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Wollongong / Tom's 21st Birthday / Skydiving If anyone has pictures for this trip can you please send it to me as my camera was broken 02-06-07 - Our next adventure takes us down south to chilly Wollongong for Tom's 21st birthday and some skydiving. It wasn't just Tom's birthday as there were a few birthdays this weekend, Atsu, Jo, Ben and John but this trip was planned and organised a month or so back by Tom and Lauren so thanks for making it possible. Despite the forecasted rain and freezing weather, about 20 people braved the harsh conditions to have the opportunity to jump out of a perfectly working aeroplane 14,000 feet above the earth. On top of that we were going camping! Camping on the first day of winter. I thought this'll turn out like Stockton beach all over again. Fortunately (or unfortunately to some) we all survived our plummet to the ground and lived to tell the tale, so like my last report this will elaborate on our mischief down in Wollongong. Our plan was to travel down to Wollongong on Friday, some who
didn't have work left early to get spots while others who had to work
that day arrived throughout the night. I wasn't working but got a lift
with Luke who was working so we ended up leaving around 5:30 and
getting there around 7ish. By that time it was dark already so we did
what we do best and started drinking. With only Ben's gas heater and
work light to ward off the dropping temperature, we reminisced about
the past and generally talked trash for it's been quite a while since
we had such a get together. Normally Luke's state is a clear indication
of how wasted we got and as you can see in the video, he is fucked up
totally. Coincidently, this may have contributed to my camera getting
broken, I remember giving the camera to Luke to have a look at the
photos and then I think someone jumping onto Luke and the camera went
flying out of his hand and unluckily hit the lip of the gas cyclinder
and ripped off the lense stalk, so thats why there ain't any pictures
of us jumping. Though we did get into some mischief in the middle of
the night by
pulling out all the supports for the girl's tent, funny as when they're
all asleep ;) Tomorrow we go to meet our maker. The next day was our time of glory, the possibility that one of us
might not come back raced through our minds but that thought was soon
crushed by alcohol and others. Of the 35 people in our group about 20
jumped with Rhi and Sarah going out first at 6:30 but most of us were
still in hibernation (our apologies) so we missed their jump. The jump
schedule was something like this: 6:30 - Sarah K, Rhiannon Let's just say the trip from the place to the airport and up in to the air is probably the scariest times knowing what you are about to do. They teach you some stuff before you go up like basic positions and stuff but once you jump you'll completely forget about it. On my jump, John went first then me, a girl we didn't know, Matt and then Andy. I can't describe what it feels in the moments that you're on the edge of the plane to when you're tumbling and turning in all directions. Once you stabilise though it's an awesome feeling, free from all restraints and with only gravity tugging at you, the view is amazing, everything looks so insignificant when you're thousands of feet above the ground. Before long the chute deploys and you get to control it yourself and it's just a truly amazing feeling as you glide back down and before you know it, you've landed. Skydiving is one of those awesome things you have to do once in your life time as it represents the pinnacle of excitement but for us where do we go next? whats even more crazy than skydiving? In the night we do what we always do and hit the piss and go out.
Across
from where we were staying is a pub called The Tavern which had a good
atmosphere for some drinks, Tom's parents gave him money to get drinks
for everyone as a toast and what better toast than tequila for all of
us. For some reason the management thought we were smuggling in jelly
shots or something from all the shot glasses on the table. This is when
Sam apparently picked up some 35 year old MILF and went home with her
as he didn't go home that night. After all
that some of us went out to town while others went back to our tents to
find an awesome bonfire set up by Luke and Lee on the beach. This baby
was raging with dried and dead trees and wooden sleepers and the flames
were about
1.5 meters wide and at least 3 meters tall at times. We chilled out
around the fire til about 4 in the morning, I don't know how many trips
everyone went back to get more firewood but I'm sure we cleaned out a
chunk of the old timber pile. There were still flames when we came back
in the morning so thats an indication of how big the fire was. It was a
pretty short trip but neither the less it made up in exciting times.
Once again Happy Birthday Tom, hope you had as much fun as the rest of
us! We left that day knowing we had cheated death again... |