I jumped out of a perfectly good plane at 14 000ft today and raised over $2500 for charity…what did you do???

Ok maybe that was a bit cocky…but did you read the first bit??? I just jumped out of a freakin plane!

So what started as a joke turned into something that terrified me beyond belief. I have a complete and utter fear of heights. I can’t stand close too a window or on a balcony once we get to the second floor. But as most people know, I would do just about anything for the ACOCP. So I set about this ridiculous idea of me jumping from a plane to raise $2500 for the ACOCP.

The fundraising was slow going at first, but then in a matter of days we reached half way. It sped up for a bit, before slowing down and I was starting to worry we wouldn’t make our goal. But on Friday I was able to let everyone know we finally reached it. That was an awesome feeling, of course it was followed by sheer panic that I was now going to have to actually follow through.

A bit of a disaster struck when we realised we had no way of getting to Nagambie so I want to take the time to send a HUGE thank you to the lovely Tania who was my driver/support person. Tania is the aunt of the lovely Jordan, who was photographed by Gavin Blue for the ACOCP. It was so nice to hear from a family member on how much the photos meant to Jordans family. It was also an so appreciated that she gave up her entire Sunday (including having to leave home at 5am!) to be there with me for the jump. Tania is also a photographer and brought along her camera to take some shots of me preparing, and when I landed.

When we left it was still pretty dark and I was beyond nervous. Tania did a great job of distracting me and we chatted the whole way there (ok it was mainly me talking as I was super nervous). When I got there I had to fill in a tonne of paper work (it seemed they really wanted me to know skydiving was dangerous …. and that I would be in close personal phsyical contact with my instructor…  ) and then I got fitted with my very trendy yellow & blue parachute pants and my harness. I was also told what would happen in the plane and the exit procedure. That’s when I really started to panic. The exit procedure has me sitting on the floor of the plane, with my feet hanging outside the plane and bent back so my heels are touching the underside. Being told that we would be flying along with me sitting half out a plane seemed to scare me more than anything.

yes thats concern on my face…..

practising the exit procedure

mmm….blue & yellow parachute pants are so in this season….and don’t I look just fabulous in them??

Then began the waiting game. As you can imagine weekends are super busy. Not only was Skydive Nagambie donating the jump, but they had arranged for the super awesome Mitch donated his time and talents to jump with us and capture it all on video (should arrive this week!). But as Mitch was in hot demand as camera guy, and he was donating his time, we had to wait til he was free. We finally heard that I was up next. I was going to be the only tandem person along with a few solo’s. Wokka (my awesome tandem partner/instructor) came over to introduce himself and check my harness. Before I knew it we were making our way to the plane.

Now for all my fear of heights, I actually have zero issues with planes. Even this plane which was tiny and had a roller door opening. I actually really enjoyed the view and was able to talk on the way up. When Wokka told me we were only 6000ft up and still had more than halfway to go I went back to being nervous. After double checking everything was attached the green light went and the door opened. The next thing I knew I was watching people throw themselves out of this plane. Then it was my turn. By now the crazy Mitch was clinging to the outside of the plane while we were getting closer to the door. A brief moment in my head of OMG I cannot put my feet outside and I was sitting on the edge of a plane with my feet outside and two seconds later we were tumbling out. A few seconds after that and we were in free fall and hit terminal velocity (word of advice….don’t attempt to breathe through your mouth as you are hurtling to the ground at 300km/h). Now was when I had been instructed to interact with the camera. HARDER THAN IT SOUNDS! So I made some thumbs up and moronic faces and then before I knew it Mitch disappeared from sight as our parachute was deployed (that’s when you really notice how fast you are going – when the person who hasn’t pulled their chute disappears!).

What can I say from there apart from WOW. Quite possibly the most incredible experience of my life. Floating around (and bugging Wokka who was busy, you know, steering the parachute with “how far up are we now? What about now?”) was incredible. I actually finally got to look around (cause I was busy looking at the camera during freefall). It was incredible. Nothing else in the world can compare to that feeling. Of course I did politely decline when he offered to let me steer, but the rest was amazing. Apparently I was up there for ages (I think Wokka was giving me the star treatment) just floating around. He did also make us spin for a bit…not such a fan of that part. Before I knew it we were touching the ground and it was over.

YES! I have my own “Hero Walk” Image

I felt AMAZING. I can’t believe I actually managed to do it. I didn’t even scream!!!! So was it worth it? HELL YEAH!

And the best news – as of today we have raised $2655 for the ACOCP.

Thank you so much for all your incredible support in donations, in spreading the word and support (via text messages, emails, phone calls and twitter this morning to wish me luck). It has been amazing….

So what should be our big fundraiser next year? What terrifying thing should I accomplish next? (if you say snakes I will hurt you!).

j.

Image Credits all go to Tania Wholing