Sydney Skydivers

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Got invited for a day out - no hint of what was install.

My adventure loving friend likes to surprise us with things he knows we have never done before. It was just as well because this is not something I would have chosen of my own accord.

It was an absolutely stunning morning, fresh, sunny and calm. Driving down the freeway on a Thursday morning heading the opposite direction to the peak hour traffic on their way to work.
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"Where are we going?" "What are we doing?" "Are we there yet?"%%

Then I spotted a great big brown sign on the left hand side of the road. ."Oh no" I looked at Mike and with a sinful smile he said "Oh yes". Yikes! I thought.

We parked in the dirt, dusty car park and wandered into the reception area. A pleasant receptionist greeted us and said as she looked directly at me "I've seen that look a hundred times but it'll be okay".

Okay? Well, I bloody hope so I thought. Anyway, we were here now and Mike was leading the way. No place in this adventure group for wimps so we kitted up in attractive blue skydive suits and waited our turn.

It was surprisingly casual. Very different from what I'd experienced at other adventure sports where an intense preparation training session preceded the event - for example the Harbour Bridge Climb which is very particular.

Our tandem instructors came and introduced themselves, making jokes like "this is my first time with a passenger, I should be okay".

There was very little time to get nervous, it was business time and we were ushered into a small aircraft, 10 to 12 of us sardined in.

A camera pointed at my face, I was asked "Are you ready to jump out of this plane when we get to 14,000 ft?" "Ah, Yep!" (I thought I was).

There are three light bulbs at the door end of the plane. The first lights up three minutes before the jump. The second lights up at one minute before and the third is an orange light which is the indicator to JUMP.

A group of experienced formation jumpers were the first group out. The leader rolled up the door shutter and each member took their place, the first two actually standing on the edge of the doorway with half their body's outside the plane.

Orange light, six people flew out of the door never to be seen (by me) again. The air pressure difference frightened the heck out of me. It was then I realised I was soon to be flung out of a perfectly safe environment into thin air.

Mike went first but I caught a glimpse of fear on his face as he was hurled out. I panicked but by this stage, I was at the open door of a plane flying at 14,000ft above the ground. Scary? No, it was absolutely terrifying. Apparently, people get addicted to this?

Free falling, no parachute (yet) is cold, and fast. So fast it was hard to keep my mouth closed. I could think of nothing but surviving this.

Kobe, the instructor tapped on my shoulder and as I'd been trained I opened my arms and relaxed as best I could. Finally the parachute opened which was like a hard jolt. My body seemed to slip through the harness a little which, for a female, is quite uncomfortable. Kobe asked me to stand on his feet which I did and he loosened the straps of the harness.

And then I was interviewed. "What did I think of Skydiving?" My answer was, "This is something I never have to do again". He just laughed as if he thought I was joking.

"Here, hold this" he said, handing me the parachute handles. "Pull left, pull right". We were swaying and whirling. I was screaming. The ground was getting closer. "Now lift your legs" he says. Oh, crap, oh crap then woosh, bump, slide, we hit the ground and it was over.

Thank you dear lord, I made it.

Try it at least once - You'll never know until you give it a go.

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