Byron Bay + SKYDIVING

This weekend we went to Byron Bay. We left Friday at 230 and got to Byron at like 6pm. Byron Bay has several beaches which are popular for surfing. It is a big backpacker hippie town. I think it is most known for being so closed to Nimbin which is a big marijuana town. The whole town is very chill and fun to walk around. I decided it was the right place for me to skydive! ;) Byron Bay offers up to 60 Seconds of amazing free fall from 14,000 feet, the highest in Australia, and up to 7 minutes of parachute flying.

It is so amazing! We woke up Saturday morning at 530am for our adventure. I was so glad Britt and Katja decided to go with me! I was not scared until we were on the plane. Before we took off they did a lot of safety checks on the harnesses and taught us body position for jumping and landing. When you jump you put your feet out of the plane... like under the plane... and cross your arms over your chest. Then you bend back like a banana. When you land you have to pick your legs up high and come in on your butt you don't break an ankle or something. We practiced these on the ground.

After that we got on the plane and I started to get fidgety. At one point we were really high and went through some clouds. I was like are we at the jump point? He said 'Nope this is where we pull the parachute. We have a lot higher to go." That was scary. It was so beautiful. The ride up was about 20 minutes long. The instructors were so funny. I think they liked getting us nervous. They kept saying thing like... 'that is probably good enough', 'hmmm that doesn't look quite right... I can't remember', and ' I am never doing this hungover again... hell hungover... I think I am still drunk'. Getting us to laugh helped a lot. They seem to love their job. Then again why wouldn't you!! They get to jump out of a plane and see these wonderful views all day!

The jump part happened so fast! I thought it would be like - alright are you ready? and then a countdown or something. Nope. He told me we would go 3rd. I assumed judging on positioning that would be Britt then Spencer then me. They opened the door and this random guy just jumps and gets sucked out backwards! Then Britt rolled out! Bam! Gone! Then I was like 'ok Spencer's turn' and BAM! I was pushed from behind and my feet were out the door! He said banana and we were gone!

At one point I guess I was doing too much banana. He was like less banana would be good. I think too much banana made it hard to flip. We did the first crazy flip thing and then a controlled flip or 2. It was hard to count. After that we spun in circles left and right. It was so incredible! Some people didn't flip or spin at all. I was glad he just did it and didn't ask. :) I might have said no and I would have missed out.

Then he pulled the chute. That part was kind of terrible for me. It caught me at a bad angle and was actually pretty painful. I had some bruising... Next time I think I will dress a little differently... and yes I think there will be a next time ;) Anyway after he pulled the chute and adjusted the harness some he let me steer. It was so cool!! It is one of the best feelings in the world for sure! The entire jump including the up to 60 second free fall is about 7 minutes.

We landed and I was just so thrilled! I was so impressed and the adrenaline was pumping! It was so great! After that all 8 of us headed to breakfast. We ate at a cute little cafe. It hit the spot then we rolled out to the beach. The weather was so perfect! The waves were awesome! Our intention was to chill and nap on the beach... that didn't work out.... the waves were just too convincing! We stayed there until the lighthouse hike at 2.

Allison and I stayed later and walked up the beach to meet everyone a little late on the hike. I just couldn't rip myself away from the beautiful beach!!! It worked out perfectly though we got to walk the first 30 minutes or so on the beach! We even saw a whale rescue! ... Well kind of... it was a blow up whale... but it did have us convinced from a distance. I was like 'we should see if they need help!' Ugh then we saw the blow up whale. They were splashing it with ocean water and had tarps out.... I guess they were just practicing for the real deal.

We met the group and went the rest of the way to the lighthouse. It was such a pretty hike and such an amazing view! Also it is the most Eastern point in Australia which is pretty cool!! Oh! and there was ice cream... so that was a win too! :)

We walked back to the hostel and got ready for dinner and going out. Dinner was crappy but we had so much fun dancing and wandering around Byron! What a great night!

This morning we slept in and checked out of the hostel at 10. Then we got brunch and headed to the beach. We spent another day in the ocean. The water is ridiculously clear! Then we went back and showered quickly. We spent the rest of our time walking around Byron. I felt like a Zombie. I have been so busy and done so much in the last couple weeks. I was just exhausted!

We took the bus home and Katja and I made dinner and shared our skydiving pictures with Raphael. Now time for sleep. School starts back tomorrow! I gotta put my game face one!