I went Skydiving!

Yup! I jumped out of a plane last Friday. And I am alive to tell the tale.

Even before I left Canada, I knew that I would cross skydiving off of my bucket list while I was in Australia.  Wouldn't you know it but  I got an email from the residence community I live in that they were planning a trip!  I didn't anticipate crossing it off quite this quickly because I have only been here less than two months plus I thought I needed time to build up my courage to go 10,000 feet into the air and jump.  But, I thought I would check out if there were any places left because only 24 people could sign up.  As luck would have it there was one spot left.  So, I took that as a sign.  On a side note, it was also a great price.

So on Friday I woke up at the crack of dawn (okay not quite, but 7:30 is pretty early for me now that I am a university student again) and met the other 23 people who were going on the trip.  We took an hour and a half long bus ride to a place called Newcastle and jumped over the Lake Macquarie area.

My tandem jumper, Dave.

This face was accurate, I was so scared!

 The plan just kept going up and further up.  I thought we were pretty high and then we were told that we still were only half way to the height we were jumping out of.  Great... It only took about 10 minutes to fall, then float all the way down.

Note: Screaming is a must.

When given instructions on how to jump and also how to land, we were specifically told that you have to scream on the way down.  If you don't scream, it can be challenging to get air out with so much air coming in.  That is the only reason why I screamed, I was just following instructions, I wasn't afraid at all... just kidding.

The first few seconds out of the plane!

Me and my silly face.  In all fairness, it is next to impossible to look good with
chubby cheeks flapping everywhere.  I thought they might fall off.

We free-fell for about a minute before pulling the shoot.

I even got to drive.

There were five of us (plus the professionals that we were harnessed to) that went in the plane together.  I was quite nervous to begin with, and it got so much worse when the first person exited the plane. At that point though, I couldn't exactly chicken out. I am so glad that I did it.  The view was spectacular and it was an experience I will never forget.  Plus I got to meet some really nice people who live in the village. 

I was exhausted after that and fell asleep on the bus ride home.  But, the whole day was worth it.  I think that I would go again if perhaps I had a different view to see.  But this one seems hard to top.