“Minds are like parachutes. They only work when they are open.” Louis Pauwels

Tuesday 15 May we're back in the area of ​​Airlie Beach. When we ate information for diving, une autre activité de plein air a attiré mon regard, considérant le prix assez raisonnable et surtout la localisation… Nous sommes en bord d’océan avec l’archipel des Whitsunday jeté sur les eaux comme une traînée de paillettes.

Les voir d’en haut doit autant valoir le coup d’œil, if it is not, qu’une croisière au cœur des îles. Et plutôt que de juste payer un tour d’avion, nous pourrions nous jeter directement par dessus bord pour revenir sur le plancher des vaches ! 😀
Discussion, décision, nous trouvons par Booking an apartment in the city center at an attractive price - about twenty euros for a two-person rooms - and get up the next morning at five o'clock to go to the company office Skydive see if we can do a parachute jump in the day. We wanted to book the day before by email but had to send his bank details in clear without any security ... Two hundred dollars per head, we were not very hot for this transaction.

They are already very busy and offer to remember as soon as possible to confirm if there are seats. Call at six o'clock to give us a takeoff at 8:50 am. Malgré que la météo ne soit pas avec nous et qu’au lieu de s’effectuer au dessus de la plage, le saut se fera un peu plus à l’intérieur des terres à cause du vent, nous décidons de ne pas rater l’occasion – oui il y a des sauts moins cher en France, mais bon entre la Creuse et l’Australie… 😛

Contrat lu en diagonale et signé, de toute façon si le parachute ne s’ouvre pas, c’est fini 😮 ; on nous demande de nous défaire de tout objet superflu : vider les poches, retirer les bijoux, etc.. avant de nous habiller de blouses bleues et de harnais puis de nous projeter une vidéo de sécurité, qui explique également toutes les étapes et ce que nous devons faire. A bus then takes us to the airport with three other people : a Belgian and a couple more young from Asia that will jump 15.000 feet - about 4500 meters, Belgian and jump to 7.000 feet - about 2100 meters, otherwise it was a hundred dollars more.

We each have an instructor that we repeated directives by checking our harnesses and providing us with glasses. It's hello happens then to take us into the clouds that build up letting out a few drops of rain, yes the weather worsened. Clinging now our instructors, toutes les carcasses – les nôtres et celle de l’avion – tremblent sûrement au décollage, but we forget for a moment our nerves to admire the view, which is offered to us through the windows before disappearing into the cloud mass.

Then everything follows, like in the movies, the door is open, our world is reduced to the small red light in front of us, listening to the latest instructions auctions in our ears over the wind. The following indicator lights, orange, the first to jump advances. The last indicator lights turn, vert… To my chagrin, I'll have to watch my other half down a plane and disappear into the void, what impresses me more than my own jump ... Besides, it's my turn, our poor Bear we have seen both capsize. Sitting on the floor, legs dangling outside in the plane, head pressed against the chest of my instructor and arms crossed tight on my chest, I await the signal. Let's go !

So actually jump, you let yourself fall forward rather as a dead weight. Nevertheless the effect is immediate, we do not see the ground because of the clouds, I do not know if that makes it any less impressive but my favorite moment is just after falling, our bodies perform an outdoor barrel and then I see the airplane which I just threw me, the mind divided between "Ouaaaaouuuuh ! "And" But what I'm doing ? » 😎

The instructor has to tap me on the shoulder twice to bring me back to reality and open my arms. If the free fall only lasts a few seconds on a second hand, I have the impression of crossing the clouds at several meters per second for long minutes ! Yes we literally walk through the clouds, sans être dans la carlingue d’un avion, I pass through a cloud ! And there we realize that at this speed, the drops of water forming around us ... it hurts ! Like a thousand little thorns, the rain whips my face. Sensation that only stops when the instructor opens the parachute. I must admit that at that time my stomach is not very happy, ants roam my arms but I forget these little annoyances when we finally get out of the clouds and I see this piece of Australia spread under my feet.

The landing went very smoothly, I get up in having the feeling of being extremely light, I was soaked and my body still shaking from the adrenaline rush. Monsieur is already there, Bear landed turn, Equally elated. 😀

The video of the jump costing a hundred dollars more, we have not taken you but I share their video presentation that will give you a good idea of ​​our outfits, from the plane, of the landscape – que nous voyons en partie depuis l’avion mais hélas pas du saut… Rien que la visionner, ça me redonne la chair de poule ! 😎

A refaire au soleil ! Nous attendons le couple parti de plus haut, puis la navette nous ramène en ville où, ayant sympathisé avec notre acolyte francophone – d’ailleurs si tu passes par là Ours n°2, oui lui aussi c’était un Ours, et que tu veux partager ta vidéo du saut, ce sera avec plaisir 😉 , nous allons partager quelques bières pour nous remettre de nos émotions.

Nous avons de nouveau utilisé le site web des parcs nationaux du Queensland pour réserver une nuit dans celui du Cape Hillsborough. Après un peu de piste, we arrive at a small camp where eleven seats available are all more or less isolated from each other. The car parked on our site and the tents mounted, we set up our chairs on the beach, admiring the panoramic bay at low tide. The place is known for wallabies that come evening stroll on the sand. Not tonight anyway, This does not prevent us from admiring the sunset and discover that the bush turkey can fly a few meters to go to roost in trees. The English names are always simple, if I translate the name of this animal it would give "turkey bushes", but the real French name is more pompous : Latham Talégalle.

Sunset in Hillsborough

Installed in Cape Hillsborough

The next morning, les kookaburras – Kookaburra – are also part and our Bear has the chance to see a small wallaby in the bushes. We leave this wonderful corner to take the southern route, Rockhampton to Mackay then before making a hook by Calliope to find a place to camp. After a little shot in this city seems empty, we recognize it for already coming in 2015. We identify a first rather dilapidated campsite, then another very clean but everything looks empty ... almost, the complex being closed, Kangaroos have decided to settle them !

Low tide in Hillsborough

Kangaroos in Calliope

After a beer at the local pub, it is in a bungalow, the decoration has not been redone since the campsite we elect domicile for the night.

The type beckons me… We will be the first to jump, ah, okay, no worries !
 
What experience. We fell faster than the rain itself (hence pain), but landing properly, except Bear, which landed in meditating posture, must do.
 
Remember, I told you about zombies ? Here we are, the empty and dilapidated camper in question is decorated with an old lady (was it a lady ?), under haggard, with a hairy chin and the word of a carp. No reaction to my friendly hello, the place looks abandoned and is not far from evoking some movie where we can hear the banjo or other Texas hut with the sound of a chainsaw ! I call the number displayed in a small booth outside the reception closed, it's ringing, it answers, the guy tells me he's coming… Twenty seconds later he appears at the door, he was just in the adjacent room of the office on which poses a giant broken Homer Simpson automaton which does not reassure more.
 
Nous nous en sortirons vivant mais pas près d’oublier ce camping désert 😉