On Christian’s bucket list was the experience of skydiving and parachuting. For Christmas 2022, Bianca bought Christian a voucher to do tandem skydiving at SA Skydiving in Goolwa. It was an easy drive from Adelaide to the open fields of Goolwa. We were given a warning on the way down of weather delaying take-off time. This added to the nerves a little, as Bianca was not planning on skydiving at all. Bianca bought a voucher for Christian, and Bianca’s daughter Savannah had bought a voucher for herself and her boyfriend. As Savannah was now single, she had a ‘spare’ voucher, and roped in Bianca for the experience.

Boarding and Climbing

Bianca is not particularly happy with heights, and so was originally not keen. Telling the instructors on the ground that they may have to force her to jump, she was told that they cannot do that! Eventually her confidence grew after the ground instruction and understanding what would happen. We all rigged up and boarded the tiny plane with a huge side roller door. We were told how to get out, and then sat on the floor whilst the plane took off and started to climb to 4.5Km (15,000 ft). The climb took half an hour, as the plane circled over the sea and fields of the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Beginning our descent

The adventure started over the airfield, where we were promised a 60 second freefall. To exit the tiny Cessna, we had to leave in the opposite order that we entered the plane. First was Savannah, who took no hesitation in crawling to the edge. She then stood on the tiny step and immediately rolled out with her instructor. Bianca was next, balancing on the edge of the plane and waited. Her attached instructor completed all the final safety checks before starting her rapid descent towards earth.

Finally, it was Christian’s turn. Unfortunately, Christian was just a little bit over the maximum weight for tandem skydiving. He needed a larger parachute and additional equipment (and associated additional cost) to be used. Tucked into the furthest corner of the little plane, it took him a while to slide over the floor towards the doorway. Just as the others had done, Christian held on to his shoulder straps, tilted his head back onto the instructor’s chest, and rolled with the skilled skydiver on his back into the empty sky.

Freefall

The experience for a person frightened of heights is not really a problem. At 4500 metres up in a plane, you get less perception of the altitude, and it does not invoke the same fear response as being on a high bridge. The sensation of falling only exists for the first second, whilst falling out of the plane. You get a brief view of the plane disappearing off and getting smaller as you drop away from it, reminding you that you are falling to earth. After the instructor got us level and face down, the sensation of falling then seems to go away. The roar of the air rushing past at nearly 190 Km/h as you plummet towards earth means that you cannot hear anything else. The wind distorted the skin on our faces, something that we were unaware of until we saw the photos. You don’t really get a sensation of speed, until you see clouds going past. As we fell through the sky in our tandem skydiving experience, we avoided the clouds. This is because you get a sensation of “getting wet” inside a cloud.

After free falling faster than the speed limit for our own vehicles for 60 seconds, we experienced the roar fading away as the canopy opened. It was a gentle experience, legs moving from horizontal to hanging below us. Christian expected a jerking feeling as the parachute opened, but it was more of a transition than a sudden change. We opened our parachutes at 4000 ft, or 1.2 Km above the ground. The two or three minutes of parachuting were a massive contrast to the adrenaline and noise of skydiving. Tranquil and relaxing, beautiful sightseeing instead of excitement.

Parachuting

Savannah and Bianca’s instructors were helpful guides, who let the girls take the controls with the brake lines to rotate and steer the parachute. However, Christian’s instructor seemed like he was having a bad day, and didn’t speak much or give Christian control. The instructors gently steered everyone back to the airfield, where we all landed in a small grassy area in front of Bianca’s mum and daughter, Savannah’s sister Mackenzie.

Then we were on the ground, finishing our videos, which you can see here;