Chantal shows us her adventurous side with a dose of adrenalin on her Queensland holiday… tandem sky-dive anyone?
People ask ‘why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane?’
But after skydiving with Jump the Beach – Cairns, I’d be more likely to ask ‘why wouldn’t you?’
Afterall, it’s not every day that you get asked to jump out of an aeroplane at 14,000 feet above the swirling greens and blues of The Great Barrier Reef.
Heading to the Drop Zone
On the drive down to Innisfail, one hour south of Cairns, I tried to mentally prepare myself. Our driver put on a DVD showcasing people smiling and laughing, giving the thumbs up and high fiving their instructor during their free fall.
After the video, my cheeky instructor Lee told us how the people featured didn’t make it. “Such a shame,” he said. I told myself that surely he wouldn’t joke about my impending doom if it was a reality?
Russ giving a big thumbs up”
The Briefing
Upon arrival, Lee sat us down and showed us all the facets of our parachute pack. The jokes kept coming as we watched an instructional DVD. “We really should put a memorial at the end of that video,” he said, dryly.
I was the last to get strapped in, and I hoped that Lee was being as thorough with all my hooks and clasps as the other instructors had been with their victims.
With no time for goodbyes, we hopped onto the plane and headed towards the sky. After about 15 minutes, Lee started clamping hooks and tightening straps.
With 60 seconds to go I crossed my arms, hoped for the best and watched as each person on the plane disappeared through the door and into the abyss of nothingness.
Getting ready to take the leap of faith!”
The Free Fall
If I could sum it up in three words—terrifying, exhilarating, terrifying.
I watched in sheer horror as my husband Russ dropped out of the plane and vanished from view. It was my turn next.
Lee moved us towards the door and it suddenly became apparent that I was not going to get out of this. Arms crossed, head back and heart in my throat, my feet barely had time to dangle out of the door before we began to fall.
The wind screamed into my ears as gravity pulled us towards the earth. The rush was simply incredible. My heart was racing, my skin was electric and at that moment in time I was invincible.
What a rush!
The Parachute
Sixty seconds and three kilometres later, I watched helplessly as the ground got inevitably closer. Suddenly jolted upright, Lee lets out our parachute and I finally got the chance to soak up the beauty of our surrounds.
The Great Barrier Reef stretched on towards the horizon. The Coral Sea was astonishingly blue and simply breathtaking. Immediately below us were the lush green paddocks of Innisfail, and in the distance were the rolling, volcanic hills of the Daintree Rainforest.
Enjoying the view”
The Landing
The air was warm and I felt my body start to calm down as we gradually descended over the fields of banana plantations towards the drop zone.
With about 100 metres to go I finally spotted Russ, safely on the ground smiling and waving up at me. With metres to go we prepare for landing and gently fall to the ground with a slight thud.
We made it!
Giddy from the adrenaline rush we reflect on the fact the insane reality of what we’d just done.Lee asks me if I’d do it again. I can’t help but laugh at him. Absolutely.
