The Sky Dive

The next day we had booked a Sky Dive over the bay. The night before, I started to panic a wee bit as I´m shit scared of heights, had a few beers and got an early night. After a bit of a messs around from the sky dive company, we were in the mini van with some other divers being escorted to the dive club. I´d been pysching muyself up for this over the last few hours because I knew that I had the chance of ruining it by worrying too much. So I decided that I simply wasn´t going to worry about it, I´d paid my money and I was defnitely going to do it so I took the decision just to enjoy every last moment. So that´s what I did, I just looked forward to it all the way until the end and it worked a treat.

We had to wait for the second plane and it was our time to buckle up and get a short saftey briefing. The briefing was exactly that, short and sweet. Something like ´shuffle to the edge of the dorr, legs under, head back, hips forward, arms crossed and we´ll do the rest.....´. Basically, you´re strapped onto the fron of a tandem master, he packs the shoot, breifs you, throws you out of the plane and pulls the cord. Piece of piss, they do it all for you. After the briefing, I was first on the plane so I knew I´d be last out, no worries! The plane was a tiny 10 seater with everything removed from the cabin and a plastic door which is easily pulled up and down. About 12 people crammed into the cabin, the divers, their tandem master and a few photographers.

Slowly we climed to the staggering 14000 feet over the bay.. It was such an awesome view, the sky was almost cloudless, the sun was shining and you could see the waves beloe crashing in. Still not worried! Climed to about 10000 feet after about 15 minutes, getting close but still not worried. My tandem master, Steve started to give me another quick briefing at this stage and told me to put me goggles on, still not worried!! Then it was time, message came from the pilot, 14000 feet had been reached and we were over the target. Onoe by one divers began to shuffle to the egde, ´cross arms, head back, legs under plane, SKYDIVE´! Then finally it was my go, still not worried at all I just couldn´t wait. Shuffle to the edge, feet under, arms crossed, head back, hips forward... Steve says ´do you trust me?´, then SKYDIVE....

Fuuuuuuuucccccccckkkkkkkkk me the first ten seconds were amazing. I had absolutely no idea where I was, I just felt ny stomach pass through my windpipe and out of my mouth while we accelerated to about 200kmph and spun as Steve pulled us in all sorts of directions. After a few more seconds I got a tap on the shoulder and I put my arms out in the skydive position and down we went, freefalling for about 70 seconds. Because you´re on the front, it feels like you´re on your own, falling like a bullet towards the ground, absolutely awesome. Then Steve pulled the shoot and thank fuck it opened, then we slowly made our way to the ground, taking in the amazing views with Steve pulling off some nasty arsed tricks to put the shits up me.... It was unreal, easily the best experience I´ve had while travelling and one of the best I´ve had in mhy life. I know it was tandem, and decision making was removed from the dive, but I don´t give a shit, it was awesome and worth every penny!

That afternoon we had a go at surfing and sorted out our next step. Byron Bay is an awesome place and I could have stayed there for much longer if I had the time. The town was lush with loads of cool shops, cafes and restaurants. The beach was awesome, you can surf, sky dive and use the gym. There´s healthy food everywhere and the hostels are cool, what else do you need? Well, the night life was a bit weird for such a cool place but other than that it was straight out of the top drawer, a must see place. Next stop Hervey Bay for our Fraser Island tour.