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Hi all,
Well I did it; I jumped out of a plane at 14,000ft above the ground. It was possibly the scariest and most exciting thing I have ever done in my life. Unfortunately due to the cyclone the roads leading out of Cairns were impossible to drive, therefore I was unable to jump onto Mission Beach as I had planned, so I jumped in Cairns fearing I wouldn't do a jump if I left it until later!
There was quite a bit of waiting around once we got to the dive centre, as another group went up before us. When it was finally our time to go, I was so nervous. All I kept thinking was 'why the hell am I doing this?' We drove to the airport where we boarded a tiny weeny plane; so small I had to sit on my tandem jumpers lap, poor chap. He was a little mad to say the least, which was good as he made me giggle, so I didn't have much time to think about what I was doing.
The sights from the plane were amazing, with the sea in one direction and green mountains the other. As we were going up my guide, Damo, strapped me to him and checked all the straps several times, though I still made him check them all again before we jumped. He reminded me of what I needed to do when we exited the plane.
I was second to jump out of the plane and I think the worst bit was seeing the first guy fall out. I clapped my hands over my mouth and screamed as he went and I think I may have even put my hands out in an attempt to pull him back into the plane....I was soooooo scared! There is hardly any time to think about what you are doing though and there is certainly no going back once you are on that plane.
As soon as the first guy had jumped I was being shoved towards the door. With my legs hanging out of the plane - I was meant to rest them on a platform, but couldn't reach that! - my arms crossed on my chest, my head back, Damo began rocking us and then we were away. I screamed so much, though you couldn't hear anything, because we were falling so fast. Also the screaming made my mouth really dry, so in the DVD you can see me licking my lips loads.
At 14,000ft you free fall for 60 seconds. Before I went up I thought those 60 secs would be an eternity, until you waited for the parachute to open, but it went so fast it was unbelievable. Damo pulled my head up so I looked at the views, rather than the ground and tapped me on my shoulder, so that I would open my arms. It is soooo much fun and the view was spectacular.
When the shoot went up I couldn't stop smiling and saying 'oh wow!' I steered the parachute for a while and we pulled the strap hard to make us going into a spin, which was funny. Though the harness gets a little uncomfortable, especially as I am so small it came up around my neck, but never mind!
When you come into land it looks like you are coming in much faster than you should be, it seems impossible that you are going to stop in time. You have to pull your legs up as far as you can - which is hard when they are all wobbly from an adrenalin rush! - and then you land quite smoothly, Damo making the first contact with the ground and then both sliding along the ground on your bums. When on the ground I couldn't get my breath back and my right ear was a little sore, as it hadn't popped, but I would have gone up straight away there and then, it was amazing.
Take care everyone
Love Lynds x x
PS As predicted I can't leave Cairns yet, due to road damage caused by the cyclone, so I won't be on the Whitsunday's this week. Will give you an update when I know what I am doing.
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