I haven’t seen my friends Andy and Karen for over ten months now, since I was last in Perth. They live to the south of Perth in the countryside, and used to be fairly close to where my old house was. But from where I am currently staying, it’s a fair hike to their place.
I packed my skydive stuff for the weekend, and on Thursday headed southwards. I called in first to see my former employers at Jenny Jones Rugs. Jenny was kind enough a couple of years ago to encourage me to include my job as one of the items on offer in my “ALife4Sale” auction.
It was good to catch up, and it was great to see Andy and Karen again, and their kids Layla and Louie too. They have both grown since I last saw them – the kids, that is!
It wasn’t long before Andy proudly wheeled his new toy out of the shed, and we were soon thrashing it along the forest tracks! “Now that’s exactly what the rangers don’t want you doing!” said Andy as I slid the machine around in the dust when I got my hands on the controls!
The next day I hung out at their house, and in the evening we went to Rockingham for a swim at the beach, and fish and chips on the grass for dinner. It was really nice to just relax and have some fun at the beach again. I certainly miss the easy-going Perth lifestyle when I am away!
On Saturday morning I rode out to Skydive Express again. I am getting a bit hooked once again on jumping, and have found the new thrill of freefly. I am now able to freefall in a reasonably stable sitting position, which is so much faster than falling in a flat position, as there is the same weight, but a lot less drag.
I managed to borrow a freefly suit off parachute packer Anna for the day, and made some great progress.
Sunday was also fun, when I chose to do a couple of 14,000 feet “hop-n-pops”, when you jump out of the plane and deploy the parachute almost immediately. It is quite noticeably colder when you are under canopy at 13,000 feet, but the view and the long flight down are absolutely awesome!
I’ll be back jumping again next weekend, as I have to be in practice for the night jump, hopefully taking place the weekend after that!