DropZone Addicted!

For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return. ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Mostly all together again, back at the place we have all come to love ~ The Dropzone!

Sitting in my pajamas early on Saturday morning, working away on my assignment with a hot water bottle against my back to ease the pain caused from someone having smashed into the back of my car on Friday morning, the ringing of my phone suddenly broke the silence. Somewhere deep in the middle of my assignment, I reached out to grab my phone. On the other end of the line I find my friend and co-Kili team member, Simon.

Little did I know that I was about to be told, it’s finally time!

Back in March we all headed up to Robertson to jump out of a plane from 11,000 feet but sadly Simon, Ross and Alez didn’t get to jump that weekend due to the plane having reached its maximum hours before it had to be grounded. Since then dates have come up but it was never quite right, well that was until that morning!

Completely out of the blue, far from any pre-planning the wheels started turning and in a moment everything changed! My quiet Saturday morning in my study turned into a mad-frantic dash. It was time to head to the Cape Town Dropzone off the R27 ~ Ross and Simon were finally going to get to jump! The sooner that day the better as bad weather was due to come in later I was told. There was no time to waste. I couldn’t exactly go in my jammies so while I trawled through my cupboards for something half decent to wear, I sent messages to my two side-kicks, Natalie and Shanti, as we had all agreed we would go and watch them jump when it was there turn. In fact, Shanti had been asking me on a weekly basis if there was any news on their jump?!

Now that the time had come, neither of the girls were answering my messages and I was resigning myself to the fact I was going to go and meet them on my own, funnily unbelievable considering all the pestering that had been going on in the weeks leading up to this moment! After a quick shower and still no reply messages on my phone I eventually decided to phone. Natalie finally answered, shew, and she jumped right on board despite being in the middle of a big spring clean. Shanti on the other hand was still nowhere to be found and after sending her numerous message and leaving her a calm but “where-the-heck-are-you-answer-your-phone” kinda voicemail message I could only hope for the best. I gathered she was no doubt sleeping off the night before!

A quick shower later and the beginnings of looking half decent, my phone beeped to life. It was Shanti telling me she couldn’t drive due to someone falling on top of her and a damaged knee. You see that is what happens when you are so tiny and petite, people fall on you and you get hurt! How ironic once again, the girl who had been asking me weekly what was happening with Simon’s skydive wasn’t going to be able to make it in the end. There was just something so wrong with that. So in a split second I made the decision to drive into town to go and fetch her, despite my own sore and bruised back. She protested a bit saying she too was still in her jammies but I told her to get in the shower, I was on my way and would be there soon and I made sure to tell her not to argue. She later told me she started replying and then though the better of it and got in the shower!

As I finished rushing around getting ready, Natalie messaged me to say she was packing a picnic. “A what? Seriously?” was my reply knowing full well what she meant. I mean really, where do you find the time at a time like this to pack a picnic?!! Finally ready and half decent for public viewing, I hopped into my car, hopeful the adrenaline of rushing around would wipe the ache away that kept washing over me in waves.

A mad dash into town to fetch Shanti as Natalie began to make her way to my house from the other side. Don’t worry, it really wasn’t a mad dash because as luck (my guardian angels) would have it countless slow people taking an early morning Saturday drive kept me doing the speed limit the whole way. As I was driving a message from Simon bleeped my phone to life, they were on their way…. When I pulled up outside of Shanti’s house, I replied and told him we would be right behind him. A little white lie but soon we would be right behind them!

Shanti safely in the car, another mad (excruciatingly slow) dash back to my house to meet Natalie, us arriving just as she pulled up! Perfect.

Driving along the R27 chatting away, as girls do, we completely missed the turning with the small sign even though we were recording 3km from the landmark Simon had given us.  Luckily the driver (yes me) was wide awake and saw that we were now at 3.4km’s and that was the sign in my rear view mirror we were supposed turn at!

A quick U-turn and we had arrived.

After parking and chatting to some fellow Robertson skydivers we had met on our jump back in March we headed inside to find Alez waiting just outside. Simon and Ross were up in the plane already! Sadly, we had missed them suiting up and getting ready but apparently as soon as they arrived they were told they were ready to go. Luckily we made it in time to spot the speck of the plane high up in the sky and then we saw the parachutes deploy.

Simon swooped right over us as they came in for landing.

Ross coming in for landing.

Crazy skydivers! Ross and Simon shortly after landing….

Afterwards we spread out the picnic that both Natalie and Simon had packed, we celebrated, and we fed off the adrenaline high of Simon and Ross, longing to feel that incredible adrenaline rush again too.  There is no question about it, we all want to do it again. (And again, and again!)

After a crazy, amazing totally unplanned Saturday my Sunday turned out to be rather busy playing catch up on my to-do list that got left in my dust early that previous morning!

Alez has the perfect quote on her bag ~ skydiving beats sitting in my study any day. Do what you afraid of ~ or even if you are not afraid ~ that is where your best life lives, on the other side of your fear!!

P.S. I am happy to report that even though I was whisked away from my studying on Saturday (and truly I welcome the break!), I completed my assignment on Sunday and submitted it before Monday’s deadline. Whoever  said you can’t work full-time, study part-time and live an amazing life all at the same time!?!

Tomorrow night, I am throwing a party at my house because Wednesday is a holiday here in South Africa and even though it’s supposed to be autumn, Cape Town is putting on a spectacular display of weather so I couldn’t think of two better reasons to round-up some friends, light a fire, throw on some meat, crack open a cold one and just celebrate life!

Yet, another incredible weekend under my belt. I really do love it when plans get tossed and you just ride along with life!

~ Thanks to my amazing friends for saying yes at the drop of a hat ~

~ Thanks to Simon and Ross for finally getting a date together, no matter how unexpected it was ~

~ All Photos By Me ~