF.
The beautiful views
A great distraction
Slightly freaking out
In the door of the plane...
FALLING.
Ow, my ears
Controlling the parachute... note Morgan flying along in the background!
Actually the neatest thing
In awe of myself
In shock
Simply lovin' life
This was so neat and I hope this blog does the experience justice. My DVD is actually the funniest and most embarrassing thing ever so if you're lucky MAYBE i'll let you watch it!
Back on the ground,
Allie
That's awesome, makes me wanna try skydiving at some point.
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