Skydiving

I meant to post this one year ago. Time flies. I soared, plummeted and floated. 

For some unknown reasons, even though I am terrified of heights, cry (almost) every time I come off a roller coaster ride and will never attempt a bungy jump, skydiving is on my bucket list.

I decided to go skydiving on my birthday (no, I am not turning 21) and found that my colleagues also wanted to go (2 of them have received vouchers for their birthdays). One thing led to another, we had a group of 7 booked for the skydiving, neglecting to tell the General Manager that his managers may be all wiped out in 1 trip.

Photo credit: Vic

The day before our skydiving trip, everyone was jittery, wanting to get it over and done with. One of our colleagues told us that she is more than 60 years old when she got a skydiving voucher from her husband for her birthday. She said it was only after when she jumped off the plane did she realise that she did not remove her dentures and had to suck in her lips in case her dentures come off. Otherwise, there is nothing to worry. Another colleague said he went for a skydiving course when he was young. A lady jumped off the plane and her parachute did not open and he did not finish the course. (That was really helpful. Thanks for letting us know!)

We drove to Wollongong early in the morning, signed our lives away, paired with a diving instructor, made a video of our last words and then was driven to Picton to board our plane. JJ's diving instructor asked if we have had breakfast and when we said we had a big one, he was really worried. Apparently, it is not a joke - someone had previously threw up his breakfast midair and the diving instructor got most of it. 

We squeezed into the plane. As I was the lightest, I had the pleasure of jumping off first. The plane climbed slowly - we saw meadows and cows, then the sea - 2,000 feet, 3,000 feet… At about 15,000 feet, my instructor opened the shutter door. My instructor poked his head out of the door to check if we were in the correct position, and my body tipped out with him. He came back in and not long after, he poked his head out again. My body tipped out again. I began to panic, "SHIT SHIT SHIT, at this rate he is going, he is going to accidentally fall off the plane." Next to me, Vicky was thinking, "I hope she is not holding on to the door and create a drama, not jumping off." The third time my instructor tipped out, we were off. Without. Any. Warning.

Everything happening in swift seconds and my brain and body were disorientated from the lack of direction and gravity, but it was surprisingly calm. Except for the parts when my instructor pulled the cord and we shot up or descended too quickly, it was exhilarating. It was definitely less scary than a roller coaster ride. We were grinning from ear to ear after the jump, from the rush of adrenaline. I was mostly fine if not for the bubbles in the stomach I experienced several hours after the jump. To be honest, we were more nervous in the 1 week before the jump.

Would I skydive again? Definitely! Perhaps not any time soon as it was a rather expensive adventure. But most definitely!