30 GOING ON 14,000!

There are several milestones in a person's life and when it comes to celebrating these momentous occasions, most people do so in a big way. I'm not one for grand parties - I think I outgrew them when I was 12 years old (I didn't even have a debutant party at 18!). I wanted to punctuate my 30th year on earth in a different way, though. Possibly high above the ground, where I was most at my element.

So I jumped out of a plane from 14,000 feet.

Flashback to 30th November 2012 (my birthday was a few days earlier and spent at home with the family), I was in the back of the car that came to pickup me up early in the morning from my Sydney hostel, that would take me to the jump site at Wollongong in New South Wales. The clincher? I went alone and no one, not even my family knew that I was gonna skydive that day!

Ok fine, I did befriend two Aussie-Sri Lankan guys and a father-son duo that day who were all very nice to me. And get this, the latter's dad was celebrating his 60th year on this earth and was celebrating this milestone by skydiving with his son!!

Here I was, looking psyched before the safety briefing. I woke up early for this occasion!

Waiting for optimum wind conditions at this beachside cafe on Wollongong Beach.

Signing my life away. A few of the jumpers were becoming nervous. Me? Nah, heights don't scare me. I was pretty calm! No second-guessing my decision, no stomach-churning moments, no what-ifs.... I even ate a full meal before the skydive, because nothing can come between a hungry girl and her food.

We were inside an 8-tandem-seater plane, which was very, very, very small..... The shadow below is a light trick. Believe me, it was the smallest plane I've ever been in. At this point, the instructors were having fun with us and messing with our heads - jokingly mentioning that they never lost a customer, but welllllll.... maybe ONCE in their entire careers. Tales of limbs lost and rough ocean landings were exchanged as they tried to either scare or entertain the shit out of us. I was duly entertained, of course - no one in our group was backing out! We were a pretty daredevil group. This was IT!

1, 2, 3 .... FREEFALL!!!!! I was just watching the rest of the group fall out of the plane, anticipating my moment as I was the last one to jump. One moment, we were at the edge of the plane, the next, we were tumbling out of it into the open skies!!! The force of the wind at initial impact was a bit of a shock and the cool, crisp air was enough to make anyone afraid of heights shudder more from head to toe. Oh, but I was having way too much FUN! It was just me, my tandem partner, the skies around us, the open ocean and green earth underneath us. It was an absolute THRILL!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! I didn't realize I was doing a thumbs up during the skydive, nor did it occur to me at that moment that I didn't have any audience up there to see my sign of approval, save for my tandem partner, who was probably too busy making sure we both lived to tell the tale, hehe... Not that I felt unsafe in any way. Au contraire! This guy, Andy, had 10,000 jumps under his belt!

OMG I'M FLYING!!! The views from above were gorgeous! Look at that coastline!

Parachute mode on! My instructor let me control the direction for a while - and that meant steering it away from the open ocean. Didn't think he was up for a water landing with a non-swimmer fastened to him! :)

One happy jumper! Adrenaline-junkie approved!

... And just like that, it was all over and all I got was this measly certificate. And a DVD of the photos and a video. And an adrenaline-filled birthday week. And a check on one of my life goals. And stories to tell my little cousins and nephew. Oh and yeah .... memories to last me a lifetime! ;-)​

Definitely one of the most exhilarating experiences in my life! Thank you, Skydive by the Beach - Sydney for an awesome, fun, and once-in-a-lifetime jump!

Perhaps next should be the Halo Tandem Jump at 30,000 feet? So high, you need an oxygen mask and tactical googles, and can only be done in tandem with military instructors having paratrooper experiences! Maybe when I hit 40; whaddyathink? :)

HAPPY TRAVELS! x

WHERE TO JUMP: Depends on what you want - I always wanted to jump in Australia and see the coastline from a bird's eyeview so Skydive by the Beach was the perfect answer. They are also featured by Off Track Planet as one of the best places on earth to skydive - see the article here.

Safety is also paramount, so I was conscientious in researching possible operators - Skydive's instructors have thousands of jumps under their belts. They're not the cheapest, but I would be cautious about too-good-to-be-true offers, especially if your life depended on it! I also wanted the highest possible jump in Australia at that time and SBTB fit the bill!

#Australia