We then headed to a camping spot we have driven past on the way in, Bingil Bay. It's tiny but relatively cheap for a beach front location at $19. I would a million times recommend it. Unfortunately the luck of the weather wasn't on our side, as as soon as we parked up the heavens opened. We didn't have much else to do so we popped on Bridget Jones which Nath hadn't actually seen yet and he loved (yay for future Bridget Marathon sessions). It rained throughout, so we couldn't even cook dinner as we have to put our cooker outside and there is no cover. So we settled for a dinner of a wickedly cheap bag of Coles (Tesco equivilent) own brand cookies. Healthy maybe not but perfect for a rained-in movie night. As we then proceeded to watch another film, Unstoppable which was action packed and had us on the edges of our seat, would recommend.
When it was time to go to bed (9pm and this isn't even our earliest - the things you do when you can't afford to go to the pub) we popped out and braved the outside to go to the toilet. We didn't put two and two together and think what happens when there is rain and a rainforest. We got eaten alive, in Nathan's case, quite literally with 20 plus on each arm. We decided we would rather dehydrate than head back out again.
The following day we got up at the crack of early, 5.30am to have a quick breakfast and head to the skydive centre and we were lucky enough to grab a good sunset on the way which I didn't manage to take a picture of. Probably too scared to open the window in fear of being chewed on again.
The nerves started to set in as we watched movies of previous skydives whilst waiting to set off on our own. Unfortunately there was too much cloud cover for us to leave at 7am. We left the centre around 8.30am when they thought it would be ready, however as soon as we got in the bus the rain started again but still we drove all the way to the Tully (fact - rainiest town in Australia, this I could believe) skydive airport. The weather wasn't on our side so we headed back to the centre on the little bus and proceeded a long wait. Not necessarily good when your nerves have to wait too.
Finally we left the centre at 11.30am for real. This time there was a bit of rain but we drove right up to the world's smallest plane. Prior to this our instructor and tandem partner had shown us the correct positions for leaving the plane, free falling and landing and had attached our harnesses on as well as a life jacket (as there was a chance we could land in the sea, having a tiny landing strip on the beach).
The plane had two long (not long enough) benches and we lined up, with all of us rookies sitting in front of our instructors. I sat in the far back corner right next to a very young looking pilot. Eek! I should let you know, since our holiday to France for skiing in February I had picked up a bit of flying nerves, so considering a part of the plane was open the entire journey I wasn't feeling entirely positive at this point. We flew until the pilot got to 14,000ft and to a big clear part of sky, where we had an awesome view of Mission Beach and the Great Barrier Reef !
And before I knew it, it was go time. I barely had time to think before they chucked the first person out the plane and it turned out that I was the last to go so I had to watch everyone go including Nath.
(Not the most flattering angle, but Mum and Dad look, I now have long nails, clearly travelling is not stressful enough)
I could say I was bricking it at this point, but in all honesty you really didn't have time to think about it. Finally my time came and I was hanging out the plane, with my instructor safely inside and away we went. The sensation of the 60 second freefall was pretty much insane, I felt not too dissimilar to Superman, although I'm pretty sure in the films his arms, legs (thighs) and face don't flap like crazy. It was truely exhilarating especially as you know you are flying at 120mph.
Once the 60 seconds were up, the instructor released the parachute and we slowed down dramatically and we had the chance to really appreciate the incredible views.
My instructor even gave me the chance to man the parachute and the turns we were doing made my stomach do flip flops. I also got to watch all the others on the plane land on what felt like the world's smallest beach. When my time came to land it felt we were going really too fast but we landed perfectly with both of us on our feet.
I can safely (now I'm alive) say that skydiving was one of the best experiences I have experienced and I now want to do it a thousand times over. Now, if you are going to use any of my recommendations from previous posts, please use this one and do it and you can't use the excuse you're too old (ahem Dad), because one of the instructor's 65 year old mum did it a few weeks ago!
The instructor had a GoPro attached to his hand to film us through and take pictures, as you are not allowed to take a camera up unless you've done 100 dives. So hopefully at some point I can put up Nath and my films. There is the option to pay more and have another skydiver jump out of the plane as the same time as you and take pictures, this footage is amazing as we watched another persons but you do need to have the extra cash, which we do not.
Xoxo
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