Have Faith and Jump!

Friday, Feb. 17

I’m sure you’ve gathered this from this blog post’s title, but today I went skydiving! I have contemplated doing it for almost a year no, and after being back and forth on it for many reasons (fear, cost, etc.) I decided to do it! When in Australia I suppose? I figured this was a once in a lifetime chance to Skydive on Australia’s coast, and since two other girls in my group (Amanda and Kaylee) were going as well, it would be the perfect opportunity!

We had to get up this morning at around 5 AM, which if you remember me posting last night, I didn’t get to bed until 1 AM. Yep, that’s only 4 hours of sleep. I suppose being delirious is all part of the experience?!! Ha!

We walked to the train station in King’s Cross, and surprisingly there were still people in the bars from the night before. Yeah, they were still getting their drink on at 6 AM! Apparently it is pretty typical for people to stay out until near 7 AM, but I don’t think that will be happening for me. I need my beauty sleep. Kaylee and Amanda headed up figuring out the bus system and we caught a bus to Central Station. Mom and Dad, you’d be so proud of me because we mastered the Sydney bus system and arrived at our free shuttle with lots of time to spare.

Our driver was such an interesting character. He had a shaved head, a goatee and the bottom of the goatee was braided and dyed blonde. Then he had tons of tattoos and a lip ring in the middle of his bottom lip. Mom probably wouldn’t have approved of his life choices. J We had an hour and a half drive to Wangaloo, a coastal town where we would be doing the actual jump.

After lots of paperwork and waiting, we were placed in jump group #4 and we got suited up. We had to wear these highly fashionable blue pants with a yellow stripe down the side; you can see them in my video! We had to get harnessed in and sat to learn our jumping and landing positions. I hardly remembered them when we actually jumped.

Then it was time to meet our instructors! I felt like I was getting set up on a blind date and you were hoping that a tall handsome man arrived to hold you in his arms as you plummeted to your death. Us girls sat by the door waiting for our “knight in shining armor” to appear. When Greg appeared, he wasn’t quite what I expected but he looked like a well seasoned jumper, in other words, he’d been with the company for awhile and I felt very safe with him. We got the chance to do the first part to our videos and then we were off in the van for the 20 minute drive to the airport. Around this time it was approximately 10 AM and we had been awake for far too long and were all extremely antsy and ready to jump.

When we arrived at the airport and boarded our little plane my nerves started to kick into high gear. We were shuffled into two seated lines inside the plane pretty much butt to crotch with our instructors and the instructor/jumper pair in front of us. There were around 10 jumpers in our flight. As we started climbing altitude I got even more nervous. The view was absolutely amazing but I started to realize that in a few minutes I would be jumping out of this lovely aircraft into the vast blue sky. Yes, I forgot to mention we had an absolutely perfect day for jumping. God was definitely on our side with the weather. The nearly cloudless sky paired with the insanely blue oceanic coast was breathtaking. At one point I had convinced myself that I was not nervous anymore and I could easily jump out…and then my instructor told me we were only at 4,000 ft, and we were jumping from 14,000 ft. Needless to say I began to sweat a bit.

When we reached our final altitude of 14,000 ft. we were told to put our goggles on and prepare to jump. We had to shuffle down the seat and then swing our legs out over the edge of the plane (there was a clear door that got opened before we jumped.) We were strapped to our instructor and as I swung my legs over the edge of the plane I didn’t even have time to think twice before I was free falling all over the sky. The first 60 seconds of the jump we freefall and my stomach was in my throat. I was in such shock I hardly even remember the first few seconds of it! Thank goodness I have the video and pics to remind me of the chaotic and crazy decision I made to skydive. Seriously, the photos and video are priceless (well they cost around $125, but to me they are priceless.)

Before you knew it, the cord was pulled and we shot back up with our open parachute. At this point I was able to relax a bit more and take in the amazing scenery that was beneath me. We could see the coastal view of Australia meeting the ocean with the waves splashing against the shore. I felt like a bird! I had written a note on my hands “Have Faith” and I got a view shots with me and my hands while skydiving!

As we came in for the landing I had to pull my feet up and then we skidded in and had a nice smooth landing. I had an amazing instructor who even got us girls chest bumping on film! I could not have asked for a better experience and I would totally do it again!

I said when I have kids I think I will take them skydiving for their 18^th birthdays. It was that amazing and life changing. Now we are back at the hostel notifying our families that we are still alive and well. We’re planning on going out tonight for a night on the Harbor to celebrate our amazing accomplishment! Can’t wait for you all to see the pictures! You’ll laugh at some of my faces, I’m sure. Oh! My hair came undone partway down the fall and I’m pretty sure my instructor got a nice mouthful!! Haha Have to love the long hair.

Cheers Mates!