Skydiving and Surfing

This article was written 17 years ago in 2006 when I was 21, so I ask you not to judge the writing too harshly! The text is as it was originally published.

I think it was Mother Teresa who once said, "If your going to take a 14 hour overnight coach, you should definitely try skydiving and surfing the next day". Okay, so I'm not sure she said that, but if she had, it would have perfectly matched today's turn of events.

After leaving Sydney late last night, and a coach journey that was peppered with coughing fits (not me I might add) and the guy behind me muttering to himself intermittently, we arrived in Byron Bay at 8am this morning.

We needed food, so went for a bacon and egg butty. It was very quickly I noticed the guy in the shop next door putting out his sign. Skydive special offer. Usually when you encounter an extreme sport, taking 'Special Offers' might indicate that it could be an interesting experience, however I was assured that this was not the case, "It's just off season". So I did it. And it was fantastic. Quite possibly the most mind blowing experience. The DVD makes it look like I was terrified, but in reality I really did feel quite calm. This would be as opposed to bungee, which scares the crap out of me.

We went up in a little 10 seater, up to 14,000 ft and dropped for 70 seconds of free-fall. The sky had been a little cloudy, but the guy who jumped with me (Albi) said that only added to the thrill. Apparently it shows you just how fast you are travelling, but I didn't really see much of the cloud as we shot through it at 200kph. Brilliant.

We were now on a tight schedule. Not content with one extreme sport, next stop was a crash course in surfing. Heather and James turned out to be semi-pros, and we're getting another lesson in tomorrow. All salty and sandy, but it was good weather all the way, and the surfing was quality.

Tomorrow we move on to Surfer's Paradise (which we are assured, it isn't) and will meet with Cassy. I think we're going out tonight...

This post was first published on Fri Jun 30 2006 originally on justbeyondthebridge.co.uk, my former personal blog

The author

My name is Andy Higgs and I am a founder, product management & design leader, occassional surfer and travel enthusiast based in the UK.

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