Jump for Ward 3B - Awesome

Last minute jumpers




The morning group



Kong Kong, me, Harry and Ellie



15 minutes of training before falling 14000 ft.



The first plane of jumpers



Kong Kong back on the ground safe and sound



As I sit here and write this blog, I am still on a high and want to do it all again. It was a much awaited weekend and all just went too fast! We had a blast, and everyone one of us jumped out of that plane, and even if we are never going to do it again we are pleased that we did it. Friday morning we got out of hospital and then went home to pack and head up to York! We arrived early afternoon and set up our tents and spent the afternoon watching people jumping out of a plane. The night was quite eventful. Harry stayed with Kong Kong, and the two nannies at the cottage they had rented and ellie slept in the tent with us. It was quite cool on the evening and I woke up freezing in the night. Didn't get much sleep as Darren was snoring, the tent was flapping and every now and then I would wake up and think 'I can't jump out of that plane, what am I doing?' Got up early Saturday morning and had a shower and got dressed. Laura wasn't well but thought it was the fact that she had been drinking, but it turned out she had gastro poor love. At 7.30 we were called to do the jump, and the nerves started! Laura, Katie and Tom were the first to jump. When they went to get in that plane, the tears rolled. We were here to Jump for Ward 3B and what seemed like a dream was turning into reality! Dad and I were third to jump, and it was amazing. The whole experience was surreal, after many nights of watching the you tube videos, I was in that plane. The time came to sit on the edge of that plane and fall. Yes fall, 220 km's per hour from 14,000 ft to 5,000 ft before the parachute opened! It was an amazing experience and one I will definitely do again as it went so quick. I also now know what to expect, but will definitely be on a diet and then see if my cheeks don't wobble as much! The instructor was great, camera man was fab and I have already watched the video 20 times and still can't believe we did it. I did throw up when I was back on ground, but after that I had a powerade and all was good. The day was full of cheers and celebrations, and everyone seemed to have a great time.
We ended up with 33 people who jumped as a few decided on the day that they didn't want to miss out on the excitement and that they also wanted to throw themselves out of a plane! Skydive Express were brilliant and I would highly recommend them if you wanted to do a sky dive. The instructors were great. The facilities were brilliant and Toots cafe served up fantastic food. So all in all it was a great weekend, with lots of laughs, lots of tears and definitely lots of beers! We camped again on Saturday night and then on Sunday we headed back to Perth. Thanks to Emma Pickles who flew over from Adelaide to join us and also to Laura, Katie and Tom who came over from the UK. To everyone who joined us, we hope you had as much fun as we did and it is great that whilst having fun we managed to raise so much money. The total is increasing everyday and when we have finalised the amount I will let you know what it is. On Saturday night the kids wanted to sleep in the bunk room. I stayed with Ellie and Harry as Darren was asleep in the tent. About 2.30 Ellie started to moan and groan and then she shouts out in her sleep 'I just want to sky dive', to which the bunkroom cracked up laughing! We arrived home on Sunday and after being at home for about an hour, the phone rings! It's Dad! 'Vic, I know what we are doing for your 40th! We are going to jump out of a plane on our own!' So we have nearly two years till this time and between now and then I am going to do another tandem - November 5th 2011, for anyone who wants to join me, and then I will decide. If you haven't donated and want to, then please feel free as we are still collecting for the next few weeks.