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Day 12 of the connections tour
Today i will be mostly jumping out of a plane.
Skydive day today, 2 of us from the tour decided to take the plunge (no pun intented). myself and annet. we were both pretty nervous about what we had foolishly decided to do. A 14000ft jump, the highest they will allow in australia. 60 seconds of freefall followed by around 4 minutes floating safely to earth, well thats the plan.
We were up early in the morning to catch a bus provided by the parachute company, the weather was shall we say less than perfect for jumping out of planes, cloudy with some showers. but on we marched.
The driver of the bus reckoned that it was unlikely that we could jump today as the weather would not permit us to. but we continued to pauls parachuting HQ in the hope that it might clear up.
After paying for our jump and undergoing an brief training session we were again told that it may not be possible to jump, it had now begun to rain. at this point i was very nervous, packing my pants. maybe i should have brough a change of underwear? we were told to wait 20 mins or so just to see if the weather clears up. after a couple of nervous visits to the toilet we head off to the airport in the hope it was clearer there.
there were 3 people to each jump, the paying customer - me, the guy who was thankfully strapped to my back and a cameraman who i paid extra so i could have a video of the whole experience. we boarded the small plane and after a few pre takeoff proceedures we were off. there were 10 people on board our flight the three groups of jumpers and the pilot of course. a bumpy ride as we took off and worked our way to 14000ft, it seemed to take an eternity to gain height. the guys on the plane reckoned it was unlikely we could jump as we were still flying through cloud and turbulence, but at least we would get a free flight. at this stage i believe i was no longer nervous and just wanted to jump as it seemed such a shame to get this far without actually jumping. the video later proved that i was still very fearfull.
we soon relised that the clouds were dispursing and it was looking like we were gonna do it. we reached 10000ft and the first jumper went, now im scared, i could tell annet was too. after a little longer to climb to 14000ft it was my turn. my tandem partner strapped me on, i double checked he was there by lurching forward, he was attached alright. we shimmyed towards the open door, i dont recall thing much at this point except maybe oh Sh#te. looking out of the plane practically hanging out, 1 2 3 were off, i whacked my head on the plane on the way out, i didnt realise this at the time but the video poiunted out the point of impact, bloody door. felt like forever hurtling towards the ground at 135mph doing my best to look and smile at the cameraman, very hard to do when you cheeks are flapping round your ears. with around 20 seconds of freefall left my protective goggles decided that they no longer wished to be attached to me, off they went. i now tried to keep my eyes open when travelling at such speed, not an easy thing to do, all i could see was my eyelids flapping in the wind. just before the chute was opened we flew through some cloud and through some rain, the most bizare feeling is of rain hitting you what seemed like the wrong way like a sandblast. almost immediately the chute opened, i yelled something out, a noise not in the dictionary. im safe. the skys are now clear and i can see miles around. one last panic moment as the guy loosened the strapps to make them more comfortable. i was given charge of the chute so we could do some spirals to the left and right, looking up i could see annet emerging from the cloud and her chute opening. now time for landing, the idea to gently land on our feet. we came in what seemed like really fast, i lifted my feet and plan b took control i landed flat on my arse and slid across the grass. AWESOME
after a few moments kissing the ground, thanking the skydivers,m annet landed perfectly on her feet with yelps and screams. what an experience, a must for everyone. it was at this point i realised i bumped my head, a lump and some blood, but hey i didnt care. or was i concussed? lol
been there done that and actually brought the t-shirt, and video and dvd and still photo's.
after the excitement of the morning, the rest of the day was quite sedate, popped into town for some luch with annet & aisha, a little spell on the internet and a beer.
the evening consisted of a trip to the bottle shop and drinking by the pool till the early hours.
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