Skydiving For The First Time

The night before we did the skydive, I decided to stay at Andrew's place and uploaded some of the photos I've taken during my city tour the other day.  My friend Nick went back to the seaside restaurant to meet the Canadian waitress, whom he had a 'moment' with while we were having dinner.  I took the key from him because I thought I might use it in case I wanted to go out and grab something from 7-11, which is just one block away from Andrew's place at St. Kilda's.

I was initially planning to sleep early but because of Facebook and some online friends from the Philippines and Singapore, I wasn't able to sleep until 4am, which is actually two hours before our jump off time at Andrew's place.  The guys who were jumping with us started arriving at around 5:30am.

Nick came back 15 minutes before 6am and I was so surprised that there was no traces of alcohol in him but we were really amused to hear his story about his near-death encounter with some asian gang members at St. Kilda beach. There were eight of us guys scheduled to jump at Nagambie - Andrew, Nick, Ryan (Andrew's brother who's celebratinghis 30th birthday), Dave, Daniel, Aaron, Andy and I.  We left Adrew's place at 6:30am.  I was with Nick, Andrew and the two other guys in Andrew's car and the other group was in Ryan's (Andrew's brother) car.

We spent the first 30 minutes of our journey trying to figure out which exit to take to get to the freeway.  I couldn't believe that these guys who spent their entire lives living in Mebourne could still get lost driving around the city.   It was funny to see them looking at maps and trying to find the exit to the freeway. 

It was actually not difficult to figure out that we were heading north of Melbourne because I saw the same landmarks that we saw on our way to the city from the airport.  I noticed the signs too which says airport is just few kilometers ahead.  Melbourne freeways are not very different compared to the expressways that we have in the Philippines but the view was absolutely stunning!  It was all so surreal and I couldn't believe that I was actually seeing the things that I usually just see in movies and TV shows shot in Australia.  Farm houses, cattles, sheeps, victorian churches and houses, pines trees, lakes, etc...!!! Ahhh that was just too much for me!!! I love it so much and even if I was so damn sleepy during the trip, I didn't dare close my eyes so as not to miss the opportunity to see the amazing scenery!

I told them that I haven't seen a kangaroo yet so they joked that I might be lucky to see one jumping around along the freeway.   So I kept my eyes open hoping that I would spot one and I did!  But my first sighting was that of a lifeless kangaroo lying on the freeway with his head cut-off, skin ripped open, revealing his intestines and other internal organs.  It was apparently ran over by a vehicle while crossing the freeway.  What a sight!  And to make it worse, I saw at least 5 more on our way to Nagambie!

We reached the skydiving place at around 9:15am so we didn't have much time to rest because we we're 15 minutes behind schedule.  I took some photos of the place and then proceeded to the counter with the guys to pay, register and sign waivers.  After that, we were led to the lanai where we had some sort of briefing where they told us what to do and how to position our body before and during the jump.

Andrew, Ryan and Dave went first. Nick, Aaron and I jumped together with other guys who were probably getting their skydiving license because they could already jump on their own.  It was all our first time except Nick, who did his first jump in the Alps.  We were all scared and we could tell by just looking at each others faces! I really thought that I would be shitting on my pants when I jump but seeing Andrew and Ryan safely landed and back on the ground somewhat assured me that everything's gona be alright.  Well, I did land safely too and was just really happy to have done something I've been dreaming of doing my entire life!

It was all worth it!  The whole experience was just so amazing plus the people that I did the skydiving with are like the coolest people in Melbourne.  Do watch my video to see what I am talking about. 

Cheers!!!