Ah the golden birthday week. Thanks to a schedule shift, I was able to book my skydiving trip on my actual day. Winning! It was a fairly early morning, the bus left at 6:30 in the morning to head to Mission Beach, about 2 hours south east along the coast. We had a full bus and our driver, Gary, was quite entertaining along the way. He told us little tidbits about some of the towns we went through, like Innisfail, though I can't really remember any of the facts. We passed through the hills/mountains, and he pointed out one called the pyramid and noted that we would be jumping from a height over 5 times as high. The drive didn't seem too long, and honestly, it was nice to get out of Cairns proper for the day.
When we arrived at the jump site, I was delighted to see a cattle dog that I gave a nice pat. My day is made infinitely better when I can pet a dog. The waiting area was a little bungalow type house. The upper level had the booking area, restrooms and a little cafe area. You could look out toward the ocean and see other skydivers landing on the beach. After a brief safety video explaining the correct positions for us to assume while jumping from the plane and landing, we were allowed to wander around and eat while they called us up to pay our levy fee and any additional photos or videos we wanted. It was a bit of a wait, but eventually it was time to jump.
I was in the second or third group. I opted for the video, and my tandem partner, Brandon, got right on work putting it together. I got suited up, then it was about a 20 minute ride to the small airspace, about the size of the East Gull Lake airport. I had a chat with a few girls that were incredibly scared to be skydiving. I was still just excited. I was smiling the whole ride over. Even getting on the plane, I was still all smiles. I was the first one in the plane, which meant I was the last one out.
The plane came to life, and shortly, we were headed toward the ocean. We got some incredible views of the mountains, ocean, and some islands. Many of the islands out there are national parks. In the distance we could even see a little bit of the Great Barrier Reef. It took about 20 minutes or so, but eventually we got up to about 14,000 feet. Following the indicator lights, we put on our goggles when the red lit up, did something else when the yellow one lit up, and jumped on the green. Once the first person jumped and I heard the "whoosh" I think what I was actually doing really hit me. I was going to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Still, I was never nervous, apprehensive or scared. I just wanted to be in the middle of the 60 second free fall. Slowly we inched our way to the door, until it was my turn. I let my legs dangle out of the plane, and once we were out assumed the banana position, arching my head and back back, while pushing my hips forward. A few seconds later, I got the tap to open my arms. The only real feeling, thought or sensation I remember having was that the air was so cool and was better than any air conditioner I had been in. I was smiling the whole time, to the point that I'm sure I had a little bit of drool seep out the side.
The views were gorgeous. Beach, ocean, islands. Before I knew it, my 60 seconds were over and I felt the tug of the parachute opening. The pull causes your clothes to ride up a bit, but it's worth it for the views. I ended up getting two small bruises under my armpits from the jerk as well, though I didn't discover them until later. Brandon decided to take me for a few spins, which were great, though I think they may have been what caused some problems afterward. It was fun to watch the other jumpers slowly floating to the ground. Once we got close enough, I was instructed to raise my legs, and we made a fantastic landing. Smiles all around, and it was back to the waiting area.
It would be awhile before my video was ready, so I grabbed my pack and found a seat. The spinning and pressure had done a number on my head and even more so on my stomach, so I ate up the rest of my banana oatmeal cookies and tried to get it to calm down. I managed part of a nap, though it was with my head back and I kept jerking myself awake when I would feel my mouth start to gape open. About an hour later, the last jumpers had come back and their videos and photos were finished, so it was back on the bus. At the very last minute, a few of us ran back in for our jumping certificates. I am very glad that I did the jump, but if I'm honest, I think I prefer underwater diving to skydiving. Back on the road, we stopped for ice cream and snacks, then finally rolled back in to Cairns around 5. I snuck back into my hostel and switched around packs so I could go downstairs and upload my video.
