To be honest I really don’t want to be writing blogs at the moment, I am way too depressed about my non-event of a sky dive.
It’s 24 hours later and ok, sod it. Time to catch up.
Did I chicken out? Did I hell as like.
Was I scared? Fair dinkum I was. Anyone who knows me will tell you I love fairground rides, Paragliding and anything else that can be a bit mad. It’s the adrenalin. It’s also the adrenalin that makes me feel nervous before any extreme ride but it never stops me from actually getting on. That’s what I was feeling from the moment I got up on Wednesday morning.
10am I was picked up and had a 2 hour drive to the airfield south of Cairns
We had to wait for an hour while some rain passed us by, then group one went up. I was in group three so I settled down to watch the girls (two Japanese and two Korean) come down screaming all the way.
There was still a bit of rain in the air and as we were all in shorts and t-shirts all the girls arms looked like they were covered in bites or bee stings. It was in fact the rain. If you imagine you are falling at 120 mph and the outstretched arms are slapping into the falling raindrops, it hurts like hell.
The next flight was put on hold until the rain cleared.
Forty minutes later the group of Aussie lads fresh off the plain from Perth
The rain continued to pour down and so more delay. Delay, delay, delay. Yep, you guessed it. “Sorry Pom, but its getting worse and it’s gonna be dark soon, we are going to have to call it a day.”
Was I relieved?
No I wasn’t, I was gutted and they knew it. A two hour drive back thinking “God how I wish I hadn’t put it on Facebook last night”
I am pretty determined to jump at some stage because its something I have wanted to do since I joined the Navy in 78. Who knows, New Zealand or as a last resort I will look into doing it in the UK
Anyway, moving on……..
Next morning we packed our cases. It was time to leave hot and humid (I love it, Lucy does not) Palm Cove for a three hour flight south to Sydney Sydney Harbour Bridge
We got a shuttle bus to the Travelodge where we were staying. It was raining and the middle of rush hour. To be honest we could not work out which city it reminded us most of. It was a toss up between Bradford and Manchester
Checked in, cases in the room and straight out to take in the sites. It only took twenty minutes to walk to the Sydney Opera House where we had a meal followed by waffles and chocolate at a Belgian Chocolate café. Not only was it raining heavily by now, it was cold. (Obviously not English cold, but when you have just left 35 degrees with 90% humidity behind 16 deg is positively freezing.) I was wearing a t-shirt so I had to buy an Australian hoodie. As I no longer looked like a tourist, but instead looked like a local yobbo, we took a shortcut through the city park and got back to the hotel just in time to watch the Champions League matches on TV. Fantastic.
Friday morning and we hired a car and drove out to the Blue Mountains . We are staying with a couple of friends (Wibble and Mrs Wibble and baby Wibble called Wibble Wibble) from the internet forum Redcafe. I say friends, but the truth is Lucy just told Wibs “Hey we are coming to stay. Any questions?”
Well first impressions and all is ok. They have not kicked us out of the house yet and it’s been an hour. Not bad eh?
To be updated soon…..
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| Ever seen a picture of the Sydney Opera House in the rain? |
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| Sydney Harbour Bridge ..... in the rain...again |
If it makes you feel any better I'd recommend doing a jump in Queesntown. I used NZONE who were very professional. You can check their website out.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, if you do it in New Zealand you'll be thanking the lord for the rain. The views there are far more spectacular.
Blessing in disguise if you ask me!
Thanks Tony, we'll try them when we get there, although the weather in NZ is just as bad as it is here :( Off for a hike around Wentworth Falls soon, in the rain.....
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