Addicted to Altitude

Yes, I did it! :) Today was THE Day....Non-Tobacco-Day! Yes! The day to quit smoking...so everyone...just do it! - but, that's not THE day I was talking about. And I'm not even talking about the day I became older again (25 or 26 doesn't really matter - nobody's believing me anyway). Today was THE day I no longer only believed I can fly but found out how it is to "fly". My day started at 5:30 this morning (guess that was the earliest time I started a birthday ever). I left home at about 6 in order to be at the skydiving pick-up point by 7...

It was the coldest day in Sydney this year when I left the house. 8 degrees...it was freeeezing and windy...way to cold. But later that day, when the sun came out it turned to be a fantastic, bright and sunny day. Beautiful...

After arriving at the hangar we were sperated into groups of 4...i was in put into the last group so I could see the other guys jumping and landing before....

Then...after and endless time of waiting my name was anounced in the last group...and, as usual, the people started smiling when hearing the name. I'm glad to make people laugh without doing anything ;-)

So...then we got our jumpsuits...stylish in red and yellow :)...our tandempartners introduced themselves to us, gave us the jumping gear and then we headed to the plane...

After sitting there it took off and we started our 15 mins journey up to 14,000 ft. Then...short before arriving at the dropzone our tandempartners tightened our gear, the lights flashed red...the door opened and the 'fun jumpers' made their exit...and right after them we headed to the exit...siting at the edge, legs at the outside, arms crossed...there we goooooooo....

Right after the exit it was kind of twirling through the air until the 'flight position' was finally achieved. But, in contrary to my jump-mates, I really enjoyed those few seconds of iritation. And I also had no problems of not being able to breath (at least I didn't recognized it) like all others said. I simply just enjoyed it :) Then...after achieving flight position...2 taps on my shoulders and I knew that I could open my arms in order to create more uplift...so we had almost 60 seconds of free falling...200 km/h...an amazing view and so much fun...



After this the parachute opened and we started our 5 minute glide with a marvellous view at the blue mountains, the beach, the ocean and sydney at the horizon....

Then landing time...before we were told to lift up our legs when we're landing...so did I but we didn't hit the ground as many of the others but managed to stop while standing...what a great adventure, an amazing flight...but unfortunately the time in the air just passed quite to fast...but after this experience I am quite sure that there have to be more to come...I already started saving for the next jump :)

Man, what a birthday. I love it :)

And never forget: What goes up, must come down ;)