I made myself coffee to stave off the headache and also keep me awake for the festivities later in the night. I snuck back into reception unsuccessfully this time. Anya, our head housekeep and my room mate and Chris our reception guy both spotted me. We chatted about the dive and Chris even serenaded me with 'happy birthday'. I continued with my uploads and went about my night. A couple of hours later, Anya drug me up to the counter where she Chris, and our other two housekeeping girls were with a card and blackberry cheesecake. We ate it all up and I helped close down reception. It was very sweet of them to do all of that for me.
Once we were all closed down for the night, we spent a couple of hours hanging out in the courtyard with some other travelers. In a little bit, we would be going to The Woolshed, a club with bad music, though occasional 90s throwbacks that make you laugh, and bad free champagne. We had our wristbands for free entry, and it was demanded that I go. I decided not to do any pre-gaming and that the free champagne would be enough. The bouncers were a bit snippy with us, but for understandable reasons, they can get slapped with huge fines if there are any underage drinkers or people don't have valid IDs.
Seeing as it was Thursday, it was ladies night. So there was free champagne for the ladies being served by shirtless Chippe'n'dale types. They seemed to run out of the drink quite frequently, so we had the bright idea of filling up our glass and immediately getting in line so that we could meet our quota. Probably my biggest mistake for the night. Normally I like champagne, but this stuff was bottom of the barrel and taking 5 glasses back to back without any water or much food was not the greatest idea in hindsight. But hey, fun stories for others to laugh at later. It didn't help anything when a friend bought me a Malibu cranberry. Despite all of the alcohol I had consumed, I only went to the bathroom once while in the club... and we were there for over 4 hours. Although, if I'm being honest, I should say I only went to the bathroom once for it's intended purpose... I had to make an emergency stop in there for an, extraction, of sorts. After I had cleaned myself up the second time, it was back to dancing on the tables. That's right. They have tables specifically for dancing that have a metal trusswork mesh above that saved me countless times throughout the night. If it were not there, I'm sure I would have been on the floor.
A group of us finally decided to leave, and I didn't even know how late it was. It ended up being around 4 in the morning. A we walked back, we started talking about music and what songs we would karaoke if we went on Sunday. I mentioned that I would probably sing "your love" by the Outfield. When I was met with confused, unfamiliar stares, I decided the best course of action would be to belt out the first verse as we walked. Obviously the best choice. That quickly transitioned to us singing Journey and some other songs. Luckily it cools off a bit a night, so it wasn't a big deal to walk around the shopping center back home. (We usually walk through the center because 1 - it's more direct o go through than around, and 2 - air conditioning).
It was all quiet when we got back and we all parted ways to get however much sleep we could before we had to wake in the morning. I had lost Anya sometime in the night and was surprised to find her back and still awake. The sensible thing would have been for both of us to go to bed right then and there, but seeing as we were both still a little under the influence, we talked for another hour and a half or so. Eventually we did sleep. I felt a bit bad for Anya since she had the morning shift the next day. I ended up snatching the evening shift to help out.
The next day was just a gem. After going to be around 5:00 or so, I was up at 6:45 and couldn't fall back asleep due to the sun and sauna it turns our room into in the morning. I'm fairly certain I was still a bit drunk at this juncture. The biggest let down was that McDonalds, which was right across the street in the mall, didn't serve lunch until 10:30, and I desperately needed my Big Mac meal to set myself right. I attempted to watch Big Hero 6, and partially fell asleep on our couch while watching it. More water, more bathroom breaks, and finally it was time for food. The fries and burger were heaven, but my root beer float concoction was not. I had been expecting full on root beer float, instead I got frozen Coke with a bit of ice cream on top. I was a bit disappointed. Thankfully I was able to get a few hours nap in the afternoon before working at night.
I was happy that the night was slow, and all I had to really do was laundry, but there were times where I had to sit down for a minute. Luckily there was some ginger beer in our fridge that helped settle things. I hung out with some people in the courtyard afterwards, but did not attend the group heading out for the night. I opted for an early night and lots of sleep that was a very good decision come the next morning.
That's all my exploits from the previous week, perhaps a bit more entertaining than before considering my impaired state of mind at the time. I hope you all have a great week, happy March!
