When I was 16 my family did a road trip across the Nullarbor. When we were in South Australia my parents bought my brother a sky dive for his 18th birthday. I was so excited, I really wanted to do it too, but my parents said “When you turn 18….”
So I turned 18…and the opportunity never really came up. Then I wanted to sky dive over the great barrier reef and I would have to save heaps of money, so it still never happened.
So finally at the age of 27 I said bugger it, I’m not going to hold out for anywhere more scenic, I am just going to do it in Tassie.
In April 2010 was when I decided I was just going to go for it, then my cousin decided to come visit me from NL, so I asked if she wanted to come with me. Which she did. So we booked ourselves in for a skydive from 10,000ft over Swansea with SkyDive Tasmania.
Going up in the plane took 20 minutes, and I wasn’t too nervous, more excited. As we got to the right height the door opened and the air rushing past was so loud!!! I watched as my cousin got rolled out the door…I was just getting more and more excited. Then my tandem dude and I got up to the door, I put my feet out and then we were tumbling rapidly in the direction of the ground. It was so much fun, the wind rushing past, the freedom of falling…INSANE!!!!
After 45 seconds of freefall we pulled the chute and took the time to absorb the atmosphere, the experience and the view. It was absolutely stunning!! An amazing view of Coles Bay and The Hazards.
I found the whole experience to be exhilarating, a heap of fun and surprisingly fairly relaxing.
My friend Tim was most disappointed that he didn’t get to join in the fun..so some months later in December it was time for another jump!
December 29th we booked ourselves in for a Hobart skydive. All excited and ready to go, we turned up, but unfortunately for us it was too cloudy and rainy. So, disappointed we headed home and had to wait until the next day to try again.
December 30th, we turned up again. The sky was a bit cloudy, but there were enough gaps in the clouds to get the go ahead. So we kitted up and headed to the airport.
It took around 30 mins to get to height, and then to find a hole in the clouds. On this occasion I was the first to be out of the plane.
So at height, we opened the door. Again the deafening sound of air rushing past the door. The air was a lot colder this time, and skydiving over a city really puts the height into perspective. I put my left foot out of the plane and was suddenly overcome with that feeling of “Oh crap!! Not sure I am ready for this!”
Suddenly I was tumbling through the icy cold air at some phenomenal speed. All the buildings were getting closer and closer at such a fast pace!!
After a full minute of freefall, we pulled the chute…and suddenly things were a little calmer. Seeing Hobart from above was such an interesting experience..it all looked so different. It was quite windy and the air was chilly, but we slowly made our way back to the ground. Again it was an amazing view and loads of fun!
Comparing the two jumps I noticed a few differences.
Both times I wore earrings, but jumping from the higher altitude, my earlobes were flapping around in the wind and it felt like my earlobes were tearing off the side of my head – it hurt!!!!!
I was astounded at just how much more terrifying it was the second time – I thought it would be less scary, but I was very wrong!!!
Oh yeah – had a serious case of cotton mouth both times!
It was yet another fantastic adventure in my life, and I got to share both experiences with amazingly wonderful people.
