Why Skydiving Is A MUST DO On Your Gap Year

Those Who Don’t Skydive Will Never Fly!

There are only so many times I can hear stories of other backpackers doing their skydives before booking another one myself! I was lucky enough to do a skydive in Taupo, New Zealand a few years ago but couldn’t resist doing another one in Sydney. That amazing adrenaline rush is truly addictive and I’d heard about how good the Sydney skydive is, with amazing views of the coastline. Here’s why skydiving is one of the best things you’ll do on your gap year…

Getting ready

Skydiving over beautiful Wollongong, will be a memory for life.  The views of the coastline (reaching as far south as Manly!) were breathtaking and as I knew it would be, the feeling of jumping out of a plane at 14,000ft was incredible – it took my breath away.

It was Friday morning and time for me and my best friend to go skydiving – we were so excited! It was her first time skydiving and she was surprisingly calm – maybe she’d heard from me how the feeling of flying takes over from being scared. We just couldn’t wait to jump! The bus picked us up from WakeUp hostel in Sydney and drove us to Wollongong (the skydive destination), only one hour away from Sydney.

Once we arrived, we got assigned to one of the crew at Skydive Australia who gave us a safety briefing, and gave us our skydive overalls to wear…sexy! I was jumping with a Swedish skydive instructor who had been jumping for almost 23 years – what a job! He was great and made me even more excited to jump.

Up, up, and away

It doesn’t really hit you that you’ll be jumping out of a plane at 14,000ft until you’re actually up in the air in the plane and it just keeps going higher and higher! We looked at each other with a big smile, let’s do this!

The plane climbed for a bit and after 15 minutes we look out from the window and realised how high it was! It was time to open the door and start jumping! The door on the plane is lifted and there’s a light that goes from red…to amber….to green – AND JUMP!

Now I’m freeeee, free fallin’!

It’s hard to tell people if the free fall or parachute part was best, since they’re such different feelings. When you first jump you have that ‘OMG’ experience. You have no control and no time to think anything apart from ‘WOW..this is amazing!’ It is an absolutely breathtaking experience and one that you’ve probably never experienced before, until you’ve done something like this! Most people think it feels like you’re falling, but I would describe it more as the feeling as flying. It’s an incredible, unique experience.

Cruising back down

After around 45 seconds of free fall that literally flies by, the parachute opens and you start drifting though the sky. This part is more relaxing (which isn’t difficult after that adrenaline experience!) and you have more time to enjoy the beautiful views over the coastline. After taking a minute to breathe out the adrenaline from the free fall my instructor asked me if I wanted to take over the control, and so I did! He taught me how to pull left to spin left, right to spin right, and push hard down to slow down (which I did just once, to try as the rest of the time I wanted to go as fast as possible)! To get to most out of the experience I asked my instructor to take over the control again, it’s intoxicating and just so good! Straight after landing, I just wanted to do the whole thing again!

An unforgettable experience

Knowing we were in good hands made the whole experience even more enjoyable. We both had really great instructors who had so much experience, not only in skydiving, but also in helping people prepare for what’s going to happen, what to expect when you are jumping and also what you want to avoid. In my case, I told him to make this jump as crazy as possible, which I never will regret!

The good news is that whilst you probably won’t remember a thing about the free fall as it all happens so quickly, you can get the whole thing filmed. I bought the video and photo package so I can go back through the pictures and re-live my jump!

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing…Keep calm and go skydiving!

There’s only so much I can do to explain to you how amazing skydiving feels so I guess, the only way to truly understand the feeling is to do one!

Thinking of doing a skydive? You won’t regret it!  Speak to the Ultimate Travel crew for recommendations and travel discounts.

Planning a gap year to Australia or New Zealand and not sure where to start? Check out our UltimateOz gap year arrival package! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for travel inspo and pics!