Date achieved:
Sunday 10th March 2019
Where?
325 Blackgate Rd, Torquay, Victoria, Australia
Why is this experience on the Challenge List?
One of the ultimate expeirences that everyone should have on their own Challenge List!!!
Description:
For my 21st birthday I got the surprise of getting a skydiving voucher from my friends. It was on my list but now it was finalised, it was actually happening… One of my friends ended up getting a voucher to do skydiving for Christmas so we decided to book it in together.
In March, over the long weekend we went camping and then on the Sunday we took the plunge. That morning we had to wake up early and meet at the jump site at 7am. We signed all the legal documentation and agreed to pay the extra for the video footage.
Then we were being introduced to the other people that would be jumping with us and the instructor was running through everything that we needed to remember so that we could jump out of the plane safely.
Afterwards we were paired with a jumper and we got in the plane and started flying towards the area where we to jump. Before that when were going up in the plane, I just remember thinking “Why did I do this to myself?”, that feeling of in a few minutes I will be jumping out of this plane…
My friend and I kept looking at each other, giving each other reassuring smiles. Before long the door to the plane was being opened and as I was second last to jump I got to watch everyone else jump out first.
When the instructor made the jump we ended up doing a flip and I was upside down looking up at the plane fly away.
We were free falling at 15,000ft and of that it was 12,000ft freefall before the parachute was released. The freefall was so fast as it only lasted 60 seconds. The one thing about this part was that they said smile cause your on camera so I tried to smile but my mouth was blowing in the wind too much that I couldn’t always smile so I pulled some very interesting faces instead…
When were down to the last 3,000ft my tandem skydiver released the parachute which deployed instantly and with a jolt it was smooth sailing all the way until reaching the ground. The best part about this was that I really got to take in the views and with my heart racing (not believing what I actually did) I got to enjoy the rest of the dive.
To land you need to put your legs up and slide on the grass on your bottom. When my friend arrived back down we both had the biggest smiles, as we were so excited about what we had just done and already talking about wanting to do it again!
Would I do it again?
DEFINITELY!!!! I actually loved it way more than I thought I would have and if I was going to do it again I want to do it somewhere else that has a great scenic area maybe the Great Barrier Reef or over Uluru, who knows…
Highly recommend everyone should take the plunge at least once or maybe more, if you enjoy it!
Highlight:
Getting to do with my friend… We both got to jump out of the plane together and I think knowing that you are doing with someone else you know definitely makes it better cause you both go through the rollercoaster of emotions. We both also knew that we had each other there for support and together we could both get through it!
My friend’s whole family came to watch and they were all so excited for us both, they took photos and videos and celebrated with us when we both arrived back down to Earth.
Free-falling at over 220km per hour at 15,000 ft, after I just jumped out of a plane, WOW!
Knowing that I was able to achieve something as big as this experience and with this I have a feeling that if I can do this I can literally do anything!!
VIDEO
Cost:
The skydiving experience was actually a present from my friends for my 21st birthday, which was an incredible experience to be gifted.
The cost was $349 for the skydive and $145 extra (I didn’t know until I arrived and they were asking about it) for the video – the video was definitely worth getting as then you can actually prove that you jumped out of plane!
Further information:
The best part about skydiving is you literally don’t need any experience, they walk you through everything and explain it all.
More information can be found here.
