Leaving the lovely Airlie Beach was hard but I was looking forward to getting to Mission Beach. I got there at 6 and the greyhound driver literally ripped the top off my bag so now it is completely broken with barely 2 weeks to go. Ah well, it's so rubbish I was suprised it's lasted this long. So I got picked up and went to the hostel where I basically collapsed, still so tired from pulling all my muscles on the ropeswing and the night out in Airlie. The next morning was the oh so fateful day of... the SKYDIVE! But something rather bizarre happened before I even got in the plane.
I was in the second group so we went down to the beach to watch the first group landing. And as they walked past us I could swear I recognised one of these girls. They went back to the office and we followed them back up, and as we were in the office, me and this girl looked at one another and I said 'Are you Cheskie?' and sure enough, it bloody was you know. I was in a play with her at uni and I haven't seen her in a good 2 years, and apparently now she's living in Mission Beach. What a coincidence eh?
After that small bombshell, I got my harness on, and off we went in the bus. After about a half an hour drive we got to the plane and on we got. And then we were flying up and up and up, for 25 minutes, and then it was goggles on, door open and out they started to go. I was the last one out, and I can't tell you what I feeling watching everybody disappear out the side of the plane. And then, then, all of a sudden my feet were out and under the plane, head back, hands on straps, and....
WEEEEEEEE! I was flying. In the dvd, I look so entirely shocked, my eyes look like they're about the burst out of my face. We jumped at 14,000 feet and were in freefall for 60 seconds, then my tandem guy pulled the parachute, and pointed out the great barrier reef. After a few spins and 5 minutes, it was time to land on the beach. I tucked my legs up, hands under my knees and the ground came up so fast I couldn't believe we weren't going to crash, but I didn't land on my arse, merely stood up when he said, and I realised I was still alive.
A bunch of who'd just done the dive went to the bar to wait for our dvds, and to celebrate Australia day and the still being aliveness with a few drinks and a sausage sizzle. I bumped into Cheskie there and took a photo of us so I had proof it had actually taken place. After we got out dvds, we got a lift back to the hostel. After the massive adrenalin rush I suddenly felt really tired, and because I couldn't think why not I had a nap, then made dinner and sat in the lovely air conditioned tv room to watch the Australian open, Nadal v Murray. Nadal won, which was lovely.
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