Skydive - Friday 16 March

Friday 16 March - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!

We booked our trips today which would take up the next three days. The receptionist was really helpful so we asked her about the one thing that had been on our mind for ages - skydiving. In England, Carl was all up for it and I was thinking 'oh shit - if he does it that means that I have to do it' but then the roles reversed. I had psyched myself up so much that it was me who really wanted to do it and that would mean that Carl would have to do it too. We were only hoping to go along to the airfield and have a look around the place to get a feel and meet the staff. Unfortunately we had to book a skydive to be able to visit so we thought about it for a couple of minutes and decided to book it up. The time was 11am and they picked us up at 12.30pm. Thankfully we didn't have long to wait but surprisingly we both felt fine. My belly rumbled a little bit but that's because I was starving and didn't want to eat just in case it came back up mid-flight.

The guy drove us to the airfield which was only 20 minutes away. We filled out a few forms and chose what music we wanted for our video and then we had to get suited and booted. We were introduced to Stevo - Carl's tandem - and Albi who was my tandem partner. Then the filming and pictures started. Stevo had been skydiving for 20 years and had done, I think, about 1,600 skydives. He was completely wacko and it was funny watching him wind up Carl (Stevo would say Crazy Carl) but he was a hilarious guy and both Stevo and Abli made us feel really comfortable. We were shown a few moves such as how to fall out of the plane, when they tap us on the shoulder we should put our arms out and how to bring our legs up when we land. At this point we were still amazingly calm. Not scared or nervous one little bit. It was time to get in the plane. We were shocked by how small the plane was. There was me, Carl, Albi, Stevo, the pilot and the lady who would be taking my video and pictures. The plane was full. For such a small plane the take off and the journey out was smooth. The views over the Whitsunday Islands were great as well. After about 10 minutes I thought we would be nearly at 12,000 feet which is the height we chose to jump from, minimum being 8,000 feet. But as Stevo kindly reminded me "are you crazy woman. We've only been in the plane for 10 minutes. We've got another 20 minutes of climbing." We were only at 5,000 feet. Even as we were climbing we still didn't feel nervous or scared in any way. The guys just made us feel so relaxed talking to us on the way up and also pictures were being taken and the video was rolling so we had to smile.

When we hit 8,000 feet we finally flew through the thick layer of white clouds which were like a blanket. I was first to take the dive and when we reached 9,000 feet Albi strapped himself to me and made sure that I was secure. I then asked him to double check but it was all good. He explained to me that the lady filming me would go first and we would follow seconds later. After 30 minutes we had arrived at 12,000 feet. The lady opened the door and went outside the plane to video and picture me as I came out and then Albi shuffled me across the floor to the door where I sat right on the edge with my legs tucked under the plane. I did look down very briefly and all you could see was a blanket of beautiful white cloud. I still didn't feel nervous or scared. That probably seems very hard to believe but over the last few weeks I had psyched myself up so much and we knew that we couldn't leave Australia without doing a skydive. After a couple of seconds of sitting with my legs under the plane Albi rolled me out. The fall wasn't actually that bad. We did about two somersaults and then we levelled out and I smiled for the camera, stuck my thumbs up and started screaming 'yeah' at the camera. The free fall lasted 45 seconds, falling at 120 miles an hour. It was very cold as we fell through the clouds and it was difficult to breath because we were moving so fast through the air but it was all good fun. Once we were through the clouds and had free fallen for 8,000 feet, the parachute opened and we shot right back up. Well, it looked and felt like we shot back up but it only seemed that way because the camera woman was still free falling. I think this was one of the best parts of the sky dive, the other being actually sitting on the edge of the plane ready to jump. You may think that would be one of the least enjoyable moments but it was such a fantastic feeling. You don't get the horrible belly feeling you get on a roller coaster. It was the most amazing feeling when the parachute opened. It seemed that everything was happening in slow motion. After after free falling for so long, of course it was. It was like sitting in a comfortable chair very slowly coming down to land. I had another 4,000 feet to go and I was so grateful that I had that long. I was able to chat and joke to Albi without having to shout. The views over the Whitsundays Islands were amazing and Albi even let me guide us and showed me how to spiral to get down quicker but I didn't want to do too much of that. Even though Carl dived after me, he landed a few minutes before me.

When I came in to land I had concentrated so hard on trying to get my legs up like we had been told to do that I forgot to put them down again when we had landed so I landed on my backside. Luckily though you can't see that on the video so that's our little secret. I had been told that Carl had landed on his feet so I was gutted. After I became unattached from Albi I wondered over to Carl and gave each other a big hug realising that it was a huge relief to have actually done a skydive. The feeling is undescribable. The most amazing thing we have both done and it'll be hard to beat. We wanted to get back up in the plane and do it all over again. We were both on such a high. We walked into the office and they were playing my video which was great. Then they played Carl's video and it was so funny because Stevo was winding Carl up.

The links below are the shorter version. Please be patient in viewing them because they do take ages to load.

Carl: http://www.realxstream.com?XStreamID=40953&Vid=1

Abi: http://www.realxstream.com?XStreamID=41841&Vid=1

I phoned mum and told her that Carl and I had been celebrating her birthday. She asked how and I said that we both did a skydive for her. It took her a while to get a full word out. She was surprised at first but then remembered when I had took dad on roller coasters when I was younger and loving it but dad's face turning green. Then she wasn't so shocked. Dad said that I was barmy.