Another bus ride down the coast and four hours later I reached Airlie Beach. This tiny little town with absolutely nothig to do but sunbathe at the lagoon or drink and eat on the main road (which is about 8min45s walk beginning to the end). After a sunny start of my EC trip I came down to some fantastic cooling showers *eyeroll*. Did not look forward to spending three days on a sailing boat in the rain!! -.- but luckily I still had more than a day and a lot of hope for the weather to change by then. Buuut, no time to think about that as it was time for me to mentally prepare for what was going to hit me tomorrow. Skydiving. Everyone who know me also know that I'm not the biggest adrenalin junkie hence I rarely do anything super crazy (no, flying trapeze is not super crazy :D). If you asked me to go skydiving half a year ago, I'm pretty sure my answer would be "hell no, never, see ya later, bye." So why on earth did I book myself a skydive?!?! Believe me, I was asking myself the same question. But seeing so many of my friends do it here on the east coast or in New Zealand, sharing their experience and preaching abou what an amazing feeling it is, they got me all excited and pumped for it and it kinda was an impulsive decision - yes, I'm doing it haha and I also didn't want to regret not trying it, that was probably my biggest motivation. So I booked my tours, paid for skydive, now there's no turning back...it was either me or quite a good portion of my money flying out of that airplane. So a couple of three dollar tacos in the hostel bar and a good night sleep should prepare me for the D day. Or so I thought. Turned out a good night sleep was not gonna happen because I was super nervous and there was a crazy raging storm happening outside. Anyways, I got up at 5, had some breakfast and met my 6am group at the skydive reception. The weather was terrible, so we already had a big delay with a group before us. we filled in some forms and were sent to wait for a callback...3hours later..the sun started to come out and we were ready to be sent to the airport. If I was nervous in the morning, by the time we actually started to get equipped, I was very much done with waiting and just wanted to get it over with asap. Because the winds were really strong over the sea and it was still pretty cloudy, we couldn't do the jump over the ocean, but we had to go the other way instead. What a bummer. I guess even my pot of luck empties from time to time. All buckled up and escorted by our instructors we made our way to the airport. (We figured out later that one of the instructors was married to a Slovenian which was super super weird haha)
Alright, ready, steady, go! My agency booked me in for a 6000ft jump. I had the option to "upgrade" to 15000ft for additional about 100 something dollars...hell no, ain't got money for that haha so I had to be the last one going in the plane and first one out...but as I was the only one for the lower jump, my instructor was like naaaah, it's your lucky day, we're gonna go all the way up to give you that full free fall from 15000ft....sure, if I'm here already, won't really make a difference to me I guess hahaha so we're in, it's raining, everyone is squished tight togeter and we're waiting...watchig the ground become a big green blop (yes the only view was grass, marvelous)...and there you are just sitting and waiting for that red light to turn on so you can put your glasses on...it's happening, no turning back now, what goes up, must come down, I sure know that from trapeze...the only way down is to fly! So the firs person out (meeeee) is ready, they open the door my instructor pushes me to the edge and adjusts the sitting position. And we wait till we reach the required height...my legs were just dangling there in the air, head back, jump position, ready...wait, wait, wait, when is it gonna be?! And then you jupm. Your stomach goes *bluuuup*, a couple of rolls around your insides, but when they release the first tiny parachute, you stop turning and you fly. You actually fly. I have never felt a sensation similar to this one ever in my life. Never. It is such a unique feeling physically and mentally that it can't be compared to anything else. You let go of everything, you're free. And I really enjoyed that feeling. Same goes with the second part after the main parachute is opened. Then you can relax and enjoy the "view". What a fantastic experience...I did it, I, me, yes meee, this chick right here!!! But I'm pretty sure I won't do it again. Once in a lifetime :)
After the jump and for the rest of the day the weather finally went back to normal and I could spend the afternoon doing absolutely nothing but sunbathing and swimming at the lagoon.
Luckily my fellow Slovenian girl Anja, whom I met in Sydney lives in Airlie, so we had to throw a proper Slovenian reunion...and let me tell you, that was certainly something that doesn't happen very often! It was Anja's last night before leaving Australia for two months so she kinda had to go have some good bye drinks with friends..so we met up at my hostel, she brought her roomie and she happens to be a Slovenian too...crazy, hey! Remember I mentioned above how one of the skydive instructors was married to a Slovenian...I told Anja and Nika the story and it turnd out we were actually on the way to their place where I met Maja and Ben the instructor (again). I mean, how small is the world?! There we were four Slovenian girls in this tiny Australian town. What are the chances?!?! We ended up having a fabulous night, especially with Maja and Ben's little exotic zoo! :) loved hanging out with fellow homies soo far away from home :) thanks guuys!!
Next morning, after all that adrenalin still running from skydive, I was more than ready for a relaxed three day sailing in Whitsunday Islands. We boarded a nice catamaran, put our main sails up and sailed away. It was a boat called Wings II and it was literally the best thing ever!! They fed us every two hours, (haha yaas), we snorkeled, saw big George the fish, some crazy corals and we all got away with no jellyfish stings! We managed to see a fantastic sunset but the weather didn't have the best intentions for us at night. Next day was pretty gloomy, we couldn't really see much while snorkeling. But hey, it was time for our tour to Whitehaven beach and Hill inlet! Possibly one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I only wish it was a bit more sunny so the countless shades of blue would pop out even more! First we hiked up to the lookout point Hill Inlet where you get rewarded with a breathtaking view over the whole bay. The water was so clear we could even see a mantaray swimming around! Let me throw some fun facts at you so you can imagine how fabulous this beach actually is.... #1 if you took a photo of the bay every day, none of them would look the same, cause the it changes every day. #2 as this is a national park you're not allowed to take anything off the island, especially not the sand! It is 100% silica sand and the only one who was allowed to take it was NASA for some sort of construction purposes (or so we've been told :o). #3 the sand is really good for exfoliating your sking and hair (we were all covered in it haha) and polishing real gold/silver jewelry! I know, right! After the hike we made our way down to Whitehaven, one of the most famous beaches in the world. We even got a bit of sun out! Half of the team went in the ocean for a swim but I just couldn't be bothered putting on a stinger suit so I rather went exploring the area. The sand is sooo fine it almost crumbles under your feet, such a good feeling :) of course right before we left we got stuck in this crazy raging tropical storm that was following us the whole way back to our night spot and throughout the night as well. Not the most awesome time to be on a boat haha last morning was reserved for a final snorkel even tho the water was sooo mixed up and very gloomy from the storm. We still managed to see some fabulous underwater life, buuuut no turtles :( I gotta see them turtles once!!
What an experience this was! Wings II thanks for such a fun tour, you all are a bunch of true legends!!
(Un)Fortunately same day in the afternoon it was time for me to board a bus again and continue my journey..this one was the longest - 14,5 hour night bus to Rainbow Beach. What happened there...? Come back next time to find out! ;)
xx
D.
