I have been thinking about skydiving in this beautiful beach town for two years and today the weather was perfect. A van picked Jim and I up from the park and drove us to the little airport where the skydive shop is located. I filled out paperwork like I was at a doctors office and of course had to sign the waiver that if anything went wrong….. That’s when I realized it was Friday the 13th, gulp! Not to worry, it is a lucky day for my tandem partner Pete.
There was one other jumper, a young girl celebrating her graduation, and we walked out to the waiting plane, a very small one at that with only room for a pilot in front and four of us sitting on the floor in the back facing backwards. Our pilot was a young guy from Calgary, Canada of all things.
The plane took off and it took about fifteen minutes to reach our jumping altitude of 14,000 feet. Oh my the views on the way up! We were above the sleepy beach town of Hervey Bay and the world heritage site of Fraser Island. The water is all shades of blue because of the shallow sand pockets.
Finally it was time to jump and Pete pulled open the door. The noise and the rush of air takes one by surprise but I didn’t even get butterflies. Nerves of Steele I’ve been told… Pete placed one leg outside and I followed with both of mine. As soon as he got his other leg out I tilted my head back onto his shoulder, crossed my arms and we were off into the sky! Wow, the rush of the wind as you free fall at over 200 KPH (120 MPH) makes your mouth fill with air, I sure hope my photos look like I’m smiling because I was having the thrill of my life!
All to soon I felt the jerk of the parachute and silence as we floated to the ground in the golden light of the afternoon sun. As we got closer to the ground I could see Jim smiling and waving at me and I’m sure still thinking how crazy I was. 
Then feet up and we softly landed on the beach. One more thing checked off of my bucket list.
