I know I said my last post was the final one, but then I realized that I forgot to post all the videos I have made during my travels. I have know uploaded some to my youtube profile and some to my vimeo profile. I have included the best ones in the bottom of this post, but you can also look at my profiles for the rest of my videos. I have also updated most of the photo albums in my Picasa profile with photos taken with Annina's camera. Be sure to check those out as well as some have more than double as many photos now.
From Cairns we headed south down the famous Australian east coast. Our first stop was a place called Mission Beach just a few hours south of Cairns. Mission Beach is a nice little tourist town right next to the beach, hence the name. It is also one of the best places in the world to skydive. This was the main reason we went there. In addition to skydiving Mission Beach it is the closest access point to Dunk Island, a small resort island just off the coast. We didn't visit Dunk Island because we didn't have time or money, but I saw it from above while skydiving!
To skydive has always been one of my biggest dreams. I was therefore very excited when we arrived. The skydiving company that I booked with had a resort right next to the beach and we could stay in our car there for free the night before I had my jump. The next morning we walked down to the beach and watched the other people that had jumped before me. We could see them coming out of the clouds with the parachutes and then slowly landing on the beach in front of us! We then returned to the resort and I had to watch a video about what I needed to do when I was exiting the plane and landing.
I then watched the instructors pack their parachutes that we were going to use. Everyone that skydives for the first time needs to jump together with an instructor that is attached to you during the whole jump. This is called Tandem skydiving. My instructor was named Sinno. In addition to the skydive I also paid for a video on DVD of my jump and it was my instructor that was the camera man as well. He fitted me in a harness and we got on the bus to the airport together with the other people that were jumping with me. When we got to the "airport" witch was not much more than an airstrip and a tiny plane we got off the bus and into said plane. Somehow we all fit inside and the plane took off.
As the plane climbed towards 14.000ft. (4267 meters) my nerves grew steadily. I tried to look out the window and marvel at the beautiful view of Mission Beach and Dunk Island, but my thoughts always went back to what I was about to do! Jump out of a tiny plane at 14.000 feet! As we reached our altitude they opened the side door of the plane and the first groups began to jump. I was number four of eight. I think it was a good thing that the instructor just jumped out with us without asking if we were ready. I think we all would have said no.
As I sat there on the edge of the door feeling the wind rushing past and looking down at the earth below I wondered what the hell I was doing. Then I was falling. The first few seconds I got that feeling you get when something is incredibly scary, then it all came into focus and I could enjoy. Jumping from 14.000 feet means over 60 seconds of free fall. It is almost impossible to describe the feeling of falling towards earth at maximum speed. I remember it hurt my ears a lot, that it was hard to breath and that the view was incredible, especially after we passed the clouds. Then all of a sudden my instructor had opened the parachute and we were falling at a much more relaxed tempo. I remember thinking about the fear of the parachute not opening during the flight up, but not once during those 60 seconds did it enter my mind.
Once the parachute opened it was a lot easier to look around and really enjoy the view. The instructor showed me how to turn the parachute left and right as we slowly descended towards the beach. Suddenly I could see Annina down on the beach taking photos of me as I was coming closer and closer. It only took about 5 minutes with the parachute open before we landed and afterwards it felt like it all had happened in an instant. After the jump I got my DVD and I watched the whole thing again. I have now encoded it and uploaded it for your viewing pleasure. I know it's cheesy. Enjoy!
In the afternoon we walked along the beach and made some photos before getting in the car and heading south again. On the way out of Mission Beach we saw another Cassowary. We stopped and took some photos as it crossed the road and into the woods. Our next stop is Airlie Beach and the Withsundays, but I will write about that in another blog post.
Saturday I got up early and took the Sydney subway to Penrith, a suburb in the outskirts of Sydney. In Penrith lies the Sydney International Regatta Centre, which this day was turned into a festival for the Hardstyle music genre. The one day festival started at 11 AM and ended 10 PM with over 15000 people attending.
It is hard to describe the festival in words. The Hardstyle genre attracts a very special kind of people, mostly young adults. There where all sorts of outfits, some very different from anything you will find anywhere else. The music itself is also unique, but something I like more and more.
The Regatta Centre is located on an island in a lake. The festival had 5 stages spread around, each featuring different kinds of music. The stages all had different designs and when the night came, different light, laser and smoke effects.
At these kind of events there tends to be a large amount of drugs. There was an impressive amount of security and police presence, but I still noticed that very many people where doing ecstasy. You could see the ground littered with the small plastic bags and a few people being carried of too the medical tent due too overdoses.
Non the less, the people where very friendly and there where no violence that I could see. I had a great time just walking around from stage to stage, taking pictures and listening to the music. I was thoroughly exhausted when I got back home at midnight, with my ears ringing and my head filled with memories.
I have included some pictures and videos I took, including the lineup for those interested. Sorry for the bad audio, my phone's video recording capability is limited.
