Are ya ready mate?!

I know it has been a while since I last wrote on here but I was saving the next post for something good and today was the day! Decided a week ago today that I would finally get up enough courage to go skydiving so this morning at 5:00am I started the journey to Wollongong Beach. Wollongong is about an hour and a half south of Sydney and absolutely gorgeous for anyone who gets a chance to make it out there. Anyways, we took the train into the Central Business District where we met up with our transport to Wollongong. Joe, Brian, and I were pretty tired at this point but each second we drove and the closer we got to the beach, the more excited and anxious we got. Finally, we arrived at the landing zone where we filled out paperwork and went through some instructional material. Basically, hold on and scream your face off. Getting the gear on was pretty cool and made the whole ordeal feel a lot more real. That being said, I don't think it hit me quite yet that soon I would be propelling myself out of a perfectly good airplane and plummeting down to earth at around 120 MPH. Eventually, our instructors came out and I met the guy who's hands I would be putting my life in. Awesome guy named Tom who had over 10,000 jumps so I felt pretty safe. We then made our way to the bus and took the 20 minute drive to the airport. The bus ride was moderately unnerving since so much was running through my mind but all I knew was that I REALLY wanted to get up in the air and do the jump. Once we got to the hanger, we moved pretty quick. We all lined up to jump in the plane and that's when my instructor grabbed me and said, "Oh no no no mate, you wait here. We are getting on last. I want first dibs out the door!" So that's pretty reassuring...I hate heights and I have to sit next to a cage that keeps you from flying out of the airplane and not only that, but I then get to sit there while they open the door and dangle my feet out. Well, that is exactly what happened. After we ascended to 14,000 feet, the door came up and I got the signal to swing my legs out of the plane and tuck them under the hull. Now, do you have any idea how unnatural that is!? It's one thing to even watch people do it but to actually sit there and be strapped to some random guy you don't even know while you're dangling your legs out of the plane and looking down 14,000 feet is just out of this world. Since I was the first out the door, I got the chance to sit there on the edge for about 30-45 seconds before Mr. Tom decided he was ready to hurl me out of the plane. First though, "OH SHIT!" Second thought, "THIS IS AWESOME!!!" When you first begin your free fall you get that tight, weird stomach feeling that you get on roller coasters but once you let out a big scream and open up your lungs, it's smooth sailing from there on out. The free fall was intense. It literally feels as if you are suspended in mid air and not moving but at the same time, you are falling at terminal velocity which is a mind blowing experience on its own. After about 60 seconds of free fall we pulled the cord and shot straight up into the air. That was semi-painful but I got to take control of the parachute and fly us around a bit. Taking some hard banking turns was awesome as you pick up speed and the view of the beach was unexplainable. After about 5 minutes in the air, we eventually touched back down to earth where the adrenaline was most noticeable. We. Went. Nuts. I never thought in a million years that I would do something like this but it only made me want it more! It is almost like a drug (not that I would know) and I just felt the need to do something crazy like that again. We then ran to a cafe to grab some food while our videos were being put together and we slugged a celebratory beer. The worst part of all was when we saw the next group getting ready to go. I felt like a little kid who was kicking and screaming because they wanted to go again. I promise I WILL go skydiving again and I cannot wait to bungee jump next week in New Zealand. I will post the video and some pictures if this website allows me and you can all get a feel of what skydiving is like. I apologize for my tongue being out half of the time. Not quite sure why I did that but never-the-less, it is still an awesome video. Next big trip is to New Zealand in less than a week. I won't be online while I am there but expect a lengthy and action packed blog post when I get back. Hope you all enjoy the pics and such. Cheers!


 SKYDIVING VIDEO!