Man on a Mission

Mission Beach

Lukes eager approach to his travels had worn off of me so much so that I opted to follow he and Shawn to Mission Beach - somewhere between the last and the next stop of my trip. We checked into a humid Scottys hostel for the night and were soon having gladiator style fights balancing a log spread across the hostels pool.

In the evening we decided to give the national emblem a taste - skippy was on the menu. Looks like steak but has a stronger taste - I thought a little like Aromatic Duck but maybe that was just the plum sauce. Regardless it was delicious.

Luke Jnr struggled to sleep that evening, his nerves were a little jangly though myself and Shawn managed a good nights kip before our flight to 14,000ft the next day.

The afternoon rolled around and pretty soon I found myself clipped to some guy I just met, sat between his legs crammed in a bright green prop plane with a big teethy grin on the front. Down the runway, above the hill and tree tops, soon we were also above the clouds. I look out the window; we looked pretty high, but only 6000ft on the altometer. My nerves were now making me feel ever so slightly sick.

I could see parts of the Barrier reef from where I was sitting when the door of the plane beside me started sliding backwards. The cabin got really windy really quickly. A guy videoing me steps out onto the outside of the plane and soon after I'm also being nudged to get out too. Forward, back, forward again and thump - the biggest rush of adrenaline I've ever known and probably ever will. Barely able to breath I'm freefalling toward the earth 120mph. My lips being blown all over the place but unable to lose the huge grin that had quickly appeared.

Spinning and tumbling added to the 60second buzz, the camera guy once again coming into my view just for a second as the chute is pulled above my head. He drops away faster than I could grasp. Then a new kind of buzz. Floating, gliding in pure peace and quiet with time to appreciate the beach below, the deep blue sea surrounding the nearbye islands. 3-4 minutes of this and we could make out the people on the beach, and then what actually seemed like one of the quickest moments of the jump, we skimmed the sand to a standing halt.

Awesome. Immense. Amazing. I couldn't even think of these superlatives for an hour after jumping. I just can't wait till the next one.